Keyless entry - replacement of old system or retrofitting to one without

[SargeW]

You may also try a spray of a GOOD quality electric contact cleaner in the FOB as well. NOT WD40.  When I was having trouble with my HWH panel being intermittent I sprayed all the contacts with electric contact cleaner and the problem went away. Just a little and let it dry. It dries pretty quick and doesn't need wiping off. 

 

[Tin man]

Thanks for the advise I'll keep you posted.

Jim

 

[BobNSam]

re cleaning of electrical contacts...M2CW
It is NEVER advisable to clean electrical contacts with any abrasive. That includes steel wool, sandpaper, emery cloth and even soft pencil erasers.
Electrical contacts are generally gold or silver plated for corrosion resistance and sometimes copper. Use of an abrasive will scratch and remove this coating opening the conductor (usually copper) to corrosion and failure.
Sarge's suggestion to use an electrical contact cleaner is best solution. For long term use an electrical contact lubricant / coating. This can be especially valuable if surface of contacts has been previously damaged.
Re intermittant fobs. Through use, the electrical contacts under the pushbuttions can also wear out. disassembling and cleaning these contacts is not the solution. The buttons usually have a coating that is conductive and wears away in time. I know of no permanent solution for this. The actual transmitter is still probably good.

You may also try a spray of a GOOD quality electric contact cleaner in the FOB as well. NOT WD40.  When I was having trouble with my HWH panel being intermittent I sprayed all the contacts with electric contact cleaner and the problem went away. Just a little and let it dry. It dries pretty quick and doesn't need wiping off. 

Bob

 

[John Canfield]

That's generally good advice for most contacts, particularly those that are coated with tin, silver, gold, etc. Some won't respond to the cleaner only solution.  One familiar example is an electrical plug - after a while they oxidize and don't make good contact.  Since the tangs aren't coated, they respond well to a nail file, 220 grit sandpaper, etc.

I worked on electronic and electromechanical stuff for years and we had a special contact burnisher which was like an extremely fine grit file that we used to clean relay contacts.  Once the contacts built up residue from arcing, there is no cleaner in the world that would clean them - the residue had to be mechanically removed.  We did have and use cleaner, but generally didn't use it for cleaning contacts.

I seriously doubt if the door connectors are plated, I've been rubbing them down with an eraser for years.

 

[Alfa38User]

We always used a burnisher on certain types of relay contacts, sometimes treating them with a spray contact cleaner or, in the early days, carbon tetra chloride before its use was banned. I always had two in my shirt pocket, one was made like a fountain pen with a pen cap and had very fine changeable blades, the other was just a long fine blade. They needed frequent cleaning with contact cleaner too.

Sometimes used an art eraser on gold plated circuit board contacts as it was the only effective thing. Not needed often enough on any given set of contacts to worry about wear.

 

[John Canfield]

Sometimes used an art eraser on gold plated circuit board contacts as it was the only effective thing. Not needed often enough on any given set of contacts to worry about wear.

Exactly so... I've done the same thing many times on circuit board edge connectors.

 

[BobNSam]

I do remember the relay contact burnishers and used them often until AF removed them from our tool boxes. Also used erasers on inertial navigation servos/sensors until specifically forbidden. Any contact bad enough to require burnishing / sanding through wear, arcing or corroding was considered to be due replacement. (your tax dollars at work.)
To this day I don't abuse my contacts .
cleaning and replacing cut way down on intermittent operation, CNDs (could not duplicate) and other failures.
Edge connectors/contacts used cleaner and soft cloth called Twillgene (sp) designed for the purpose. Optical quality cleaning cloths would be equivalent to this material.
For field expedient purposes (I got to have it working and don't have time or resources for replacement and repair) you gotta do what you gotta do!
Bob

 

[Alfa38User]

We too used twill gene for cleaning as well as strips of bond paper on sticky backstops and armatures. We were able to weld new contacts onto many relays if the contacts were burned/pitted badly enough but the spring itself was still OK. On many flat spring relays we simply removed the relay, opened the pileup, replaced the spring and contact, reassembled and readjusted the relay to spec. On wire spring relays, in many cases, the replacements did not last as long because they were simply a hollow U shaped material whereas the originals were a solid block of material. We often had to change out 12 and 24/30 contact wire spring relays if they were bad enough or  when winding's went open (other than at the spool head where a drop of solder could often fix it). That was a big job, tagging all the wires and getting them back in the right places!!!!

I guess we are getting a bit OT but it sure brings back memories!!!

 

[John Canfield]

I guess we are getting a bit OT but it sure brings back memories!!!

Yes - OT for sure and roger on the memories  !

 

[david k]

John and others  ---  I have a 2002 Ultimate Advantage on which the remote door and cargo lock / unlock went south.  I did buy the replacement control box from TriMark (cost of $100.00) and then I bought the wiring harness from Winnebago that interfaces the new box from TriMark with the existing harness to the old control box (cost of $104.00).  I also had to buy two relays (like the square ones in your fuse/breaker compartment (I bought Bosch) and it only took about 15 minutes for the complete replacement.  The new control box from TriMark had two remotes with it and they had already programed them to match the control box.  Now the remote door / cargo lock/unlock system is back to work on my MH.  Hope this might answer some questions for others in this discussion.

 

[cbeierl]

John

This may sound stupid, but what am I looking for?  What does it look like big small?

Thanks

Jim

I don't see the diagrams for the Journey SE, but you can see where it's located on a 2007 Journey 36G on the upper left of page 5 of this diagram: Front End Wiring Installation .

 

[John Canfield]

John and others  ---  I have a 2002 Ultimate Advantage on which the remote door and cargo lock / unlock went south.  I did buy the replacement control box from TriMark (cost of $100.00) and then I bought the wiring harness from Winnebago that interfaces the new box from TriMark with the existing harness to the old control box (cost of $104.00).  I also had to buy two relays (like the square ones in your fuse/breaker compartment (I bought Bosch) and it only took about 15 minutes for the complete replacement.  The new control box from TriMark had two remotes with it and they had already programed them to match the control box.  Now the remote door / cargo lock/unlock system is back to work on my MH.  Hope this might answer some questions for others in this discussion.

Hi David and a great big howdy from The RV Forum!  We're glad you dropped by!

You did good for a couple of hundred bucks!  I'm assuming that didn't include the outside keypad?

 

[Tin man]

John

Just when I thought I heard it all, spoke to previous owner, and he said the fobs stopped working after the jacks were fixed. Something about the  pressure sensor.  Reims the facility who fixed it told him the dead bolt was partially engaged and that disables the system.  I can lock and unlock from inside the MH but not with the fobs.

Any ideas? Sounds like BS to me.

Thanks again

In Lancaster and enjoying camping again.

Jim

 

[SargeW]

Marty - the link (in my above post) to the actuator is what's used on the bay doors, and might be used on the entry door as well.  I've attached a couple of pictures of my bay door actuators - one vertically opening bay door and one is a horizontal bay door.

Take a look at the back of your lock mechanism - I think you will have a plastic cover that's removable.  Compare it to my pictures.  I think your outside handle is different and would need to be replaced, not sure about the mechanical linkage.  You would need to fabricate (or buy from Winnebago) the mounting plate for the actuator and fab or buy the linkage from the actuator to the latch mechanism.

Let us know what you find.

Hey John, this is the back of my doors and the cabinet locks. Do your locks look anything like this behind the actuator? 

 

[John Canfield]

Just when I thought I heard it all, spoke to previous owner, and he said the fobs stopped working after the jacks were fixed. Something about the  pressure sensor.  Reims the facility who fixed it told him the dead bolt was partially engaged and that disables the system.  I can lock and unlock from inside the MH but not with the fobs.

Any ideas? Sounds like BS to me.

Jim - that's a new one on me.  Most likely just a coincidence that the fobs stopped working.

Marty - I'll remove the lock solenoid and mounting plate and take a couple of pictures.

 

[John Canfield]

Marty - here are details of my lock mechanism.

 

[SargeW]

Thanks John, that's what I was afraid of. Totally different lock mechanism. I would totally be reinventing the wheel. Not that I wouldn't mind you, I know now that it wont be a piece of cake......

 

[John Canfield]

You would have to replace the door handles as well as buying the solenoids.  I think running the wiring would be the most time consuming part of the job though.  Gather up the parts and stop by our place this fall  .

 

[mrschwarz]

Count me in on this, too. I can't make it this fall, but I want to do that.

 

[John Canfield]

Sounds good!