Our First Coach Issues - 2019 Anthem

[Dippelj]

Door lock update,

Well, I’m not sure I have any more info yet...my coach was in for service yesterday and I’m now back in the Entegra parking lot. They tell me they have the door lock fixed and it was 2 wires reversed. I won’t know until I take it for a drive. Wish I had more info. Seems like that was just too easy a fix but I’m trying to be optimistic.

[Gary.Jones]

This is not the first instance of reversed wires. In fact, it is the seventh or eighth different version of miswired systems previously reported. I hope that is the fix for the whole door lock issue.

Gary

[dcphil_98]

Originally Posted by Gary.Jones

This is not the first instance of reversed wires. In fact, it is the seventh or eighth different version of miswired systems previously reported. I hope that is the fix for the whole door lock issue.

Gary

Entegra production must have a reversal problem. On our kitchen faucet, cold was hot and hot was cold even though the pipes were the right color. Simple mistake but it makes you wonder if they are paying attention.

[chasingsixty]

Originally Posted by Dippelj

Door lock update,

Well, I’m not sure I have any more info yet...my coach was in for service yesterday and I’m now back in the Entegra parking lot. They tell me they have the door lock fixed and it was 2 wires reversed. I won’t know until I take it for a drive. Wish I had more info. Seems like that was just too easy a fix but I’m trying to be optimistic.

That is great to hear but almost sounds too easy. Can you confirm you're having the same problem as me?

Our problem is this: When you start the vehicle, disengage the parking break, the doors start their lock sequence approximately 10 secs later. You will hear the air lock immediately, then you will hear the main lock solenoid engage, then cargo bays will all lock down, then our door unlocks and starts this cycle again.

A few important items to note. This problem does not show itself:

• If the vehicle has been plugged in
• If the dash (front of the coach) air conditioner is running
• If the battery merge button is pressed

Is what I'm describing above (doors lock/unlock/lock/unlock) the same problem you were facing? They believe they have resolved the issue?

You can test if they have resolved the issue with the information below. Might want to try before you leave?

To reproduce the problem on Friday for the techs here at National Indoor, we had to:

• Disconnect from shore power (letting batteries drain a bit)
• Turn on all the headlights
• Turn on the inverter
• Heat up water in the microwave for 5 minutes
• Move the front two seats continuously for five minutes

After the above actions we had enough drain on the battery to reliably reproduce the problem. Once the battery is low enough, you can reproduce the problem by:

• Apply and hold the brakes
• Start the vehicle (keep holding brakes)
• Disengage the parking break
• Listen for the front locks to complete their cycle
• Move the passenger and drivers seats up-and-down

If the front lock sequence does not occur within approximately 10 secs from disengaging the parking break then the battery or charge isn't yet high enough (meaning the batteries were drained too much). You have to wait a little bit with the engine running for the lock sequence to happen (door locks, all cargo bay lock). THEN, move your seats and the door will unlock again.. causing the problem.

The door is NOT supposed to unlock. When the door unlocks, it's a indicator that the problem has occurred.

[Gasman 2]

Ben Chasingsixty,

Have they considered an open ground on a component or system as the problem?

When your connected to shore power the ground and neutral are connected together on the buss bar in the shore power panel.

Just a thought, I know there must be many talented people working on this.

Richard

[chasingsixty]

Originally Posted by Dippelj

Well, I’m not sure I have any more info yet...my coach was in for service yesterday and I’m now back in the Entegra parking lot. They tell me they have the door lock fixed and it was 2 wires reversed. I won’t know until I take it for a drive. Wish I had more info. Seems like that was just too easy a fix but I’m trying to be optimistic.

To recap, I had already created a couple videos to demonstrate the various ways our door behaves. For instance, this video demonstrates when we have just enough charge that we can reliably cause our door to cycle by drawing power. In this video we tried to demonstrate when the door just starts randomly cycling (lock/unlock/lock/unlock).

We have learned a lot about the problem since we made those videos. National Indoor has spent many hours trying to isolate the problem. Entegra / Spartan have blamed each other. Then, last I heard from Spartan, they said Entegra agreed it was an issue with Entegra's equipment. (Entegra has not responded for >24hrs in which I asked them to confirm they are indeed accepting responsibility for a fix.)

Whoever finally accepts its their fix - it's going to be challenging to cause and even more difficult to know it's resolved. I spent many hours today trying to document how to reproduce the issue. I must confess, after almost 45 minutes I was unable to reliably get my locks to cycle. Our coach had been on battery power all night and the charge was too high. We finally went to run errands. By the time we had returned, the coach was too 'dead' for the locks to cycle. Instead, when it becomes this low, the lock system stops working completely. The locks only cycle for extended periods of time somewhere in between these two points. In either case, I hope this video demonstrates how to reproduce and identify the problem is happening. It's really easy for a service center to think the problem is resolved because it stops happening randomly.

The video is here.

Hope that helps!

[757driver]

If it is Entegra’s problem then it sure sounds like a poor ground or loose wiring somewhere. Good luck getting this solved.

[chasingsixty]

Originally Posted by Gasman 2

Have they considered an open ground on a component or system as the problem?

I think anything is on the table right now. This only happens when not connected to shore power and the parking brake is not engaged. In fact, it only happens when the batteries have had a chance to drain a bit. The symptoms suggest to me that it is related to state of charge but I certainly do not have enough information to know for sure.

A few people have now suggested they are having the same issue. If we all do share the same issue then this seems less likely to be a faulty wire and more likely a faulty configuration or component. There's no way Entegra makes the same loose-cable mistake on all the new push-button-start 2019 coaches. It's gotta be something they are overlooking with their hookup.

Originally Posted by 757driver

If it is Entegra’s problem then it sure sounds like a poor ground or loose wiring somewhere. Good luck getting this solved.

Yeah - I think that's a possibility. Certainly, I don't have enough information to know. As I mentioned above, if it was just a loose cable then it wouldn't have such specific characteristics (I'd think?). For instance, I wouldn't think I'd be able to 'reliably' reproduce it. Instead, I'd think the behavior would be more random? I also feel like a loose cable wouldn't be likely across lots of different people. If I was the only person experiencing this specific behavior then I'd definitely think it's a wire someone didn't secure. However, if multiple people are having this problem it feels more like a misconfiguration or something was overlooked this year about how the modules are getting power?

The techs here at National Indoor are on a mission to find answers. I've had lots of smart folks looking at it and they have checked ground across the board. Still looking for answers but it's not an 'easy' one.

I hope Jim (who's at Entegra right now) will be able to reproduce the issue again so that Entegra doesn't just blow this off. It's a booger to reproduce. I spent 45 minutes trying to get it to happen yesterday.. Wouldn't happen. Decided to go dump my tanks and test-drive for our other items getting fixed. GUESS WHAT!? It starts happening as I pull out of the parking lot. I immediately stop, whip out the camera, and start recording... It stops happening. My coach is doing this on purpose! What a jerk!

[Rollin101]

Originally Posted by Gasman 2

Ben Chasingsixty,

Have they considered an open ground on a component or system as the problem?

When your connected to shore power the ground and neutral are connected together on the buss bar in the shore power panel.

Just a thought, I know there must be many talented people working on this.

Richard

Richard, I don't believe the ground and neutral are connected in the power panel, in a mh, like they are in a house.

[Dippelj]

Ben,
To answer your question I think from what you described to me we are dealing with a similar issue. I hope I have good news for all of us.....This morning I took a short drive with the coach and when I took the parking break off and started to drive, the door locked. When I stopped and applied the parking brake it unlocked. It did not repeatedly lock and unlock while driving so I’m thinking it’s behaving normally? Now, that being said, I only drove it from the Entegra overnight parking area to the dump station and back and I had been plugged into shore power all night. I will likely only really know when I leave here on Wednesday and do my 8 hour drive home.
I will continue to keep everyone posted as I learn more. I sent Ted and Stacey an email letting them know about Jose switching the wires and my report Friday that it was fixed so I am hoping they will have someone look at it tomorrow and indeed confirm it is a fix that will hold.

Happy Mother’s Day to all,
Jim

[Gary.Jones]

Jim

From Bens description and video of the problem, he says if you are on shore power all night, then the lock alternating is not going to happen.... it is only if you have been off shore power for long enough with enough drain on the house batteries to drop the voltage somewhat, then that is when his starts. Did I misunderstand.... it sounded like you were hanging on commercial power all night...?

Gary

[Gasman 2]

Originally Posted by Rollin101

Richard, I don't believe the ground and neutral are connected in the power panel, in a mh, like they are in a house.

Tom,

My reference to the neutral and ground connected to a common buss bar is on the source of the shore power not the coach itself.

My thinking is, what Is different when connected to shore power that makes the issue go away?

My question is the shore power providing a missing ground? Or maybe the extra voltage from the charges?

Thanks for responding to my post.
Hoping they figure out chasingsixty
Issue soon.

Richard

[chasingsixty]

Originally Posted by Dippelj

This morning I took a short drive with the coach and when I took the parking break off and started to drive, the door locked. When I stopped and applied the parking brake it unlocked.

I took an additional video (you can see it here) which coincides with the behavior you are seeing. Specifically, if you do not take the coach off shore power for a reasonable amount of time and put some drain on the batteries you might not see the problem.

My coach had been on shore power all night. I initial intended to make a video showing the immediate steps to reproduce. After 45 minutes of having my coach off shore power and trying to drain the batteries enough to cause the problem, it still wasn't enough. It was >100deg in the coach so we decided to leave it unplugged and go run errands. When we returned about 3.5hrs later the coach had drawn enough power to cause the problem.

In that video, I go into good detail about how to identify the characteristics of the issue and some of our findings about when it might stop happening. For instance, if you press your battery boost button and your engine does not detect a power change (and ramp up RPM's), then you will be unable to reproduce this issue because your engine is already "merged"

I'm really hoping you're able to reproduce this behavior and put it back under their noses. It's going to be a nightmare for Entegra to try to figure out if they do not have a coach there with the problem happening.

Also - If you don't mind - please share the techs name who swapped wires so that I can share their details with the techs here. If it's only a swapped wire problem - boy, that will be amazing! We'll have them swap those wires here and I can try to reproduce this locally.

Originally Posted by Gary.Jones

it is only if you have been off shore power for long enough with enough drain on the house batteries to drop the voltage somewhat, then that is when his starts.

To clarify - we do not know which batteries need to drain so we have been attempting to drain both. Specifically, we pull the plug from shore power, flip on the inverter -and- turn on the headlights. Another way I've been drawing from the chassis battery is I've been keeping my dash in "accessory" mode and running the AC fan (engine is off).

Make sure to turn the AC off when doing any testing. When the techs were looking at my coach, we found that having the AC on was preventing the problem from happening. I was unable to reproduce this later even though the techs observed the behavior reliably all afternoon.

Originally Posted by Gasman 2

My thinking is, what Is different when connected to shore power that makes the issue go away?

I don't think it's specifically related to shore power. In the video I reference above, you can see that I show the issue not manifesting while plugged into shore power and when we are not plugged into shore power. I believe you must unplug from shore power because you need the batteries to lose power and they will charge if you are plugged in.

Please understand, I'm not being dismissive and I have no idea what's wrong yet. I sincerely appreciate any suggestions from anyone. We are so very close to having the perfect coach. I have a list of other poo to get fixed up but all of it is normal "new coach" stuff.

[Dippelj]

Tech working on the coach ....Jose