Here's another project from 2014.
I call this one
the case of the wacko thermostat.
For those following along, you know that we purchased a 2003 Revolution that needed some TLC. Once we brought the Rev home, I began working on the issues one at a time.
The Issue
The thermostat that controls the AC and Heater on the Rev is located in the bedroom at the rear of the coach. It has 2 zones. Zone 1 is in the bedroom/bathroom area and Zone 2 is the front of the coach. There is a remote temp sensor about mid coach for zone 2.
This issue didn't materialize during our pre-purchase inspection. Now, the thermostat was a bit funky during the inspection but that was because of the issues with the house batteries. I reviewed that project
here.
As I was working on things, I would run the AC from time to time. What would happen is the thermostat in the bedroom would lock up. You couldn't adjust anything on it. Only way to get it to work was pull the 12V connection to it. Guess we better figure out what is going on.
First thing I checked was the thermostat itself. I just happened to have another one. Reason I had it is the previous owner had problems with it not working and his RV dealer told him to replace it. Well it really didn't fix the problem as you'll see.
Next thing to check was the wiring. So, I got out my trusty schematics to see where in the world the control wiring ran. Checked the thermostat connections, pulled the covers on the AC units and checked connections, and pulled the cover for the 2 heaters to check. Nothing obvious.
Let's do a some research on iRV2.com. (You may have noticed a theme developing with me researching on iRV2. This forum is a goldmine of info!). I came across a couple of posts telling about weird things happening in their coach from bad fluorescent ballasts in the overhead lights. Hmmmmm?
Armed with that lead, I went out to the coach and started seeing if the lights might be causing interference that would lock up the thermostat. My testing was to make sure the thermostat still worked, turn on one light, and then go make sure the thermostat worked. I repeated the process for every light in the coach.
As I started my test, the very first light (in the bedroom) caused the thermostat to lock. Well, that's promising. Let's see if we can repeat it. Reset the thermostat and make sure it works. Turn the light back on and see if I can adjust the thermostat. Nope! OK, that light is causing problems.
I repeated this testing on the remainder of the lights. I found one other in the gallery area that also caused the thermostat to lock up.
The cause has been found!
How to correct?
Now that I know what is causing the thermostat to lock up, I need to decide how to correct it. Guess I could replace the ballast. Naw. Let's use this as a reason to start upgrading the lights to LED!
Just so happened I had recently read the articles and watched the videos from TheRVGeeks.com on
changing over to LED. Nice!
I went with there recommendation on using M4.com. It happened to be close to Thanksgiving 2014. I noticed that M4 would have a Black Friday sale with 15% off of their LED products. Might as well wait for it.
I placed the oder and the replacement LEDs arrived in about 3 days. The instructions were easy to read and the retrofit was straight forward. I replaced the 2 bad fluorescent lights and all the smaller reading lights over the couch, above the sink, above the dining table, and in the bedroom.
With the new lights in, let's test and see if the thermostat still works. Flipped the light switch on the 2 replaced tube lights. Thermostat continued to work! Yeah!
Wrapping it up
I didn't replace all of the florescent bulbs on the first go. I needed to spend money on other more pressing items. However, in November 2015, I hit that year's M4 Black Friday sale and replaced the remainder of the interior lights with LEDs.
Just FYI. I went with the warm white LEDs. Very happy with the color.
I also replaced the exterior porch lights at the same time. Other than the basement lights and the docking lights, we're now totally LED with the house lights (haven't messed with the headlights, marker lights, or tails lights... yet!). I can tell you that the power draw of the LEDs are a small percent of the incandescent and florescent draw and has had a positive impact on battery charge life.
That wraps up this riveting episode.
So, until next time, take care!