Intellitec ECC problem

[Old_Crow]

Sorry for the long-winded post.
'00 Fleetwood Bounder 36s. It's a 30amp coach with the Intellitec ECC system for running the furnaces and a/c's.
It was working perfectly the night before last. Coach has not been moved, unhooked from shore power or anything like that.
Last night, before bed, I turned on the rear furnace as it supplies heat to the underbelly to keep the pipes from freezing and temps were supposed to be mid-30s.
I have not moved the temp sliders on this unit for a while. Had them set where they usually cycle the heat on and off at around 63 degrees. I just usually turn it on and off using the mode control switch.
Anyway, woke up in the middle of the night and it was like 80 degrees in the stateroom area. I slid the temp slider to a lower temp and the furnace never turned off. Eventually slid the switch all the way down to the lowest setting and the furnace still continued to heat. Slid the power switch to the Off position, and I heard the flame quit and 2 or 3 minutes later the furnace shut off as normal. Got up and turned the front furnace on, only to have it behave in the same fashion. It also was working fine as recently as yesterday morning. Now, it too, starts the heat and continues to heat no matter what the thermostat is set at until you manually shut the system down.
I have the manual for the ECC, and looking at the Troubleshooting section, this problem is not really addressed. In fact, the only heat related malfunction they talk about is if the power light is on and the heat doesn't run. The fix for that problem is a new control module.
Anybody else had this experience?

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

It's a complex system, a combination of dual-zone thermostat, 30A power manager with load shed, and furnace/ac selector. Really difficult to troubleshoot, in my opinion.

It sounds as though the thermostat function is stuck as its max, which suggests a short circuit. Heating or Cooling is a demand function, i.e. the device signals the need by placing a voltage on a wire to the furnace or a/c and leaves it there until the demand is satisfied. Apparently your "demand" isn't ever getting satisfied. What's more it's the same for both furnaces. I don't know where the remote temp sensors are in your rig, though.

I think this part of the Troubleshooting applies to you:

II. "ON" indicator is on but the position of the set point temperature controls on the ECC
Thermostat have no effect on heat and cool functions on either front or rear systems. In
the HEAT mode the furnace stays on all the time. In the COOL modes the fan comes on
but the A/C compressor never comes on.
A. Check the installation of the Temp probes. The front probe should be connected to J1 and the
rear probe to J4 on the Thermostat. If OK, measure the resistance of the Temp Probe at the
connector. Resistance should be 7,500 to 15,000 Ohms. If not:
1. Replace Temp Probe.
2. Replace ECC Thermostat.

 

[Old_Crow]

I read the darned manual 3 times before I posted and missed that all three times.
One of the probes is on the wall in the stateroom and the other is on the bottom of the cabinet right above the thermostat. Resistance of the temp probes check out. The rear is 13k Ohms and the front one is a shade over 10k. Glad I saved that link for the Waiter ECC unit. I have decided to just replace the whole thing with the Waiter ECC replacement unit. I wasn't going to get all fancy and get the digital readout one, but I just sold the hard top off my Jeep, so I've got a couple of extra bucks. This is my home, might as well bring it into the 21st century.

 

[cwilt]

You won't be disappointed by the Waiter ECC.

I installed one earlier this summer. The install was pretty simple, it works great and the phone support is excellent IMO.

 

[jackiemac]

Stateroom and Waiters? Is it a motor home or a castle?

Hope you get it sorted

 

[Old_Crow]

Stateroom and Waiters? Is it a motor home or a castle?

Hope you get it sorted

Boat terminology, Jackie. Front to rear; cockpit, salon, galley, head, stateroom. I learned it from my dad...used to irritate my wife, too.
I assume that Waiter is the guy's name that came up with the replacement furnace control.

 

[House Husband]

Boat terminology, Jackie. Front to rear; cockpit, salon, galley, head, stateroom. I learned it from my dad...used to irritate my wife, too.
I assume that Waiter is the guy's name that came up with the replacement furnace control.

Waiter21 was the guys handle on this forum or IRV2, don't remember which. Out of respect for the forums, he no longer posts.
He was one of the go-to guys for the V10 F53. His knowledge is missed.

Richard

 

[WILDEBILL308]

In my Bounder when I had a problem with the thermostat. I would turn it off then pull the front cover off, there is a fuse in there . Pull the fuse out and test it. If it is good put it back in and turn on the thermostat. See if that helps. I had several problems with mine and that fixed it.
Bill

 

[Old_Crow]

In my Bounder when I had a problem with the thermostat. I would turn it off then pull the front cover off, there is a fuse in there . Pull the fuse out and test it. If it is good put it back in and turn on the thermostat. See if that helps. I had several problems with mine and that fixed it.
Bill

I pulled mine off the wall to access the plugs for the temp sensors. Didn't see a fuse. Do you have to disassemble the cover off the back of the thermostat to get to the fuse?

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Stateroom and Waiters? Is it a motor home or a castle?

Hope you get it sorted

The "Waiter" is a modern replacement for the Intellitec ECC.

 

[WILDEBILL308]

Hope you got it fixed by now. My thermostat you could pull off the front cover without taking it off the wall. Maybe just interrupting the power reset it.
Bill

 

[Old_Crow]

Hope you got it fixed by now. My thermostat you could pull off the front cover without taking it off the wall. Maybe just interrupting the power reset it.
Bill

Parts are on order. I solved the immediate problem by moving south. By the time I get where it's really cold again, I'll have the replacement...and a big hole in my wallet.

 

[John From Detroit]

I do not think the ECC has anything to do with the furnace.. The Furnace is a 12 volt device the ECC controls 120 volt.

But I could be wrong.

 

[Old_Crow]

I do not think the ECC has anything to do with the furnace.. The Furnace is a 12 volt device the ECC controls 120 volt.

But I could be wrong.

Yes, it sheds the 120v loads, but it also acts as the thermostat for both the a/cs and the heaters. I can turn the mode switch to "heat" and the furnaces operate, but they do not respond to the temperature set slides. In other words, I can't get the furnaces to cycle off even if I slide the temp setting to 50 degrees when it's almost 70 outside. They'll just run until they get hot enough to cycle the thermal cutoffs.

This is what I'm replacing the system with.

 

[MGH]

@Old_Crow , I'll be interested if you can post how the installation went. I too have the Intellitec ECC in my 2000 Bounder 32H. So far it seems to be working fine for both A/Cs and heat (single furnace in my case). But I've seen that these are kind of mysterious black boxes. I'm glad to know there is a good replacement option available.
- Matt

 

[Old_Crow]

@Old_Crow , I'll be interested if you can post how the installation went. I too have the Intellitec ECC in my 2000 Bounder 32H. So far it seems to be working fine for both A/Cs and heat (single furnace in my case). But I've seen that these are kind of mysterious black boxes. I'm glad to know there is a good replacement option available.
- Matt

Yeah, at the time Gary posted that link mine was working fine. It worked great for 5 years straight...until it didn't. It was literally overnight. Worked one morning, didn't the next.
The only good thing was that the failure was such that I can still run the furnaces, just have to turn them off manually.
I moved out of the snow and down to Quartzsite, so it's not such a big deal right now. Part will be waiting when I get back to Arkansas in a few weeks.

 

[Old_Crow]

Fast forward a month, and I finally got back to Arkansas, picked up the Waiter ECC that was...well...waiting for me, and got it installed. I went with the mid-price option that has the touch screen, but not all the added bells and whistles. Took under an hour to install (hardest part was finding the control module location in the coach). With digital readouts you can set an exact temperature and it seems like the unit has tighter control of the set temp. In other words, I believe the temp stays more consistent in the RV now, and I don't really think the furnace runs any more than it did.

Glad I got it installed when I did, temps here are supposed to drop into the 20's in a couple of days. Remind me why it is I left Quartzsite, where it was 70? Oh, yeah, the cutest new little granddaughter in the world. I remember now.

 

[MGH]

Good to hear it went nice and smooth. I will definitely have to consider this, maybe even as a preventive measure before getting into a similar bind. Thanks for the update!

 

[Old_Crow]

Good to hear it went nice and smooth. I will definitely have to consider this, maybe even as a preventive measure before getting into a similar bind. Thanks for the update!

When Gary first posted that link I looked at it with the thought of just doing the upgrade for the sake of the upgrade itself, however the price put me off. But, once the original part actually failed, I was glad to spend the money to fix it and the upgrade was just icing on the cake.
While I was in Quartzsite last month, another 2000 Bounder got parked right next to mine (first one other than yours I've seen with the identical paint job). He had also swapped out the ECC for the Waiter unit. He bought the most expensive one and was happy with it. I looked at the comparison chart here and decided none of the extras were worth the extra $175 to me.
I did spring for the touch screen model for the extra $50, and I'm happy with that decision. The amp display is very educational to watch when you turn on the various appliances. My Keurig draws like 11 amps when you first turn it on but drops to nothing quite quickly.