Community Forums

DGP-Kansas · 05-11-2021, 09:47 PM

2005 Winnebago Sightseer 35’ Class A. Absent minded, MAY have gone over our 30 amp limit. We are plugged in to 50amp with an adapter. Intellitec EMS didn’t seem to off load anything.

Smelled electric burn/hot, then noticed display panel is totally dark. Everything else in RV works on shore power and generator. Checked in fuse panel found 3amp fuse blown. Tried replacing it, but3amp fuse on control panel keeps blowing. Unsure if could be just the control panel or something else. Could 50amp to 30amp adapter go bad and affect EMS?

No RV service person in the area (that we have found, Junction City, KS). Note, I only know basics of testing or understanding complicated electrical circuits, beyond replacing a fuse or maybe changing out a control board, but willing to try.

Control board is #620, and display panel is Powerline 2000. Hate to spend $200+ on new #620 control board if it’s something else and/or it continues to blow the 3amp fuse and/or burns out a new control board.

Any thoughts?

amosnandy · 05-16-2021, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DGP-Kansas

2005 Winnebago Sightseer 35’ Class A. Absent minded, MAY have gone over our 30 amp limit. We are plugged in to 50amp with an adapter. Intellitec EMS didn’t seem to off load anything.

Smelled electric burn/hot, then noticed display panel is totally dark. Everything else in RV works on shore power and generator. Checked in fuse panel found 3amp fuse blown. Tried replacing it, but3amp fuse on control panel keeps blowing. Unsure if could be just the control panel or something else. Could 50amp to 30amp adapter go bad and affect EMS?

No RV service person in the area (that we have found, Junction City, KS). Note, I only know basics of testing or understanding complicated electrical circuits, beyond replacing a fuse or maybe changing out a control board, but willing to try.

Control board is #620, and display panel is Powerline 2000. Hate to spend $200+ on new #620 control board if it’s something else and/or it continues to blow the 3amp fuse and/or burns out a new control board.

Any thoughts?

My guess is you have the same setup I have in my 2006 Journey 39K The Winnebago used that Intellitec EMS in most of their 50 amp coaches at that time. I have a Dimensions 2000 watt inverter and the display I think is a Powerline.

I had a situation I was parked at a city park, plugged into 50 amp and was just sitting watching TV. I heard a snap and all the outlets went dead. I started checking and everything on the 30 amp subpanel was dead. My display showed "inverter overload" and the red light was on. The charger still worked fine. Everything that ran on the 50 amp panel still worked. Heat/Cool, water heater, engine heater. I dug in and started checking voltage and found where the main panel fed the 30 amp sub panel. The sub panel is also fed by the 2000 watt inverter. I put a jumper to feed the sub panel, the outlets came back on but the invertor was still dead. I pulled the jumper off to test again and all the outlets fed by the 30 amp sub were working again but the invertor is still dead. The charger works fine. And yes, when this was all going on, I did smell hot electrical back there.

My guess is that yours did the same thing as mine. Somehow the EMS and the invertor overloaded or failed. My display still worked. If I'm understanding, your display does not, and therefore is not telling you if the convertor is charging the batteries? Can you tell if the batteries are charging?

I did stay all winter in Mexico on a 30 amp service and the EMS was working properly. It shut stuff down like it was supposed to. But also at times it would trip the parks 30 amp breaker. I know. We stretch the 30 amp in this park to the limit.

I called Winnebago and they walked me through some checks but came to no real conclusion.

It is there at the Factory Service center now and they verified the invertor had failed. They wanted to sell me a replacement 2000 watt invertor/charger and new display panel for $2200. I took a pass on that because the newer invertor chargers from Victron have a pass through feature which means if I'm on 15, 20, or 30 amp it will use what I am plugged into first and then the invertor will add power to make up the difference.

At this point, I would try and find out if the batteries are charging. Do you have the rocker switch that you show the house/chassis battery voltage? If that works you can easily tell if the batteries are charging. You should have 12.9 -13.4 volts on house batteries. If you don't have that you need to test voltage right at the batteries. Same thing. Either way you should have 12.9-13.4 volts. If you turn the shore power off and the voltage drops, you are charging. If your voltage is getting below 12 volts you are not charging and will shortly have dead house batteries. If they are not charging, the quick solution is to find a Walmart and buy a 25 amp battery charger and extension cord. You can charge the batteries and keep them up that way until you can get to a service shop. The batteries should charge when you are driving from the engine alternator.

Good luck.

YC1 · 05-16-2021, 02:46 PM

Post a few pictures please. There are several of us that have changed the load shedding boards out in our units but they may not be the same models.

puttin · 05-17-2021, 04:51 PM

If you need to talk to Intelletec, they have a support staff. It takes a little while but they will talk to you.

DGP-Kansas · 05-18-2021, 11:04 PM

No battery voltage display to check DC power. Will try to check the voltage “manually.” Only our display panel is out. Everything else appears to be working as normal. RV tech suggested first we disconnect shore power and also battery ground to also disconnect DC, see if that resets the EMS system. Seems unlikely to me if everything works except display panel and 3amp fuse, but… Then he suggested we pull display panel off (“4 screws” we can’t see, so not sure how display panel comes away from wall). With display panel off, told to look for wires touching (only 4 wires) which would blow 3amp fuse. Seems unlikely to me since elect-hot-burn smell was down in fuse panel (unless popping 3amp fuse puts out that much smell). But at least some things to try, including your suggestion of checking house batteries maintaining charge. Thanks for the suggestion, Amosnandy!

DGP-Kansas · 05-18-2021, 11:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YC1

Post a few pictures please. There are several of us that have changed the load shedding boards out in our units but they may not be the same models.

YC1 - can’t figure out how to post pictures!!??

DGP-Kansas · 05-18-2021, 11:15 PM

Photos might be attached/added. (Not sure. I’m about as goid with phone technology as I am with electricity!)

YC1 · 05-19-2021, 04:53 AM

https://www.irv2.com/forums/f54/inte...ng-242386.html

Good job on the pictures.

Here is a link to another discussion that may help.

YC1 · 05-19-2021, 05:41 AM

I don't quite understand your shoreline setup.

Is your RV a 30 amp or 50 amp??

In any case, this would not effect the ems panel blowing a fuse.

The ems panel only measures current when connected to 30 amp.. Normally that is for a 50 amp setup.

So the panel and relays come into play when you are on a 30 amp shoreline and the box then monitors the current demands and opens relays as necessary to keep the shoreline breaker from popping.

When a fuse that small fails it usually indicates a component failure.

Unplug from shoreline for safety and then put your voltmeter probe on the fuse and the other probe on a ground nearby. On one side of the fuse you should see 12 volts coming in. The other side with a blown fuse in place of course will see zero volts.

Put your meter into the ohms position and touch the side of the blow fuse that does NOT have voltage on it. I suspect it will be very close to 0 ohms. It really is not critical, just a demonstration of using the ohmeter.

Once you discover you have this (short) you can carefully label the wires and remove the board. Insulate any potential shorts on wires.

You should be able to determine the AC wires going to the relays/screw terminals. There is a goes into and a goes outta for each circuit controlled. Follow the wires back to the circuit breaker and the panel will tell you what they are for. You can then wire nut the goes intos and outtas together to bypass the circuit board.

Once you have the board out you can fold it apart gently and use your nose to carefull inspect for traces of lost smoke. Once you have it out you can use a strong light etc to do a visual check.

There is little you can do to repair a board like this unless it is obvious. So while it is out and you are using 30 amp shoreline you have to be your own load shedder to keep from resetting the post breaker.

Hope this helps a bit.