95 Affinity Electrical

[Brian H]

Shorty after inheriting our 95 Affinity I discovered the reason behind the majority of it's electrical problems.

An entire control board is missing! It has (or had) the relays and connections for a multitude a functions. To name a few: turn signal flasher, a/c fans and compressor, Jake brake, trailer lighting, radio, all the dash panel warning lights....the list goes on.

I have the service manual that shows where the board was located but it does not have a specific schematic just for the board. I tried the newly reopened CC parts dept. and a few other surplus stores but since I don't have the actual part number on the board, I'm pretty much out of luck.

Hopefully, someone here with another Affinity can find this number and help me track one of these down. It might even be possible to have new board made by the same company!

Here is a scan of the manual showing where the "Front Compartment Board" was located:


Dean was kind enough to post a scan of his 95 Magna panel (thanks Dean!). Looks like the Affinity is a little different as the Magna doesn't have the same control board:

[TQ60]

It could be a possibility that the board was never there, could have been an option.

Next comment, our 1989 SE has a box in the overhead in front of the window that contains a handful of cards, they do things like power the fuel guage and who knows what else, but they are simple, a few diodes, a relay or 2, and a couple transistors.

Your board may be a simple thing that could be made by someone who tinkers with breadboards if you can get a scematic, or some real good high res photos of both sides of one.

Last resort, but an option

[deandec]

Someone else had the problem last April so I took the pictures below.

I do not recall a part number visible on the "control board". But with some wire tracing you might be able to have it recreated. Perhaps the board is not necessary on your rig?

I have no schematics in my manual for that control board. (Some schematics just never got to the manual on the Magna).


Control Board (Sorry, I cannot get orientation rotated when transferred from Photobucket)







Front run Board (including Control Board)

[deandec]

The "Control Board" appears to be a couple of terminal blocks on the bottom half with ground wires connected.

The upper part appears to be relays that may be elsewhere on your rig. The Magna does not have a rear run board, but the Affinity may have?

[Brian H]

Originally Posted by deandec

The "Control Board" appears to be a couple of terminal blocks on the bottom half with ground wires connected.

The upper part appears to be relays that may be elsewhere on your rig. The Magna does not have a rear run board, but the Affinity may have?

Your Magna appears to have all those relays and connections mounted directly to the panel individually. The Affinity has a separate circuit board that combines those relays along with all those terminal block connections.

When I was tracking down all the problems, it dawned on me that this board was missing....for whatever reason.

I ended up wiring in some relays in place if the missing board so I could get all the important systems back online. However there are still a number of things that don't work simply because my service manual doesn't show all the connections involved.

Originally Posted by deandec

Someone else had the problem last April so I took the pictures below.

I do not recall a part number visible on the "control board". But with some wire tracing you might be able to have it recreated. Perhaps the board is not necessary on your rig?

I have no schematics in my manual for that control board. (Some schematics just never got to the manual on the Magna).


Control Board (Sorry, I cannot get orientation rotated when transferred from Photobucket)







Front run Board (including Control Board)

That was me! Thanks for all you help...again!

You know if I can't find the correct board, these pictures will be very helpful. My service manual doesn't show the schematic for all those terminal block connections. I might be able to zoom in and get the wire/circuit numbers and restore some functions! You can also get an idea of how many connections I still have yet to hookup.

Originally Posted by TQ60

It could be a possibility that the board was never there, could have been an option.

Yeah, I wondered that too at first but it was definitely there. I can tell something was screwed down on the panel and there are 2 or 3 big connector bundles unplugged.

Thanks for the help! This place is so cool!

Brian

[deandec]

Brian

I suspect the wiring of the Affinity and the Magna in those years was not significantly different. Especially on the chassis side of things.

I can spend a bit of time to try and record the wire numbers on the relays if you so desire.

Have you inquired at Country Coach (the new company) in Junction City or at Oregon Motorcoach Center (Owned by Bob Lee, CC founder) in Eugene?

[Brian H]

Originally Posted by deandec

Brian

I suspect the wiring of the Affinity and the Magna in those years was not significantly different. Especially on the chassis side of things.

I can spend a bit of time to try and record the wire numbers on the relays if you so desire.

Have you inquired at Country Coach (the new company) in Junction City or at Oregon Motorcoach Center (Owned by Bob Lee, CC founder) in Eugene?

I have contacted CC. Jim Cooley and I had a long conversation as well as quite a few emails. Due to the major changes in the last few years, the documentation just wasn't available anymore and without any part numbers, there wasn't much he could do. He even went out of his way to try and find a similar year Affinity but the 97 he found was quite different.

He did however tell me he knows the company that made the boards for CC back then. They are still in buisnass and might have the schematic and/or blue prints...if only I could find the part number.

Thanks for offerning the send me those circuit numbers! I'll let you know if I need them.

Brian

[RV Wizard]

Originally Posted by Brian H

I have contacted CC. Jim Cooley and I had a long conversation as well as quite a few emails. Due to the major changes in the last few years, the documentation just wasn't available anymore and without any part numbers, there wasn't much he could do. He even went out of his way to try and find a similar year Affinity but the 97 he found was quite different.

He did however tell me he knows the company that made the boards for CC back then. They are still in buisnass and might have the schematic and/or blue prints...if only I could find the part number.

Thanks for offerning the send me those circuit numbers! I'll let you know if I need them.

Brian

Brian, fax or email the page of your manual of the board to Jim. There may be some info there that can help identify a part number for the board.

[Brian H]

Update!

I have to give a huge shout out to Dennis (Snowbird1) for sending me this:



This my friends is the elusive Affinity Front Control Board! Thanks Dennis!!!

I forwarded the pictures to the CC parts dept and they were able to find the original drawings & schematics. Turns out this panel was made "in house" at the time. Obviously, it's not available and they're not set up to manufacture one for me either.

Good thing is, I'm pretty handy so if I can't find one at a surplus place I'll just make this thing myself now that I have all the drawings.

Brian

[TQ60]

Looks like it is just a collection of low to mid power relays mounted on a circuit board to make for easy and inexpensive installation.

The leds look to have limiting resistors there, so they look like simple indicators of whatever the connector goes to.

The other connectors look like they match the relays, a flasher in the bottom corner and what looks like a choke for filtering.

Does NOT seem to have any active components, so just relays and connectors.

A couple options, one of course would be the scratch build the board.

There are perf boards that have all of the holes so ading components are easy.

The connectors look like a DigiKey item.

Another option would be to build a "din rail" system, this is a standard system that uses a rail with snap on components.

Look at what DigiKey has to offer, you need to find a connector that will plug into what you have in your coach, or what is on the board, the drawings you have may identify the connector.

Once you have the connectors you add them to a cable to extend them to where you make your din system, then you can fan it out to the different relays you place there.

There are many options available, you may be able to find PLC support devices that have multiple relays on a single card that can be used.

Search "PLC", "Din Rail", "12 volt relay board" and see what yo can find.

These are common devices used by manufacturers of industrial products, you may be able to find enough parts to build something that looks better than factory, and will be servicable with off the shelf parts.

As mentioned before, it looks like a one size fits all board, so it may have relays and indicators for things not in your coach, so you will only need to build to support what options you have.

[Snowbird1]

Just wanted to say, the LED's on the right side of the board are indicators that show which bay door is open.