Tech Questions to the Brain Trust

SCVJeff · 09-03-2007, 06:33 PM

Before I chase these two problems down from scratch I figured I'd see if someone has aready been here..

Basement HVAC:
Twice now I've noticed that when the blower is on 'Hi', that it just shuts off. This is only the fan, the compressor continues to run. If I switch to 'Lo', it comes back on. Anyone come across this before?

Winegard AS-2003 DSS:
I don't know how this can happen but it appears to be slowly getting stupid. Sitting here in front of the house after 5 flawless days at the beach it can't seem to find anything that makes it happy. I watch as it hits DTV/101 with a great signal, then decides to hunt somewhere else.

All of this is under warranty but I can do a awful lot of the work myself with the $$ spent on gas getting there.

tnx, Jeff

SCVJeff · 09-03-2007, 06:33 PM

Before I chase these two problems down from scratch I figured I'd see if someone has aready been here..

Basement HVAC:
Twice now I've noticed that when the blower is on 'Hi', that it just shuts off. This is only the fan, the compressor continues to run. If I switch to 'Lo', it comes back on. Anyone come across this before?

Winegard AS-2003 DSS:
I don't know how this can happen but it appears to be slowly getting stupid. Sitting here in front of the house after 5 flawless days at the beach it can't seem to find anything that makes it happy. I watch as it hits DTV/101 with a great signal, then decides to hunt somewhere else.

All of this is under warranty but I can do a awful lot of the work myself with the $$ spent on gas getting there.

tnx, Jeff

vicsryd · 09-03-2007, 06:49 PM

I have not experienced the HVAC fan issue. Are you on shore power at the time or gen set? If shore power, what amp service?

I (still) don't have a DSS so I have no direct experience. I suggest you post the DSS question in the Technology, Internet, Cell Phones, Creative Solutions, etc. forum. There's a couple of satellite genius types lurking there.

KennethM · 09-04-2007, 12:36 AM

Jeff,

The basement unit is easy to service most of the different parts but first you need to get the proper service manual from this site RV Products :http://www.rvcomfort.com/rvp/tech_info/manuals.php. The inside blower can be accessed without lowering the entire unit for the most part and the circuit board has many diagnostic led's on it to help trouble shoot. You must be comfortable working on 240 Volt energized circuits when trouble shooting or take it in for warranty being seriously hurt is not worth the risk!!! The basement units have had a number of loose connections to blowers including mine but mine was on the outside blower the only one you can not access without dropping entire unit. Blowers use the same capacitor for high and low speed so if it works on either speed cap is okay. The manuals have step by step diagnostics and really well illustrated so hope this helps but be careful.

KennethM · 09-04-2007, 12:53 AM

Jeff,

Winegard dish, if you leave it on even after signal is aquired the dish will hunt for better signal with any change in signal strength. We turn ours off after a good signal is aquired just for that very reason so it does not start hunting again with the slightest change in signal. Just push the Off button on the Winegard panel after signal is aquired and signal strength is checked no more hunting. Winegard dishes like ours get a little looser over time and wind will also cause the signal strength to continually change some but not enough to hurt picture quality unless it needs repair. Winegard has excellent manuals online as well that you might want to download for future trouble shooting.

KennethM · 09-04-2007, 03:26 AM

Jeff,

I did a Google search for the 3 manuals (PDF's) I downloaded after purchasing the Meridian and cannot find them anywhere. I even checked Bryant RV and still no luck so if you PM me with an e-mail I will send you the PDF's for our unit. The Trouble Shooting manual is really excellent with detailed pictures and diagnostics

Izzyblueye · 09-04-2007, 04:03 AM

I have never had this happen. On mine the only time the "Lo" switch will work is when I am set on "Fan" only. All other functions, it runs on "HI".

Hikerdogs · 09-04-2007, 06:52 AM

We have the same dish on our coach and have a similar problem. If the power to the dish has been off a while (battery disconnected) it immediatly trys to acquire a GPS location once it's turned on. It usually finds itself within a couple minutes then raises the dish to the proper location.

If we've been using it for a while then move to a new location and turn it on a message comes up on the control box asking if you want to use the same settings as the last time it was raised. The message only lasts a few seconds and if you don't cancel it the dish will return to the last set of coordinates. If it doesn't get the same signal strength it had the last time it starts to search.

If we're within a few hunderd miles of the last location I go to the signal meter on the DTV box and let it go to the last set of coordinates. If a picture comes in I immediatly hit the cancel button and use the manual buttons to get the best signal.

I've found if you just let it do it's own thing it can take up to 20 minutes before the system is satisfied with the signal strength, and in the end it's usually only a couple degrees from where it started.

SCVJeff · 09-04-2007, 10:15 AM

Thanks Ken.. I started looking through the manual last night and think I'll wait till it cools down a tad to roll under and see what I have. It's possible that I may have a flakey head switch too. I cycles from Lo to Hi last night and noticed the motor ramped up briefly before shutting down. Just dropping back to Low brings it back on again.

As for the working voltage; I was going to say that I'm comfortable with working on 35kv beam supply's, then realized I'm NOT comfortable. And the day I DO get comfortable is that day I don't do it anymore..

For the DSS, I'm going to call Wineguard on this right now and see what they say. I moved 70 miles, did a full power-on reset, and it took 3 complete reset cycles to finally get it's brains back. Other than gear slop I just don't know what the issue is unless there has been another DSS satellite launched and recently on-line that's confusing it's solution.

Update: The folks at Winegard are great! One of the service guys called me back and didn't have a hint of an Indian accent They agree that it shouldn't be hunting like this and was somewhat confused about the 'way' it searches, then moves on. AS we were talking I remembered last night that the street light across the street (40' away) was not on, so it's possible that I'm getting snookered by local interference from a dead lamp trying to start. Since I have a 40GHz analyzer and LNB supply I think I'll look and see if this is a non-issue. Then back to the HVAC.

KennethM · 09-04-2007, 11:04 AM

Jeff,

Once you lift the up the side panel on the basement A/C you can get the exact model number and go to the RV Products link I included and download the PDF's. The manuals for your exact unit are worth having on your laptop with the coach many problems on the unit can be temporarily bypassed until service or parts can be obtained.
Winegard PDF's for our satelite dish are some of the most detailed with actual notated pictures I have come across in sometime. None of the above PDF's are included in the Winebago black bag manual or supplemental manual paper work.

Hikerdogs · 09-04-2007, 11:06 AM

Another thing you have to take into consideration is whether or not the coach is in the same "level" position relative to the last time the dish was activated. The dish makes the assumption that the coach is truely level and the base is at 0*.

Even the best automatic leveling system is only as good as it's calibration. The system is satisfied that the coach is "level" when it's within the tolerence parameters set. If the parameters are loose enough to allow a couple degree variation you may not be close enough for the dish to find the satellite.

After a few thousand miles of use we had to recalibrate our level sensor. In our case the sensor was satisfied that the coach was level when it was actually high in the rear.

SCVJeff · 09-07-2007, 04:03 PM

That's on my list as well. My putting surface has developed a draw..

KIX · 09-07-2007, 04:30 PM

I've experienced the indoor fan shutting down while on Hi. It's happened a couple of times. I called RV Products Techs and they felt that it was the thermostat. Since that call it's not happened again so I haven't replaced the thermostat. D/L your manual from their site and give them a call to have them help you troubleshoot.

SCVJeff · 09-08-2007, 04:59 PM

Exactly my experience Kix. I went out with drawings and meters this afternoon, only to find that it now works perfectly. I guess it's not the end of the world since there is very little difference between Hi & Lo anyway. It just bugs me when things don't work..

cyko · 09-09-2007, 12:44 PM

We had the exact same problem during GNR. Additionally, our second compressor would't come on in spite of the temperature. I had the Coleman guy out to look at it and, of course, it worked perfectly when he tried it. It has subsequently done the same thing once, and I found (I think) that if I put the switch into "heat" position first,then switched to "air", it worked.

The Coleman guy told me that this problem would be associated with the thermostat. I thought of buying one just in case (He offered me a price of $50 during GNR, a hundred bucks normally) but my miserly tendencies got the best of me.

Izzyblueye · 09-09-2007, 02:38 PM

cyck: I am putting my 3rd new thermostat to the test as I write this. It has been working great all day with both compressors running perfectly. I came so close to having the whole unit dumped because two techs told me it was a bad compressor. For $50.00 I would have bought two.

Duner · 09-10-2007, 07:09 PM

If you pull the cover off the Coleman Mach TrueAir Thermostat, you'll see that the Cool/Heat/Off switch is a pair of slide switches ganged together with the pastic slider that protrudes thru the front.

What I've seen on both of my Winnebagos is that the switches work loose and allows the slider to move one switch more than the other. What happens then is the switch contacts get into an invalid set of open/closed positions and you can get a variety of problems. The problem starts out very intermittent and just keeps getting worse.

I bought my 1st Winne in '99 & the problem started just out of warranty, then 5 yrs later my '04 started acting up in the 1st year. I was really disappointed to see the same mickey mouse pair of switches still in production 5 yrs later!!! I believe many of the problems folks have is with the mechanical defects of the slide switches.

Good luck,
Duner

KIX · 09-11-2007, 04:24 AM

So Duner Bill, is there any fix for the problem you described? Or is the fix a new t'stat?

Duner · 09-11-2007, 06:41 AM

Is there a fix? Well, yes and no.

If you test the thermostat with the cover off and you can see extra play in the slider switches, you may be able to use long-nose pliers to squeeze the metal tabs tighter. However this is only a temp fix and with time will just go back to the same problem.

On my 1st, Winnie, I added a 2nd t-stat for the gas furnace and just put up with the fact that I had to fool around with the A/C-Heat Pump Hump switch. My wife gave up trying to turn on the a/c and I always had to do it.

On my new Winnie, when it started to act up I didn't want to spend $75 in gas to drive to dealer to have it replaced (again & again). So this time I replaced it with a digital setback t-stat from Home Depot. Earlier this year we had a long discussion about the pros & cons of replacing the stock with a generic digital. I'm very satisified with touch-screen digital t-stat I installed more than 2 yrs ago. I wouldn't go this route until you are out of warranty because if you did have a compressor or control board problem you don't want to void the factory coverage.

Here is the link to instructions how I replaced mine.

Happy trails,
Duner

SCVJeff · 09-14-2007, 04:33 PM

Thanks for the info Bill. I pulled mine and agree that there's not much that can be done to stiffen it up since both switches are being pulled from the bottom end. Mine appears to be a single plastic plate that is snug-fit over both switches and may actually be glued (it's really tight). I did however notice a guide track on the front bezel that looks like it's there to move that plate in a straight, non-tilted plane. Looks like about the only thing you can do is lube it to slide nicely in the track.