Blinking\Flashing Lights on Control Panel

[rfg9585]

Yesterday I noticed that the lights on my control panel were flashing at a good clip. I think its called the EMS panel. Anyways I turned off the 50amp shore power and started the genset. The same flashing occurred, I then went back to my shore power and that's where I am today. At some point the flashing stopped. Any ideas as to whether or not I have an issue that needs addressing? Thanks!

PS tried to upload pic but internet where I'm at sux. Its a panel with lights for source amps of power and also lights showing what components are powered, eg, AC, block heater, water heater, etc. Also has load amp displayed. At top its shows 50 amp Smart EMS.

[rfg9585]

Originally Posted by rfg9585

Yesterday I noticed that the lights on my control panel were flashing at a good clip. I think its called the EMS panel. Anyways I turned off the 50amp shore power and started the genset. The same flashing occurred, I then went back to my shore power and that's where I am today. At some point the flashing stopped. Any ideas as to whether or not I have an issue that needs addressing? Thanks!

PS tried to upload pic but internet where I'm at sux. Its a panel with lights for source amps of power and also lights showing what components are powered, eg, AC, block heater, water heater, etc. Also has load amp displayed. At top its shows 50 amp Smart EMS.

at a location with better wifi now.....
here's a pic pf the panel.

[rfg9585]

The blinking lights on the panel quit soon after my initial post, but they are now back again. I am hooked up to a likely good source of power of 50amps at a sun resort. Any ideas what the issue is and how to fix? Thanks!

[rfg9585]

Turned off shore power for a few seconds, and back on now. After 30 minutes or so blinking quit?

[jacwjames]

This is an Intellitec EMS (energy management system). There should be model number label on the inside of the door of your house 120 volt distribution panel. If you don't have a manual do an internet search and download it.

This system monitors power consumption and if hooked to a 20 or 30 amp plug will shed power on different appliances based on priority.


In my manual it does say that if power is shed on one of the appliances there LED and power is resorted there will be a 2 minute delay during which time the display will flash. If this is what happen you are OK.


If not there is something else going on. If you have further problems contact M&M Electronics in Ohio, they helped me when mine failed (lightening strike) and are technical support for this system.

https://www.mmrvelectronics.com/

[rfg9585]

Thanks for the response! I don't understand what is meant by the term shedding power. Can this be explained in laymen's terms?

[Dutch Star Don]

Randy.....when you say flashing lights, do you mean all the lights were flashing like your dash would when you first start it, or were there a couple of indicator lights, showing something specific.

When you plug in your coach, that unit determines if you're plugged into 20 amp, 30 amp or 50 amp power. It will display what power source is available. When plugged into 50 amp the display will show that the items to the right are all powered, like the block heater, AC1, AC2, etc. If you only have 30 amps, it won't show all those items as available, because it takes more than 30 amps to run them.

This is where "shedding" comes in. When Newmar built your coach, they decided what items were the most important and created a list. As an example....they may have selected your microwave is the most important item, Air Conditioner 1 as second, Air Conditioner 2 as the third item, the water heater as the fourth. and the block heater as the fifth most important item (this is just an example). So....you're sitting in coach with the Air Conditioner on and the water heater running, using most of your 30 amps. Then you decide to heat something in the microwave. Turning on the microwave will exceed your available 30 amps. The EMS (Energy Management System) now has to shut something down. It looks at the list of important items and sees that the microwave is at the top, the AC is second, so it shuts down the third item, water heater. Once the microwave turns off, the water heater will start again. This continues to happen every time you exceed 30 amps. This is called "shedding" as it's shedding the loads and then restarting them.

When on 50 amp, (which is really 100 amps) you can pretty much turn on everything in the coach without an issue.

Now back to your issue.....I don't know what's wrong with your system, but here are some ideas. First, the system is trying to read the amps from the campground source. You could have a bad cable end or power cord reel contacts that are changing your power supply from 30 amp to 50 amp and back. I thought you said you had the same issue on the generator. If so, you could have a bad transfer switch, again, another item with contacts that could be going bad.

Next thought, the EMS is going bad. You may also try removing the unit and disconnecting the plug on the back side for a few minutes and then reconnect and see if it resets. Lastly, it may be doing what it's suppose to and doesn't have an issue.

[rfg9585]

Originally Posted by Dutch Star Don

Randy.....when you say flashing lights, do you mean all the lights were flashing like your dash would when you first start it, or were there a couple of indicator lights, showing something specific.

When you plug in your coach, that unit determines if you're plugged into 20 amp, 30 amp or 50 amp power. It will display what power source is available. When plugged into 50 amp the display will show that the items to the right are all powered, like the block heater, AC1, AC2, etc. If you only have 30 amps, it won't show all those items as available, because it takes more than 30 amps to run them.

This is where "shedding" comes in. When Newmar built your coach, they decided what items were the most important and created a list. As an example....they may have selected your microwave is the most important item, Air Conditioner 1 as second, Air Conditioner 2 as the third item, the water heater as the fourth. and the block heater as the fifth most important item (this is just an example). So....you're sitting in coach with the Air Conditioner on and the water heater running, using most of your 30 amps. Then you decide to heat something in the microwave. Turning on the microwave will exceed your available 30 amps. The EMS (Energy Management System) now has to shut something down. It looks at the list of important items and sees that the microwave is at the top, the AC is second, so it shuts down the third item, water heater. Once the microwave turns off, the water heater will start again. This continues to happen every time you exceed 30 amps. This is called "shedding" as it's shedding the loads and then restarting them.

When on 50 amp, (which is really 100 amps) you can pretty much turn on everything in the coach without an issue.

Now back to your issue.....I don't know what's wrong with your system, but here are some ideas. First, the system is trying to read the amps from the campground source. You could have a bad cable end or power cord reel contacts that are changing your power supply from 30 amp to 50 amp and back. I thought you said you had the same issue on the generator. If so, you could have a bad transfer switch, again, another item with contacts that could be going bad.

Next thought, the EMS is going bad. You may also try removing the unit and disconnecting the plug on the back side for a few minutes and then reconnect and see if it resets. Lastly, it may be doing what it's suppose to and doesn't have an issue.

Don, when the blinking occurs, its all lights that show in the power source and power status areas of the panel. It happened this last time when I was on 50amp. The 1st time when I posted I was on 50amps as well and switched to genset, and it done the same blinking. Does this point to an issue with my xfer switch? When the blinking occurs all seems to be functiniong.......

[Dutch Star Don]

I was trying to logically reason out some things that might be the cause, without seeing what the panel was doing. The transfer switch came to mind because of the age of your coach and the fact that it was intermittent. I can't give you a definitive answer if the transfer switch is the issue. I thought some of the electrical engineers would pop in, but even for them, it's tough to diagnose, without standing in front of the unit and checking items with a volt meter.

I do basic electrical and limited electronic repair on my coach. Beyond that, electronics are out of my realm of capability. Personally, I would call the manufacturer and describe your issue. Often, they'll know exactly what is causing the problem and in many instances, send you a new unit, if it's at fault.

[hohenwald48]

Just curious as to why no lights are on in the photo you posted. If connected to shore power or generator something should be lit.

[hohenwald48]

The list of items under the heading "Power Status" is your "shed" list. As your total load nears the maximum for a specific amount of time the system will disable (turn off) items in the list starting with first item in the list. If the load continues to be excessive the second item will be "shed". The system will continue down the list until the load drops to an acceptable level.

The system is able to automatically determine if you have 50A or 30A service. However, for service sizes below 30A (ie: 20A) you need to manually select the appropriate shore power capacity for the shedding system to work properly.

A high current draw item that folks tend to forget is the inverter/charger. If your batteries are particularly low and you have a high capacity charger it can put a significant load on your shore power. Most inverter/chargers have a setting that can be adjusted to limit the amount of current draw they place on your shore power.

I doubt if any of that has anything to do with your problem. Just thought I'd give a high level description of how the system works.

[rfg9585]

Originally Posted by hohenwald48

The list of items under the heading "Power Status" is your "shed" list. As your total load nears the maximum for a specific amount of time the system will disable (turn off) items in the list starting with first item in the list. If the load continues to be excessive the second item will be "shed". The system will continue down the list until the load drops to an acceptable level.

The system is able to automatically determine if you have 50A or 30A service. However, for service sizes below 30A (ie: 20A) you need to manually select the appropriate shore power capacity for the shedding system to work properly.

A high current draw item that folks tend to forget is the inverter/charger. If your batteries are particularly low and you have a high capacity charger it can put a significant load on your shore power. Most inverter/chargers have a setting that can be adjusted to limit the amount of current draw they place on your shore power.

I doubt if any of that has anything to do with your problem. Just thought I'd give a high level description of how the system works.

Thanks for the input! Not sure why my lights weren't on. Must have took pic b4 I got setup in next site.

Update: My lights have not blinked since my last report, but I have been researching other items pointed to in responses. I don't have any lights to go out showing shedding as I understand it from responses, all are on but blinking, including my source light.

So I started looking at the xfer switch. Its the ITS-50r which I came across a lot of post\other google info that indicated it was possibly under a recall from way back when. I could not find my specific coach listed but is anyone familiar with this? Have a call into Newmar but no call-back yet. Gonna try to tear into the Xfer switch today and check it out and tighten anything loose, but so far have difficulty getting cover off. Any advice on proper technique to access the lugs.

Thanks all!

[hohenwald48]

I don't have any first hand knowledge of how to get in the case of the ITS 50R. However, after looking at several photos it looks like there are a couple of tabs on the bottom edge of the front cover that hold the cover on.

[rfg9585]

Luckily in the park we're in now there's an electrician that I got to taker a look at the xfer switch. Simple enough to pull off you just have to use brute force to push in the tabs and pull at same time. Guess in my old age I have lost more strength than I thought. He said connections looked good but I am still gonna tighten all the lugs, later today if it drys up after the monster storms yesterday and last night here in upper MI. Thanks all!