Community Forums

anav8or · 05-07-2017, 08:57 AM

I ran into a problem with the Firefly system in our coach last weekend. I wanted to pass the info along to see if 1) anyone else has experienced this and 2) provide a heads up in case it happens to someone else.

We arrived at a campground after about a 3 hour road trip. After hooking up, I went to turn on some lights inside the coach and found the main Firefly panel "frozen". I disconnected power and flipped the batteries off to "reboot" the system. After turning everything back on, the Firefly system refused to start up - I was seeing a red backlight on all of the panels and on the breaker panel for the system.

I opened the inverter and BCC compartments and found the fault light blinking red on the Inverter Bridge (I believe this is the device that integrates the inverter and Firefly system).

Long story short, it started working again on its own about 2 hours later. I need to call the Firefly folks to get their take on it - haven't had time to do that yet. I did contact Magnum (inverter manufacturer) who confirmed that the symptoms I saw were indicative of a failure of the Firefly system. The system has been fine ever since.

The good news is that all 120v systems, the slides, and all chassis 12v items were fine. The bad news is that we have no lights, no HVAC, and no water heater without the Firefly system operational since all are controlled by the system.

pghbob · 05-09-2017, 05:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anav8or

I ran into a problem with the Firefly system in our coach last weekend. I wanted to pass the info along to see if 1) anyone else has experienced this and 2) provide a heads up in case it happens to someone else.

We arrived at a campground after about a 3 hour road trip. After hooking up, I went to turn on some lights inside the coach and found the main Firefly panel "frozen". I disconnected power and flipped the batteries off to "reboot" the system. After turning everything back on, the Firefly system refused to start up - I was seeing a red backlight on all of the panels and on the breaker panel for the system.

I opened the inverter and BCC compartments and found the fault light blinking red on the Inverter Bridge (I believe this is the device that integrates the inverter and Firefly system).

Long story short, it started working again on its own about 2 hours later. I need to call the Firefly folks to get their take on it - haven't had time to do that yet. I did contact Magnum (inverter manufacturer) who confirmed that the symptoms I saw were indicative of a failure of the Firefly system. The system has been fine ever since.

The good news is that all 120v systems, the slides, and all chassis 12v items were fine. The bad news is that we have no lights, no HVAC, and no water heater without the Firefly system operational since all are controlled by the system.

sorry we have not had this problem (yet..knock wood!) but thanks for the heads up in case it does happen, we'll know what to do.

JohnH12 · 05-09-2017, 05:44 AM

2017 Discovery 38K here.
The first day after we brought it home we couldn't turn on the forward A/C unit and the reading lights over the couch and dinette all came on when we turned off the water pump.
The dealer reprogrammed the system but it failed again while we were there to pick it up again.
They finally took a good master panel (in the half bath) from a unit on the lot and it now works sort of OK but we don't have any reading lights over the couch, dinette, sink, and in either wardrobe.
We took it on a short trip to Charleston, SC and will return it tomorrow for a front end alignment and to try to get all the lights working.
They said Firefly is a new system and they're still working out the bugs. I'm not sure just how new it is but the Fleetwood folks don't seem to know much about it.
I read another post where the control panel is extremely sensitive to static electricity. I was told the have improved the grounding throughout the system. We'll see if that's an issue this winter.

alank · 05-10-2017, 08:42 PM

Haven't had any issues with the Firefly system, but keep us posted on what you find out from Firefly.

pghbob · 05-11-2017, 05:14 AM

On another note - does anyone think it's odd that the main control panel doesn't have a back light for the main control panel? Not the panel itself - but the "outer" controls where you select the system to enter. Makes it very difficult to see what system you are accessing at night (without a flashlight). I would have thought that would be back lit to some degree.

alank · 05-11-2017, 07:19 AM

In the dark I've been able to hold my hand in front of the backlighting to reflect enough light back on the unlite buttons to see which one I need. Not the best system but works, backlighting would be better.
Where you really need the flashlight is when the backlighting is turned off, you need a flashlight to see what button to push to turn the backlighting on so you can see what button you need to push. Looks like a great system as long as everything works, can be really bad if it goes down.
My only big problem so far has been a water heater that didn't work. Some how the dealer got it reset and it started working without actually doing anything to it. I did everything at the campground that the tech. said he did, but it didn't work for me. Hope these systems aren't full of gremlins.

pghbob · 05-12-2017, 05:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alank

In the dark I've been able to hold my hand in front of the backlighting to reflect enough light back on the unlite buttons to see which one I need. Not the best system but works, backlighting would be better.
Where you really need the flashlight is when the backlighting is turned off, you need a flashlight to see what button to push to turn the backlighting on so you can see what button you need to push. Looks like a great system as long as everything works, can be really bad if it goes down.
My only big problem so far has been a water heater that didn't work. Some how the dealer got it reset and it started working without actually doing anything to it. I did everything at the campground that the tech. said he did, but it didn't work for me. Hope these systems aren't full of gremlins.

thanks for the reply alank - I'll try that but the issue has been with the backlight dimmed down - there's barely enough light to see anything.

As for the water heater - I assume you have the Truma? We initially had similar problem and when in for warranty work the tech said we had a blown fuse (or breaker?). He showed me where that breaker was (control panel in master BR) but since then we have had no issues. You just need to make sure you are turned on 1) on the unit itself and of course 2) on the firefly system. Hope this helps, good luck and happy glamping!

alank · 05-12-2017, 06:08 PM

pghbob, on my unit the Truma has three places to turn it on or off. The Firefly panel, a round rotating knob with 5 settings in the rear bath and third one on the Trauma heater. You might want to see if you have the round knob somewhere. Mine was inside a rear bath cabinet. The round knob gets a light in it when working and that's what I couldn't get to come on. All other lights on switches were on.

My firefly backlight is adjusted on the bright side.

Have you worked your way through the Lightbar Control Unit Insturment Panel?
Owners Manual Instructions are very poor in my opinion.

anav8or · 05-12-2017, 07:03 PM

I've seen a couple of folks mention a knob control for the Truma, but our '17 40G doesn't appear to have one. Any other 40G owners have one?

alank · 05-12-2017, 08:43 PM

My impression of the knob is that it's part of the Trauma heater system. My knob has five settings: ECO HEAT, REGULAR HEAT, OFF, WINTERIZE, & CLEAN

JohnH12 · 05-13-2017, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alank

pghbob, on my unit the Truma has three places to turn it on or off. The Firefly panel, a round rotating knob with 5 settings in the rear bath and third one on the Trauma heater. You might want to see if you have the round knob somewhere. Mine was inside a rear bath cabinet. The round knob gets a light in it when working and that's what I couldn't get to come on. All other lights on switches were on.

My firefly backlight is adjusted on the bright side.

Have you worked your way through the Lightbar Control Unit Insturment Panel?
Owners Manual Instructions are very poor in my opinion.

I also have not seen a knob in the bath area for the Truma. We have the Comfort model in our Discovery. It may be a Comfort Plus feature.
The LBCU is another story in itself.
I had all sorts of trouble getting to the "category" section to select what I wanted.
Freightliner said I should be able to highlight the line I want to change and hold the knob to the right for 3 seconds and it would go to the category page.
I found that I could only do that if the highlighted line was on the top and there are a couple of lines that cannot be changed.
Freightliner said something is wrong with the LBCU so I need to take the coach to an authorized repair center so they could troubleshoot and replace the unit if necessary.
Isn't technology a wonderful thing?!!!

anav8or · 05-13-2017, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnH12

I also have not seen a knob in the bath area for the Truma. We have the Comfort model in our Discovery. It may be a Comfort Plus feature.
The LBCU is another story in itself.
I had all sorts of trouble getting to the "category" section to select what I wanted.
Freightliner said I should be able to highlight the line I want to change and hold the knob to the right for 3 seconds and it would go to the category page.
I found that I could only do that if the highlighted line was on the top and there are a couple of lines that cannot be changed.
Freightliner said something is wrong with the LBCU so I need to take the coach to an authorized repair center so they could troubleshoot and replace the unit if necessary.
Isn't technology a wonderful thing?!!!

Interesting...I only have the on/off switch on the Firefly panel and a 3-position rocker switch on the Truma heater itself - Eco / Off / Comfort. No dial that I've seen.

I read through the LBCU section of the chassis manual and it made my brain hurt. Haven't messed with it yet. I installed my ScanGauge, scrolled the LBCU to three lines I wanted to see and left it at that. Honestly, the placement of the LCBU at the bottom of the instrument panel puts it behind the steering wheel anyway.

CWSWine · 05-13-2017, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alank

My impression of the knob is that it's part of the Trauma heater system. My knob has five settings: ECO HEAT, REGULAR HEAT, OFF, WINTERIZE, & CLEAN

Mine has the same settings and it has tablets you use to clean the water heater coils by putting the knob in clean mode.

They must be knew since I brought mine if for repair in Dallas Fleetwood factory repair and ask about the tablets and only one person had seen the system and that was in a recent training class.