Community Forums

HappyCamper7 · 10-19-2020, 08:41 PM

Has anyone had the control panels for the water heater, furnace and slide out blow out from the generator without blowing out the fuses in the control panels? I replaced four different control panels for the water heater before installing a voltage stabilizer. I have had no issues with the water heater since that time. It seems like the generator is causing the problems. I read somewhere about ripple current. Could this be causing the issue? I’m having problems finding an RV shop willing to tackle the slide out and potential generator issue. Thanks for your help.

Old-Biscuit · 10-20-2020, 06:04 PM

Dirty DC will cause havoc on circuit boards
Dirty DC is result of unfiltered DC
AC-DC Converters supply unfiltered DC and filtered DC outputs

AC Ripple is the result of AC being converted to DC
More then 6VAC on the DC Circuit will damage circuit boards
*AC Ripple is measured using a Voltmeter set to AC and then checking the DC circuit being supplied to the circuit board

FUSES
Protect from over amps not Ac-DC Ripple

As for your issue...
More details
Gen Brand/Model
Converter Brand/Model
Etc

tfryman · 10-20-2020, 06:09 PM

Ripple current on your DC buss is caused by your converter-charger.

The Generator creates a very large ripple voltage (about 340 volts peak-to-peak) at about 60 Hz when it is operating correctly. It is up to your converter to turn that into 12 - 15 VDC without ripple.

iluvuk · 10-20-2020, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HappyCamper7

Has anyone had the control panels for the water heater, furnace and slide out blow out from the generator without blowing out the fuses in the control panels? I replaced four different control panels for the water heater before installing a voltage stabilizer. I have had no issues with the water heater since that time. It seems like the generator is causing the problems. I read somewhere about ripple current. Could this be causing the issue? I’m having problems finding an RV shop willing to tackle the slide out and potential generator issue. Thanks for your help.

I have had the water heater control panel blow out. There was a defective panel shipped with the water heater model I have. That panel was part was replaced by a more robust part. Once I got that, no more problem. Sounds like you have a bigger problem than that however. You are getting some good advice from others here.

HappyCamper7 · 10-21-2020, 06:05 AM

Our furnace is now working on our Thor Palazzo. I don’t understand why since we were getting the three flashing red lights when we tried to use it this past weekend. I guess that control panel is fine.

I spoke with Lippert and they don’t think that my issue with the slide out has anything to do with the generator or ripple current. It appears that my original theory is not correct.

I’m getting an error code on the slide out controller that says “Hall power short to ground”. I see nine blinking red lights followed by one green light which I have been told means that my problem is in motor1. I visually inspected the wiring at both ends and don’t see any problems. However, I don’t know which motor is motor 1 and motor 2.

My slide will go in and out when I use the electronic manual override feature of the control board but the slide will stop about a quarter of an inch out as it it being extended. The lippert person told me that the wire connection can be fine when the wire is cold but short out when the wire heats up from use.

The RV shops are so busy right now. I’m struggling to find someone that can look at it in the next several weeks. The mobile technician I contacted doesn’t want to have anything to do with slide outs. I’m tempted to just purchase a control board from Amazon to isolate whether the issue is with the control board since I don’t see any issues with the wiring. I was told that I am not hurting anything by using the manual override feature to extend and retract the slide. Does this sound correct? Thanks for your help.

iluvuk · 10-21-2020, 10:11 AM

I have noticed that the power wire to my rear slide controller seems to drag along under the rear slide and rub on the floor. It looks to me to be at risk for being pinched or rubbed and shorting out. Have you checked for something like this? Trace the power wire.

HappyCamper7 · 10-21-2020, 09:19 PM

I was on the phone multiple times with Lippert and they have been very helpful. The motor at the rear of the driver side line is motor #1. We found where the wire was shorting out against the metal brace next to the slide and fixed it. Our elation was short lived. It turns out we had two error codes but the controller will only display one code. We now have 8 blinking red lights followed by two green lights which means we have a problem with the motor in the front. The technical support person is helping us isolate the problem via our volt meter and emailing us additional instructions. I have been very happy with their support. He has helped us prove that the controller is operating properly.

Corc · 10-22-2020, 06:00 PM

The generator in the Palazzo is an inverter based diesel. Highly unlikely that is the issue with your DC control boards. I would be more focused on your Magnum charger that is also a modified sine wave inverter.

I had an issue with inverter / charger reading low AC voltage and cutting out. Thor swapped it to a full Sine wave, which I thought was bunk, but it worked. Not your issue, but how the magnum creates DC from the AC source sounds like a better place to start.