Community Forums

Gary.Jones · 03-07-2021, 08:18 AM

I have a situation that now has developed which is repeated each day and I'm not sure I understand what is causing it.

Here is what happens. Weather now in this area, is in the 60s and 70s in the day time, but in the high to middle 30s at night. My coach is parked in the driveway outside my house and plugged into 50A commercial service.

I have the inside coach temp set at 68 as we plan to use the coach in the next week and we are in and out of the coach moving in supplies etc. Now, I put all three heatpumps/AC units into heat pump mode and set the temps at 68. Every morning, I check the system remotely by VegaTouch. Every morning, the front and center zones of the coach are were I left them last night (in heat pump mode at 68 degrees). However, the rear heatpump/AC unit has switched from heat pump mode to AquaHot mode (I only am running the electric element to keep the basement at a much lower temp). Every morning.... the back unit switches to AquaHot heat sometime during the night. None or the other units do this.

Now, I think that I read somewhere, sometime, that if the ambient temp in a zone gets more than 2 degrees below a set point in that zone, that the VegaTouch software shifts from heat pump (because it is not keeping up (ambient falling behind set point) and the outside temp must be too low for the heat pump) so it shifts to AquaHot heat.

Does this happen to others? Am I right in what is happening? Is my rear heatpump just not working? Rear is the only zone that does this.... neither of the other two. I am just stumped on what is going on in this situation.

Any ideas?

Gary

brobox · 03-07-2021, 08:35 AM

Gary, doing our shake down last week I was having problem with the AC's not shutting down at the set temperature. Tried 12v reboot several times, it was still as cold as a meat locker. Lucky I got Mike O'Connell when I called Entegra. There is an HVAC "factory reset" that you put a check mark in the factory reset menu. Not sure where it is in setting, but that solved our problem. All zone temps are as they should be now. The HVAC reset may solve your situation.

Rollin101 · 03-07-2021, 08:37 AM

I think what you said is exactly what’s happening to your #3 unit although I think the spread is more like 5 degrees, but not sure.
Your #1&2 units may still be working down into 30’s.

buddy110 · 03-07-2021, 08:46 AM

Interesting. My middle unit switches from cool to auto. I'll switch it back and it continues to default to auto. Sounds as if this is a common problem

Gary.Jones · 03-07-2021, 09:03 AM

Chuck.... I'll look for that and see if that does anything.

J.H.... Well, that is what I was guessing but its hard to understand why the three units would be so different in either their efficiency or the change-over point but I guess that those differences may be within manufacturing tolerances. Hard to know. This is VERY consistent... it happens night after night the same way. Im trying to get an understanding if it is a VegaTouch problem or an AC/HP problem. I was assuming a VegaTouch problem, but you are pointing me toward an AC/HP variance. Both great suggestions.

JH you are also suggesting something I have never considered. If the switch to AH from HP is 5 degrees, then there sure is a difference in efficiency between the three HP units and I wonder again if the HP is simply not working on the back unit. I guess one of these nights, or on my next trip, I will turn them all off except for the rear unit and then pull an "all-nighter" and see what it is able to do.

I should have thought to do that when the ambient outside was 1 degree at 10:00 am about 10 days ago during the record setting winter freeze blow out !!!!

Gary

jeff.herren · 03-07-2021, 09:45 AM

It could be that the 5 degree difference that may auto enable a shift from HP to AH is happening on only the rear unit due to the fact that the rear gets colder first, due to the engine access.

So the engine access panel allows (in this case) the rear to cool faster, Vegatouch then switches the rear HP to AH which is then able to keep up with the heating needs in the rear which in turn assists the mid and front to be more capable of maintaining the heat request while staying on HP.

Gary.Jones · 03-07-2021, 10:24 AM

Another interesting possibility, Jeff. Thank you

I always think that the front third of the coach warms a lot faster than the rest of the coach and the front AC runs a lot more in the summer, but you raise the possibility that due to the engine access and openness to cold, the reverse may be true for heat in the winter..... Fascinating. I will need to consider that also.

Gary

jeff.herren · 03-07-2021, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary.Jones

Another interesting possibility, Jeff. Thank you

I always think that the front third of the coach warms a lot faster than the rest of the coach and the front AC runs a lot more in the summer, but you raise the possibility that due to the engine access and openness to cold, the reverse may be true for heat in the winter..... Fascinating. I will need to consider that also.

Gary

I agree, if only they didn't need that huge ole heat sink called the front windshield....

Rollin101 · 03-07-2021, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary.Jones

Chuck.... I'll look for that and see if that does anything.

J.H.... Well, that is what I was guessing but its hard to understand why the three units would be so different in either their efficiency or the change-over point but I guess that those differences may be within manufacturing tolerances. Hard to know. This is VERY consistent... it happens night after night the same way. Im trying to get an understanding if it is a VegaTouch problem or an AC/HP problem. I was assuming a VegaTouch problem, but you are pointing me toward an AC/HP variance. Both great suggestions.

JH you are also suggesting something I have never considered. If the switch to AH from HP is 5 degrees, then there sure is a difference in efficiency between the three HP units and I wonder again if the HP is simply not working on the back unit. I guess one of these nights, or on my next trip, I will turn them all off except for the rear unit and then pull an "all-nighter" and see what it is able to do.

I should have thought to do that when the ambient outside was 1 degree at 10:00 am about 10 days ago during the record setting winter freeze blow out !!!!

Gary

Try the rear when the outside temp is 40 or slightly above and see if it still switches from heat pump to Aquahot.

B-Man49 · 03-07-2021, 05:20 PM

Gary,

I had similar issue where I had rear heat pump on and not the aqua hot. I just happened to look at the climate control on the Vegatouch and found both the heat pump blowing heat and the aqua hot register on.
While at the AIM rally last week they had a fellow from Firefly. I told him about the issue and he mentioned that they are aware of the issue and are working on a fix. Update within the next couple of weeks.

jrugarber · 03-07-2021, 05:34 PM

Gary,

This attachment was placed in a Post referencing a similar question a few month's ago noting the 4 degree difference, alluded to by jeff.herren.

jrugarber · 03-07-2021, 05:36 PM

Must have forgot to hit upload for the picture the first time!

Gary.Jones · 03-07-2021, 05:38 PM

Bryan

Well then that is another distinct possibility..... a software glitch.

Excellent. Thanks for bringing it up with the VegaTouch factory rep and talking to him about it. That, all along was one of the most fundamental explanations of the problem, but as we see, there are three or four good explanations.

Gary

Gary.Jones · 03-07-2021, 05:43 PM

Now, there is another possibility presented by someone (John) who actually bothers to read the directions...... Yikes

Now we have the actual parameters that we should be seeing.... 4 minutes, not 2 or 5 (JH) and also after 20 minutes of trying to reach the set point.

Cheeseech, that is a lot more complicated than I remembered it to be...

Gary