I must be jinxed!

[Motorhead-54]

I must be jinxed! Returned from a two week vacation in our 2012 Aspire RBQ on 25 July. I put the coach to bed until today as my wife went through total knee replacement surgery and recovery. Keep in mind that back in July when I threw the breakers on everything but the inverter and the dehumidifier the coach was 100% ready to roll when I shut it down.

Move forward to today and I open the coach up, flip on all three roof AC units and the middle one is not cooling. Great. Some quick troubleshooting and a trip up top and I discover one of my three SoftStart units has died and is not allowing the compressor to start. Talked to Softstart rep briefly and a new one is on the way. Problem #1

Problem #2 I go to the rear bath and notice the red light is on for the TECMA toilet….I am 100% sure the black tank is empty. Checked both the “high level” and “mid level” sensors for the toilet on the outside of the black tank and both are still attached. Tried the simple salesman switch reset and no joy. Not quite sure what I will do with this issue but likely will go the ten cent resistor high level sensor bypass route that others on this forum have mentioned in the past.

Problem #3 When I reset the power for the toilet troubleshooting problem the rear bath vent fan closed and I hear the gear box in the fan self destructing and then it spits a large chunk into the turning fan. I quickly turned the fan off and see no signs of any other damage to the fan. Luckily I have a spare MaxxAir vent gearbox. Just a trip up on the roof and a 15 minute fix. Guess I will combine it with the Softstart replacement….

And I thought my coach was 100% ready to roll!

[brobox]

Yep, sounds like storage in the heat of FL. We don't have to winterize, but summer storage is equivalent to 10,000 miles without moving. Been there and know how you feel.

[Dr. Mike]

I understand the first issue, and I just replaced the gear assembly on my fan a few weeks ago.
Can someone explain the toilet issue?

Be safe

Dr. MIke

[Motorhead-54]

Originally Posted by Dr. Mike

I understand the first issue, and I just replaced the gear assembly on my fan a few weeks ago.
Can someone explain the toilet issue?

Be safe

Dr. MIke

TECMA toilet has two sensors attached to the outside of black tank, one for mid way full and one for full. When sensor fails it sets a red full light on TECMA flush panel in bathroom. See thread below for details…..

https://www.irv2.com/forums/f278/the...nd-404405.html

[Lt Dan]

I occasionally have the same red light issue with our toilet. It's always cleared up after a short flush with the black tank wash. It's probably caused by dried gunk on the tank walls causing a false sensor reading. I did one of our long day drives earlier this year with a half tank and the Calgon/Dawn cleaning method and have not had it occur since.

[RonandDeb]

The softstart issue is what bothers me the most. I only have one AC and just installed the softstart over the weekend.

How long did you have it before it 'died'? Being without AC in the summer is not a good thought and if these things aren't designed to go the distance, I'm removing it.

[Motorhead-54]

Originally Posted by Lt Dan

I occasionally have the same red light issue with our toilet. It's always cleared up after a short flush with the black tank wash. It's probably caused by dried gunk on the tank walls causing a false sensor reading. I did one of our long day drives earlier this year with a half tank and the Calgon/Dawn cleaning method and have not had it occur since.

I would tend to disagree. I am religious about staying ahead of black tank cleaning. It always gets an extended long flush when we pull up stakes and head home from a trip. We also put in a quart of the 99 cent Walmart generic pinesol in the tank with 4-5 gallons of water for the last leg of any trip before the final dump and flush.

The link I posted above tells me the red light is a common problem.

But….just to be sure…..I will run another extended rinse and drain cycle today as the tank has been completely dry for nearly two months now.

[Motorhead-54]

Originally Posted by RonandDeb

The softstart issue is what bothers me the most. I only have one AC and just installed the softstart over the weekend.

How long did you have it before it 'died'? Being without AC in the summer is not a good thought and if these things aren't designed to go the distance, I'm removing it.

You do bring up a valid point. I added the SoftStart to all three of my Dometic Penguin II AC units a little over a year ago. My reason wasn't to be able to start two units on 30 amps as is the common reason people install these but rather in my case to get rid of the annoying "thump" when the compressor kicks on. I had the annoying thump x3 from the inrush current on the Penguin II units and the SoftStart completely eliminated it. I was a bit surprised to find that one of the three I had purchased failed at just over a year but.....

I placed a trouble ticket after 5pm on a Friday night. I had a response to that ticket less than 2 hours later. "Danny" from SoftStartRV called me the very next morning (Saturday) and after a few questions was confident that my unit had failed and had a new one shipped out the very same day arriving on Monday. I could not have asked for better tech support than what I received from SoftStartRV.

Like anything else on these coaches, when you add more technology you are just introducing new potential failure points. Yes I think the failure at one year was disappointing and hopefully they are adding robustness to their design and I hope not to see it again. I'll call it "infant mortality" for the moment. In my case I left the OEM starting capacitor in the AC unit on the roof and could have simply wired it back in to get by if I had needed that AC while I awaited a replacement SoftStart.

[Gary.Jones]

I would never, ever leave my tanks "completely dry" for any period of time. In fact, as soon as I empty the black tank, I immediately add at least 4-5 gallons of clean water to the black tank to keep anything remaining "wet" and immersed. IMO, you are asking for stuff remaining to dry and cause problems if your black tank is left "completely empty", because no process makes it completely empty.... that is an illusion.

In 8 years of following this process I have never had a tank problem.

Gary

[Motorhead-54]

Originally Posted by Gary.Jones

I would never, ever leave my tanks "completely dry" for any period of time. In fact, as soon as I empty the black tank, I immediately add at least 4-5 gallons of clean water to the black tank to keep anything remaining "wet" and immersed. IMO, you are asking for stuff remaining to dry and cause problems if your black tank is left "completely empty", because no process makes it completely empty.... that is an illusion.

In 8 years of following this process I have never had a tank problem.

Gary

Lots of others have had same "Red" light issue.... https://www.irv2.com/forums/f278/the...nd-404405.html

Not a dirty tank issue.....it is a TECMA sensor failure issue. I can either put the 10 cent resistor inline as VoltDoctor has done or I can buy the $175.00 TECMA sensor pair and "hope" that was the issue. Could also be the $135.00 control board. 10 cent resistor is my likely choice.

[Motorhead-54]

I had a chance today to clean up my three issues from the start of this thread.

#1. Installed replacement SoftStart and all is fine now with center roof AC unit…works as it should.

#2. Replaced rear bath vent gearbox…simple repair…..done.

#3. TECMA toilet red light issue….Out of curiosity I sent my HiDef borescope down the half-bath toilet which essentially drops straight into the black tank….no residue anywhere. That tank is squeaky clean on all the walls and little to nothing on the floor of the tank. I snipped the two wires from the TECMA “full” sensor on the outside of the black tank and inserted the 640ohm resistor…red light is gone now…problem solved.

Of course it never ends…..used a Swiffer WetJet to mop the tile floors and the LP/CO alarm went crazy. We’ve used that mop dozens of times in the past so not sure why the alarm became angry but no attempt to reset it worked. Ordered a new $75.00 sensor today….the angry one had a 2017 date stamp on it…sticker says it should have lasted 60 months….I also managed to pop the fuse for that circuit when deinstalling the alarm…..took a while to find it….front outside fuse compartment….lower fuse box…fuse #4 if anyone might be searching. Panel cover says it should be a 1amp fuse but mine had a 3amp….oh well.

[Georgefhou]

Ours is allergic to Lisol spray.

[dave&ginny]

Originally Posted by Gary.Jones

I would never, ever leave my tanks "completely dry" for any period of time. In fact, as soon as I empty the black tank, I immediately add at least 4-5 gallons of clean water to the black tank to keep anything remaining "wet" and immersed. IMO, you are asking for stuff remaining to dry and cause problems if your black tank is left "completely empty", because no process makes it completely empty.... that is an illusion.

In 8 years of following this process I have never had a tank problem.

Gary

I do the same Gary. I never let seals go dry

[Mr.Mark]

I'm sure things have changed since my TECMA. On my '08 Dynasty, when the red light would come on, I could flush by just holding the flush button for 10-15 seconds and it would force a flush.

I flushed and cleaned my black tank many times. What I found that worked was to 'overfill' my black tank with the back-flush feature. I would stay inside by the toilet and once it started gurgling (water coming up), I ran outside and pulled the black valve. Yep, it was a waste of water but it worked. It was like something didn't make it through the grinder or something and forcing water backwards through the toilet fixed it.

It would then go for a long time before I needed to do it again. Maybe, once a year. I found that so irritating..... just give me a regular toilet!

My Prevost had two electric flush toilets..... worked well but I know things can break. Hard to mess up a pedal flush! (that I have now).

Safe travels,
Mark