air conditioning

tiller

Member
just purchased 2019 sundance both air conditioners worked at pdi. hauled camper home about 30 miles now rear ac wont do anything at all.I opened up fuse panel and found a black wire that was stripped just hanging not attached to anything,wire has 120 vac on it i traced wire to rear ac unit and it is attached to nuetral from ac unit. There is no apparent location at fuse panel where wire came from can anyone help ?
 

jimtoo

Moderator
Hi tiller,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and to the family. We have a great bunch of folks here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge when needed. I'm sure you will get some suggestions soon.

Be sure and join our Heartland Owners Club. Then join us at a rally when you can meet lots of the great folks here and make friends for a lifetime.

Enjoy the forum.
Jim M
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Hi tiller,

You might find our Electrical User Guide helpful. It's in this folder and has pictures, drawings and explanations of the circuit breaker panel and how it's wired.
 

CDN

B and B
Hello,

Picture of the breaker panel? There must be one breaker in there that has no wire on it. Will be a 20 amp breaker too.

Brian
 

wdk450

Well-known member
A couple of things don't make sense here.

"both air conditioners worked at pdi" but don't work at your home. This would sound like the dealer's crew changed the wiring post PDI, before you drove it home.

What kind of electrical service do you have at home? You would need a 50 amp RV service (2 - 50 amp phases) to run 2 air conditioners. Do you have a power management system that manages the electrical power loads?

The 2nd thing that doesn't make any sense is "I opened up fuse panel and found a black wire that was stripped just hanging not attached to anything, wire has 120 vac on it i traced wire to rear ac unit and it is attached to neutral from ac unit." #1 Standard US electrical power code says that the black wires should be connected to the HOT side of the circuit (not get connected to a neutral wire at the air conditioner). #2 If you are measuring 120 volts AC on the bare black wire at the circuit breaker panel, what is the source of this voltage? Your high impedance input Digital AC voltmeter might be measuring the voltage from some minute electrical leakage path.

If it were me, I would first try contacting the dealer's service department with my problem, and if that doesn't get you anywhere (this should be a valid warranty claim), you could find the 2nd 20 amp breaker for the 2nd air conditioner (does your breaker box have a label identifying the breaker's functions to help find the appropriate breaker to attach the wire to? - Heartland Service can provide you this.)

Before you apply power to that rear air conditioner you need to get it wired CORRECTLY according to code. Black supply wire to black air conditioner wire, white neutral wire to air conditioner white wire, supplied ground to air conditioner ground. I would be curious to know what AC voltage you measure between the breaker box neutral buss bar and ground when everything is wired correctly. Ideally you should measure 0 volts, but if you are using extension cords to your home wiring system instead of a standard RV power pedestal with the neutral-ground bonded inside the RV power pedestal, there may be a neutral voltage built up on the trailer's neutral buss due to the long distance to the neutral - ground bond at your house incoming power service.
 

wdk450

Well-known member
What I don't like about the picture of this breaker panel (besides all of the breakers out of focus) is that all of the 20 amp breakers are the right hand breaker of a paired breaker. My breaker panel is set up with phase A on the left hand breaker of a pair and phase B on the right hand breaker of a pair. If this configuration holds true for your breaker panel, all of the heavy 20 amp loads will be on phase B and not balanced between the 2 supply phases.

Where is the stripped black wire with 120 volts on it that you talked about in your first post, on the picture?
 

tiller

Member
sorry the picture is blurry hard to get a good one. the black wire can be seen hanging down stripped part not in view.after some looking further today that black wire was ran behind fuse panel up the wall through ac duct work to rear air conditioner, it was connected to the neutral wire going to roof top which makes absolutely no sense. In comparing front ac wiring to rear ac it appears that maybe nonworking one has bad relay on control.
 

tiller

Member
sorry the picture is blurry hard to get a good one. the black wire can be seen hanging down stripped part not in view.after some looking further today that black wire was ran behind fuse panel up the wall through ac duct work to rear air conditioner, it was connected to the neutral wire going to roof top which makes absolutely no sense. In comparing front ac wiring to rear ac it appears that maybe nonworking one has bad relay on control.
So I finally got home and stuck a meter on the ac lines entering the relay control box on the air conditioner and there is only about 50 vac there. So it seems I don't have 120vac like I need.
 

wdk450

Well-known member
So I finally got home and stuck a meter on the ac lines entering the relay control box on the air conditioner and there is only about 50 vac there. So it seems I don't have 120vac like I need.

Go back to the Air Conditioner circuit breaker and measure there.
 

tiller

Member
120vac there
Problem solved bad common wire between breaker panel and air conditioner. The mysterious black wire was evidently pulled in by dealer as a quick fix to replace bad common wire. I replaced romex 3 strand ac line from breaker panel to air conditioner. Works great now. thanks all.
 

garyroee

Member
I am using Dometic Brisk II Rooftop Air Conditioner and I have a problem. Can I install a regular household thremostat anlog or digital to work with this unit. i.e. honeywell or nest?
 
Last edited by a moderator:

danemayer

Well-known member
I am using Dometic Brisk II Rooftop Air Conditioner and I have a problem. Can I install a regular household thremostat anlog or digital to work with this unit. i.e. honeywell or nest?
Can i install a regular household thremostat anlog or digital to work with this unit. i.e. honeywell or nest?Can i install a regular household thremostat anlog or digital to work with this unit. i.e. honeywell or nest?

Pretty sure Dometic A/C units using digital thermostats are not compatible with residential thermostats.
 
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