We have a 1996 Bounder 36S. On a recent camping trip, we had to re-level the RV on the 3rd day, raising the front of the RV & causing water on the roof to run to the back. This might just be a coincidence and have nothing to do with the problem. We had been running the A/C pretty much constantly (S.C. in July), but it was all fine. Suddenly, the front AC just stopped. Turned on the rear AC on Hi, all OK. Later on, turned off the rear, turned on the front, it would not come on on Hi. Tried it on Lo and it worked. Then we noticed that the furnaces were running, even tho they had not been turned on. Finally disconnected the power to the furnaces to make them quit. To make a long story short, we basically went thru all the settings on the AC, (Hi, Lo and Auto). The front one finally began to surge, then shut down. Ran the rear one on the genset for the ride home. Now, both AC units will come on when turned on, but neither compressor will kick in. They only fan. I have read several posts on the forum about the Intellitec control module or either the thermostat being bad. I'd like to be a little more sure before I begin ordering parts. Anyone have any similar problems? Thanks.
Intellitec problems
- Thread starter deedeeg
- Start date
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Gary RV_Wizard
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Intelletec makes lot of controller modules, but I'm guessing the one you are referring to is the Energy Mgm't System (EMS). If so, that's NOT your problem. It either delivers 120v power to the a/c or not and doesn't fiddle with anything in between.
It sounds as though the a/c's own controller logic maybe messed up, or its interface to the thermostat zone controller (which is located with the a/c). You didn't mention the brand and model or a/c or thermostat, so this is hear guesswork, but there is a module that receives the demand signal form the thermostat and tells the a/c and/or furnace what to do. If the thermostat has fan speed options, that passes through the zone controller too.
Can you provide the a/c make & model, and the thermostat make & model?
It sounds as though the a/c's own controller logic maybe messed up, or its interface to the thermostat zone controller (which is located with the a/c). You didn't mention the brand and model or a/c or thermostat, so this is hear guesswork, but there is a module that receives the demand signal form the thermostat and tells the a/c and/or furnace what to do. If the thermostat has fan speed options, that passes through the zone controller too.
Can you provide the a/c make & model, and the thermostat make & model?
Deedeeg, I suspect you have the Intellitec ECC (Electronic Climate Control) and it's associated thermostat. See this document.
Locate the controller (probably located in the space behind your main Breaker Panel) and position the small switch to TEST each of the air conditioners. This will tell you if they are operational. Unfortunately it won't conclusively determine if the problem is in the thermostat or the controller. There may be other diagnostic suggestions in the manual.
There should be a circuit breaker in the main panel labeled ECC. Trip, and reset, that breaker also.
Locate the controller (probably located in the space behind your main Breaker Panel) and position the small switch to TEST each of the air conditioners. This will tell you if they are operational. Unfortunately it won't conclusively determine if the problem is in the thermostat or the controller. There may be other diagnostic suggestions in the manual.
There should be a circuit breaker in the main panel labeled ECC. Trip, and reset, that breaker also.
Well, we have replaced the Intellitec ECC control module and the thermostat. When we do the test button on the control module, the a/c unit will come on and appears to be cooling. But when we use the new thermostat, the unit comes on and only fans, and the red shed light stays on on the thermostat continuously. There is nothing else drawing power in the unit that we are aware of. This is the same for both the front and the rear a/c. We do not know what else to try. There are no RV repair shops anywhere near us, so we pretty much have to figure it all out ourselves, but this one's about defeated us, and we are out the $360 for both new parts.
It sounds like maybe the current sensor (the little donut around the incoming hot 120vac lead in the main power panel) is not doing its job correctly. If the a/c units function correctly with the TEST button, then there isn't too much left that hasn't been tested or already replaced.
Will ONE of the units work correctly from the generator?
Which one?
Both?
I would do the following:
Unplug from shore power, and open the junction box and check the integrity of the connections of the power cord (where it enters the RV and connects to the coach power wiring). The wire in the cord is 10 gauge stranded wire connected to 10 gauge solid wire with wire nuts. This is always a potential problem area.
Next, I would open the main power panel and tighten ALL connections to and from the circuit breakers, including the white neutral wire buss connections (also the grounds).
While you are in there, the "donut" sensor can be inspected for any obvious problems.
Will ONE of the units work correctly from the generator?
Which one?
Both?
I would do the following:
Unplug from shore power, and open the junction box and check the integrity of the connections of the power cord (where it enters the RV and connects to the coach power wiring). The wire in the cord is 10 gauge stranded wire connected to 10 gauge solid wire with wire nuts. This is always a potential problem area.
Next, I would open the main power panel and tighten ALL connections to and from the circuit breakers, including the white neutral wire buss connections (also the grounds).
While you are in there, the "donut" sensor can be inspected for any obvious problems.
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
OK, the ECC is a different animal than the EMS, so ignore my earlier remarks.
If the immediate need is to get air conditioning working, you can bypass the load shed function. I think the "donut" can simply be removed from the a/c hot wire and it will work without power monitoring, but f that doesn't do it for some reason you could move the donut to another wire that has less than 30A load at all times.
I think Lou is on the right track, so I won't confuse you with further suggestions.
If the immediate need is to get air conditioning working, you can bypass the load shed function. I think the "donut" can simply be removed from the a/c hot wire and it will work without power monitoring, but f that doesn't do it for some reason you could move the donut to another wire that has less than 30A load at all times.
I think Lou is on the right track, so I won't confuse you with further suggestions.
Thanks, Lou and Gary for the suggestions. Lou, with the generator running we have the same results: neither a/c will cool, only fan, and the Shed light stays on. We will try the other things and hopefully have some luck in running down the problem.
I wanted to do a follow-up in case anyone else ever has this problem. It wasn't the control module, the thermostat, or the power sensor. It was a bad breaker! Replaced the 30 amp main breaker, and everything is lovely again! Thanks for all the helpful suggestions and happy camping!
Well, here we are again! After all that we went through (see previous posts), we have problems again. We used the RV in November, did not run the air conditioners, but tried to turn the furnaces on, and nothing happened. Neither furnace would come on using the ECC controller in the bedroom. OK, we used the electric space heater and bundled up. So, now we are getting ready for a summer trip, and guess what? The A/C's won't come on! It is like they are getting no power. Neither one will come on, even using the test switch on the control module. Any suggestions now? Could we have burnt something up (even tho we never smelled any burning smell) when we tried to turn the furnaces on? The red short indicator comes on for both units when you slide the test button to either one of them, but goes off when you switch it back to OFF. According to Intellitec's manual, the Short indicator works in both OFF and TEST mode. So that's another ?
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
If neither furnace nor a/c will switch on, there is probably a problem in the combo thermostat & load manager (the Intellitec ECC). Just Lou is more expert than I in the ECC system, so I'll yield the podium to him.
Gary, don't put that kind of pressure on me right now 
. I just got out of the hospital yesterday after five days of blood transfusions and treatment for bleeding stomach ulcers. I don't want or need a repeat. My stomach has to look like an old tire that's been patched from the inside several times now.
To deedeeg. It sounds like you have lost all 12V power to the controller and T-stat. Perform all the checks (carefully) in test procedure number I.
There should be a 5amp fuse in your main house fuse panel for the ECC. This is the sole 12v source for this system. This panel is probably co-located with your main circuit breaker panel.
I would carefully unplug and replug each small connector going to and from the control unit. Check for pins we may have bent during our initial diagnosis. Do the same at the T-stat to controller connections.
Unplugging connector J4 may eliminate the short indication and allow the operation of the air conditioners if no other problem exists, but it's a long shot.
. I just got out of the hospital yesterday after five days of blood transfusions and treatment for bleeding stomach ulcers. I don't want or need a repeat. My stomach has to look like an old tire that's been patched from the inside several times now. To deedeeg. It sounds like you have lost all 12V power to the controller and T-stat. Perform all the checks (carefully) in test procedure number I.
There should be a 5amp fuse in your main house fuse panel for the ECC. This is the sole 12v source for this system. This panel is probably co-located with your main circuit breaker panel.
I would carefully unplug and replug each small connector going to and from the control unit. Check for pins we may have bent during our initial diagnosis. Do the same at the T-stat to controller connections.
Unplugging connector J4 may eliminate the short indication and allow the operation of the air conditioners if no other problem exists, but it's a long shot.
deedeeg said:
The short (no pun intended) answer would be NO, if it depended solely on the controller having power, but you said it only came on when you tried to switch on either furnace. I suspect that the "short" detection circuitry may be getting some power feed back through those switches from the furnace(s) themselves. Just a theory.
I would not worry about the "short" indication, from the furnaces in test mode, until I resolved the controller problem. Unplugging the connector to the furnaces would solve that dilemma. The ON/OFF switches are the only connection the controller has with the furnaces. Feedback loops could certainly exist through the T-stat connections, but I'm not aware of any.
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
The connection to the furnace is very simple and is only through the thermostat. Basically the t-stat sends +12v to the furnace when heat is required and nothing when it is not. The Heat position on the control merely switches the thermostat to send the signal to the furnace instead of the a/c. The furnace itself is always "ON" - it has its own 12v power source - and it just waits to get a signal via the thermostat wire.
And since there is no 120v power to the furnace, load shed is meaningless for the furnace.
And since there is no 120v power to the furnace, load shed is meaningless for the furnace.
Sorry Gary, but there is a connection from the controller to each furnace. It is very simple, as you said, but it's there. (see page 14)Gary RV Roamer said:
It is about the only path that the controller could detect a "short" in the wiring. I doubt it has any bearing on our current problem.
garymunson
Member
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2014
- Posts
- 14
I have the problem that the Intellitec will work perfectly on shore power but on the genset, neither A/C compressor will start up, the red 'shed' lamps remaining on, whether I'm attempting to run one or both. On shore power, all works as expected, if we are running both A/Cs and start the microwave, one A/C will be shed and once the micro is done, the A/C will restart. Looking at the diagrams in the service manual, it looks like the same current sensor is used whether on gen or shore power. Anyone seen this issue before? The genset seems to be ok, I can plug in a 'window shaker' into it and it powers it just fine along with the microwave at the same time (5500 Onan). I haven't located the control module yet...I guess it's hiding behind the breaker panel. Be thrilled if anyone has the answer to this... Thanks, Gary 04 Fleetwood Flair 33'.
garymunson
Member
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2014
- Posts
- 14
After some more research, I'm suspecting my converter might be the cause of my problems as my batteries will need replacing soon. When I get the RV back (in for Bosch brake recall), I'll open the converter breaker and see if it fixes things! Results to follow.
