Another Norcold problem

[medarwin]

Hello, Once again looking for experience, advice and ideas. I have a Norcold 1201LRIM in an '02 Winnie. The fridge cooling unit was replaced at some point under a recall by the PO. I'm guessing '06-'07.


Problem: We just unhooked this morning and when I disconnected the AC, the propane did not ignite. Had been working perfectly at the beginning of the trip (5 days) and worked fine during a brief power outage at the campground overnight (power went out, fridge kicked over to propane seamlessly). When we got home, I discovered that:



The valve opens and propane flows as it should.



There is NO spark (ignitor was just replaced last summer and gap is good).


Putting a multimeter on the hot lead on the board to the ignitor wire did not show any voltage "pulsing" while turning on the fridge (propane).


I can light the propane manually and it cools just fine, meaning the flame sensor is sending a pulse to the control board.


I have 12v going into the board.



Questions:



Has anyone else had a similar situation? I've read lots of old posts but couldn't find one that matched my problem exactly.



Should my multimeter be able to pick up the pulses from the board to the ignitor? It's a not a super high end meter but it isn't junk either. (I'm trying to rule out an early failure on the new ignitor I put in last year). I did get a flash reading on the ignitor connection on the board one of the times I turned the fridge/propane on. About 5.4v but I couldn't replicate it any other time.



Maybe I should just save myself time and spend $120 for a new board? ( I really hate working back there behind all that wiring and plumbing and am trying avoid that. Plus I don't want to spend the $120)



I know there is a fuse inside the board box that I haven't checked yet, does that protect the ignitor circuit or is it for something else?


Anyone have any advice or experience with this problem? Thanks in advance if anyone can help.


Cheers.

[Morich]

Sounds like you are in a good DIY frame of mind, so maybe some good info might be the thing to help.
There are often really good troubleshooting manuals online if you do not have any good info in an owners manual??

With the exact model number, I would go for trying to find a manual with far more indepth info than many of the manuals we get with the RV, etc.

I will send this along but then it may be something you have found and tried already??
Best I've got from here:

http://techsupport.pdxrvwholesale.co...rts-Manual.pdf

But I may not know when I am looking at the right or wrong manual, so keep that in mind and match what you have with what you find better than my possible guess?

[powercat_ras]

If you happen to be at higher altitude (anything above 5,000 feet), everything has to be perfect to spark ignite the propane. But that's likely not the issue since you are not seeing or hearing any spark.

You can inspect the cable that runs between the board and the ignitor/flame sensor and look for defects that would give the high voltage pulse a path to leak out and not jump across the ignitor gap. You should also confirm that the end of the ignitor is still located above the flame slits with the spacing specified in the Norcold manual.

Given your determining that the flame sensor is generating enough voltage to the control board to maintain flame once manually lit indicates there is continuity of the wire in the cable, and that most of the control board is working (beside the spark function). The cable is integrated into the flame sensor. If it's not the high voltage cable then chances are the spark generation circuit on the board has failed.

I'd first replace the spark ignitor/flame sensor with cable, an inexpensive part ( $ 20 ) easy to replace. Second, I'd replace the control board with one made by Dinosaur ( $ 85 ). If you prefer Norcold OEM board they're about $ 140.

All available from Amazon.com with free shipping.

Good luck.

[medarwin]

Thank you, can anyone verfiy the part # for the board? I believe it to be 628661 (Norcold #) for that model fridge. Also, couldn't locate a board for my fridge from Dinosaur Electronics. Norcold boards can be had for $100.

[Ray,IN]

Norcold 1200xx service manual
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