Roadmaster 9700 problems

[ctcamper]

I am stumped. Unit was purchased in March of 09 from a vendor on ebay in Tenn. Installed it and used it once in old tow for a total of 6 hours. No problem.
Just installed it in the new CRV. Worked fine on a test ride of an hour. Second time I plugged it in it would fill the air tank but would not allow me to select a setting for light or heavy braking etc... test button did not work.
I was leaving that day and the roadmaster tech said sounds like something wrong with the unit.
After getting off the phone I unplugged the wire from the brakes and unit would run through test ok. I plugged it back into the hot from the brake and it stopped. I then fiddled with the diode that that wire is plugged into ( two leads from each side of the brake lines from the taillights feed into the diode and then one wire to brake controller... there is a separate circuit connected to separate tailights so not to use the honda's system )
and the unit functioned normal. The unit then worked fine for about 15 minutes or several braking cycles while I was on the road and then stopped. I could tell it was working from the led connected to the hondas brake pedal.

I am not sure if the diode is at fault or the unit itself. I will have to call them back. It is just out of warranty so they said I have to send it in for fixing.
They did check the serial of the unit and the unit is 2.5 years old so I guess it was sitting on stock of the Tennessee place for a year before my purchase.

[DriVer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctcamper I am stumped. .... I am not sure if the diode is at fault or the unit itself. I will have to call them back. It is just out of warranty so they said I have to send it in for fixing. They did check the serial of the unit and the unit is 2.5 years old so I guess it was sitting on stock of the Tennessee place for a year before my purchase.

ctcamper, Did you get this issue figured out?

Mike

[ctcamper]

Not yet driver. I called them back and they found the registration card info I sent in so they are honoring the two year warranty and shipping me a refurbished unit in exchange for the unit I have.

I triple checked my wiring and found no problems. Grounds were good, power to tail light assembly was good. The epoxy on the diode does look crinkled with a few pits on one side but that was like that from when I received the unit. Not sure if there was moisture infiltration or even it that would affect it. Must be a problem with the circuit in the unit itself.

I do know it messed up my plans for a Montana trip this year but what can you do ... there is always next year .................

[ctcamper]

I am good to go. The new unit came and I was still having problems. I found after ohming out the the diode leads going into the diode against the aluminum case of the diode they were shorted to the aluminum case and causing it to heat up and short out to ground, The terminal spade connectors I had taped so I was positive I wasn't getting a short there but never thought to worry about the case. I had it stored in an area where the case was contacting metal and a path to the ground It looks like one of the spade connectors embedded in the epoxy is just touching the case, it was off center in the epoxy. When I checked it to troubleshoot up till now I had it out and it would start to work as it wasn't in contact with ground. Sometimes with electrical items it's the oddest things lol. I was almost at my wits end.
Going down the road must have jostled the diode into touching ground so it worked fine for a few minutes.

A good note the refurbished unit has a far better brake pedal attachment system, the old one used to take me five minutes to hook up as the notches never lined up properly and used to be hard to release also.


I am very pleased with the help from roadmaster , the diode problem is one of those things that can't be forseen. Probably an imported item. They did what they could do and I am pleased with their help. I am thankful I can do my own work, it would have cost a fortune in labor costs if it was done by a shop... if they were able to find the problem in the first place. I wrapped the diode with my good 3m tape and should be ok now.