A/C not cooling 2022 Minnie 2529RG

CrispyBones · 07-08-2023, 03:13 PM

On our second camping trip and finding other issues. One being that our cooler isn’t functioning as it should. 90 degrees outside and 85 degrees inside. I can’t figure it out.

Voltage from shore power is 111.9-112.7V. Could that be the problem? I also tried running both A/Cs and tripped the Watchdog surge protector. Feels like cool air coming from the vents but not nearly enough to cool the unit. Super frustrated.

When it’s cool in the morning the A/C seems to work fine. Once it heats up I’m getting the same result as just using a fan. Any hint as to what’s going on here?

Oh, I turned off the vented A/C and started using the one in the bedroom. That cooled great. An hour later I was having the same problem with that one too. Felt like not much air coming out and air wasn’t that cold.

IOS 3 · 07-08-2023, 03:38 PM

Not sure why both would be behaving this way, but if the airflow in the bedroom unit is slowing down after an hour or so it sounds like the compressor might not be cycling correctly, and the unit could be icing up?

CrispyBones · 07-08-2023, 03:45 PM

I guess the best way to check that is to pull the shroud off the rooftop A/C and check for ice? There doesn’t appear to be any airflow restrictions so not sure why both would be having issues.

IOS 3 · 07-08-2023, 03:55 PM

If you shut it down, and 30 minutes later all is normal, it may be icing. If you aren't experiencing reduced airflow at the vents, it likely isn't icing....

CrispyBones · 07-08-2023, 04:14 PM

So I pulled the shroud and noticed a tiny stream of water coming out of the area where the foam is. It’s coming out the bottom of a black tube. Thing is it’s very dry where I am so don't believe it’s condensation. Maybe it’s frozen underneath the black cover beneath the foam. I won’t know until I take it off and look inside.

Since you have the same TT do you have good airflow from the cooling vents in the ceiling? There are 3 of mine that do well and the other 4 just put out a trickle. Maybe that’s the problem. Not enough output and it’s freezing up. Hard to say. Even if that were the case I’m hosed because I don’t know that can be fixed what with the ductwork between the ceiling and the roof being inaccessible.

IOS 3 · 07-08-2023, 04:49 PM

For the benefit of the forum, Crispy Bones and I jumped on a call and talked through this. Easier than cycling through posts on here... Problem not solved, but diagnostics underway... Just FYI

CrispyBones · 07-08-2023, 05:02 PM

Thanks to IOS3 for his help. Many many thank you’s!!

So, IOS3, I took your recommendation of switching the wall thermostat fan from Auto to Low or High. When on High the A/C compressor refused to cycle. When on Low the compressor is now cycling as it should and the A/C is cooling nicely (crossing fingers).

That said I’m now wondering if the wall thermostat is faulty. Reason I say this is because when switching from low to high the A/C turns off completely(fan and compressor) and then comes back on again. I thought maybe the fan would just toggle back and forth between high and low but that isn’t the case. That said, maybe the switch inside the thermostat for the high setting isn’t working properly? I’m sort of hoping that is the case because it’s an easy and inexpensive fix (vs a bad A/C unit).

IOS 3 · 07-08-2023, 05:22 PM

When changing fan speeds on mine, on the main unit (not the bedroom), the fan will shut off momentarily before changing to the new speed. The compressor keeps running in the background - you can hear it. If you are describing that condition, I would say all is normal. The compressor not cycling when on high fan speed is not normal. Whether it's the wall thermostat I can't say. Hopefully these adjustments will get you through this trip and you can dig deeper later.

CrispyBones · 07-08-2023, 05:33 PM

Absolutely. So far so good with the compressor doing what it’s supposed to. Cool air is coming out nicely. I didn’t notice that the compressor was humming along when I changed the fan speed from high to low. But, there was a hesitation like yours with respect to changing fan speeds. I’ll do some more digging. A new thermostat runs about $60 on Amazon. I may go that route since it’s the cheapest and practical.

Thanks once again for taking the time to speak with me. You saved me a trip to a repair shop. Greatly appreciated! I’ll also share my findings ones I figure things out.

IOS 3 · 07-08-2023, 05:40 PM

Main thing is to enjoy the trip...! Hopefully Happy Hour is underway!

TravatoJohn · 07-08-2023, 06:01 PM

You are really on limited power at 111. Be careful what you run along with AC. The campground you are in should be notified of the power shortage. Ideally you should be closer to 118 volts. If you were to get below 110 you could damage the compressor. If it’s humid out keep fan on high so you don’t ice up.
Travato John

Ray,IN · 07-08-2023, 08:08 PM

The safe voltage for a motor is plus or minus 10% of nameplate voltage on the motor. Outside those limits the motor is slowly being damaged permanently.
A anology is; having a big brother hit your shoulder every day, after repeated blows you cannot use your shoulder.

To prevent/reduce ice forming on the evaporator coil, run the fan on high.

CrispyBones · 07-10-2023, 07:30 AM

Travato, thanks for the feedback. I was not able to notify the camp host as they weren't around much. However, I plan to follow up with an email to them of my findings. I also was camping with friends that had shore power and they too were showing 111-112V on their Watchdog.

CrispyBones · 07-10-2023, 07:36 AM

Ray, unfortunately while the A/C was on high I was not getting any cold air. So, I had to leave on low. On a prior post I stated that the low setting solved my issue. However, as night drew close the A/C stopped cooling again. It was cooler outside than inside. So, back to the drawing board. I'll add that once I killed that A/C unit I started using the bedroom A/C instead and that appeared to be working fine. I keep going back to the wall thermostat. Maybe that's faulty.

**creativepart** · 07-10-2023, 09:29 AM

You haven't mentioned... not that I saw anyway... if you were on 30 amp or 50 amp power at this campground? Or perhaps you have one of the 2-A/C Minnies with a 30-amp system?

If you are on 30-amp then you have no problem. Your RV prioritizes the bedroom A/C when on 30-amp and will only run the Fan on the front A/C. There is not enough amperage on 30-amp shore power to run both A/Cs at the same time. So your energy manager system is limiting the power. It will work either A/C unit - just not both at the same time.

When on 50-amp with a 50-amp provisioned coach both A/Cs can run with both fan and compressor at the same time.

I own a 50-amp motorhome - when I'm camping with 30-amp shore power it's routine for the bedroom A/C to run both fan and compressor and the front A/c to only run on fan.

If you've already mentioned what short power you are on I apologize for missing it.

PS. When on 30-amp I like to set the front A/C to really cold temps at night on high fan speed (not auto) and then set the bed room A/C to run on Low Fan ONLY. That way the bedroom A/C is quieter for sleeping but distributes the cold air from the front super cold area.

CrispyBones · 07-10-2023, 10:28 AM

Creative, yes, I do have the 30-amp system with EMS. I did for a moment have both A/C units running but within 5 minutes the TT shut off completely. However, it shut off at the Watchdog surge protector, not the TT if that makes sense. What doesn't make sense is that even though I was using only one of the A/C's the microwave triggered a shut down which should never happen. This 30-amp EMS set up is just not a very good design IMO. Hence the reason Winnebago eventually went with a 50-amp setup on future models of the 2529RG. What I did not try and maybe I should have is plugging in directly to shore power and bypassing the surge protector just to see if my TT would've shut off power.

**creativepart** · 07-10-2023, 11:03 AM

That's your "Problem" as in it is not a problem, it's designed that way. I wondered why no one asked about that - but the voltage mention sent folks off in that direction.

Yes, when using one A/C using the microwave will always shut down things as well. The microwave is as big a load as the A/C when the compressor starts up.

See, a 30-amp RV with two A/C units will always have these issues. You need to realize that the EMS is a pretty blunt instrument and not able to react instantly, or exactly and it is set up to step in not at exactly 30-amps. Sometimes, usually, it will intervene at 28 amps.

It is a bad design and shame on Winnebago for pretending that it would work well for users.

We've had some users here that complained LOUDLY to Winnebago and the company authorized a change to a 50-amp setup under warranty. There's not a lot to making that change. Even if you have to pay for it yourself you'll be vastly more happy with your TT if you make the change.

There are other things you can do - reportedly - to help live with what you have. You can install two A/C SoftStarts, one on each A/C. This lowers the amp load generated by the A/C compressor starting up. But you'll always have the issue with the microwave. Two SoftStarts will cost about $600 and you'd have to do the install yourself. Though that's not difficult.

Some folks wire the bedroom A/C to a separate 20-amp cord and just plug that in on the power pedestal separate of the 30-amp main shore power plug.

Call Winnebago Towable Customer Care (574) 825-8052 and complain about the power issue. Tell them you want your TT converted to 50-amp under warranty and see what they say. Be the squeaky wheel. Remember, they know about this problem. You are not the only one.

CrispyBones · 07-10-2023, 11:47 AM

Agreed. I took part in those discussions on another post and remember what those solutions were. I was crossing my fingers that my particular TT was going to be immune to what other 2529RG owners were experiencing. It was not to be. Unfortunately, I bought my TT from a private seller and am unclear on whether that voids the manufacturers warranty. I do have a Good Sam Extended Service Plan that covers big ticket items. That all said I'll have to do some digging to find out what is covered and what is not. I've thought about installing the SoftStarts but haven't pulled the trigger because the same manufacturer of that product also was selling a shore power device that acted in the same fashion. Unfortunately, they stopped selling the 30-amp device and will soon sell a 50-amp device. I'm still unclear as to why they did that. I wanted to see if that device would work on my 30-amp TT prior to purchasing the SoftStart devices.

I'm going to reach out to Customer Care and see if there is anything they can help with any of this. I still have the problem of the A/C unit not functioning as it should so there's that as well which is the initial catalyst for this entire post. I have a hunch since the TT I own was owned prior to me owning it that the warranty doesn't transfer. Especially since it didn't go through a dealer but rather private seller. I'm unclear on how all of that works.

**creativepart** · 07-10-2023, 02:17 PM

Here is the Towables warranty the document is from 2013 - supposedly the TT came with a current warranty doc when sold:

https://portal.winnebagoind.com/prod...cument2013.pdf

This document doesn't mention original owners just 12-months from the original purchase date from a dealer.

As to your Extended Service Contract... those certainly have zero application in this kind of thing. Honestly, they do thier absolute best to never pay out for any repair, even a legitimate repair. So, they aren't about to pay out to fix a factory design flaw.

I know that eXcel sold that power pedestal device - I've never seen anyone post that it worked as advertised. In fact, there seems to be no mention of it from reviewers.

Assuming that WBGO says to pound sand, I think you might find it not too expensive to have an independent tech make the changes for you and there aren't a big parts cost. Mostly, it's the labor to do wiring work on the Power Center. I don't know the cost but probably not a ton more that two SoftStarts.

Ray,IN · 07-11-2023, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TravatoJohn

You are really on limited power at 111. Be careful what you run along with AC. The campground you are in should be notified of the power shortage. Ideally you should be closer to 118 volts. If you were to get below 110 you could damage the compressor. If it’s humid out keep fan on high so you don’t ice up.
Travato John

That is not necessarily true. The industry standard for voltage variation limit is 10% + or - of motor nameplate voltage. So consulting the motor nameplate is required.
I used to think it was within 10% of 120VAC, which would be 108V=low and 132V=high, but a professional electrician corrected my thinking.