New 2017 Cyclone 3611 JS - A few new owner questions

[andrew.l.garr]

New to the forum and RVs. Last year we bought a Crossroads Rezerve 32SB for our first travel trailer. The family and I quickly learned what we liked and did not like, and decided to make a change. We spent several months looking at a lot of different models, and finally last month purchased a new 2017 Cyclone 3611 JS. We have spent a couple weekends in it already and love it.

I have been a little disappointed in getting information from the dealership about a few questions I have, so I thought I would try here.

1) Yeti Pack Switch - There is a rocker switch labeled "Yeti Pack". What all does this control? Is it part of the Arctic package?


2) Red Light Switch - On the side of the island there is a 120V red light switch that lights up when it is on. Any ideas what this is for? Is it part of the Arctic package? The dealership said it was to control which of the 3 ACs were running, but I thought that was on models without the Power Control System.


3) Power Control System - First time I have dealt with one of these. I was running on the generator and the third AC tried to kick on. The power flickered in the entire trailer and then it shed all three AC units, but did not pop any breakers. Should it have kept the third AC from starting in the first place?


4) Waste Tanks - Labels show Grey 1, Grey 2, and Black tanks. Does anyone know which drains feed which tanks? Grey 1 fills up pretty quickly, but never seen anything in Grey 2.

5) Trailer Breaks - About 200 miles into our first trip, the integrated trailer break controller in my 2016 RAM started giving me a "Check trailer brake wiring" message. I have looked for anything obvious with the wiring and not seen anything. Sometimes it will goes hours without the message, then it will go off every 30 seconds for the next hour (the dinging really starts to annoy the wife). Have pulled it about 1000 miles now and still have problem. Would like to get it into the dealership, but have several more trips planned in the coming weeks and they can not get it in before then.

Sorry for all the newbie questions, just wanted to get this all figured out and enjoy our new trailer.

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[jimtoo]

Hi Andrew,

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.

The switch with the red light is most likely to turn on the electric element heating side of the water heater. DO NOT turn on until you make sure the heater is filled with water, it will burn itself out in just a few seconds.

The switch with the "Yeti" label is most likely to turn on the heating pads for the tanks. Again do not turn on when the tanks are empty. It will get hot enough to cause leaks.

I'll let other members jump in about the rest of the questions you have.

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

Enjoy the forum and your new unit.

Jim M

 

[danemayer]

1) Yeti Pack Switch - There is a rocker switch labeled "Yeti Pack". What all does this control? Is it part of the Arctic package?

2) Red Light Switch - On the side of the island there is a 120V red light switch that lights up when it is on. Any ideas what this is for? Is it part of the Arctic package? The dealership said it was to control which of the 3 ACs were running, but I thought that was on models without the Power Control System.

3) Power Control System - First time I have dealt with one of these. I was running on the generator and the third AC tried to kick on. The power flickered in the entire trailer and then it shed all three AC units, but did not pop any breakers. Should it have kept the third AC from starting in the first place?

Hi Andrew,

YETI and Arctic or Canadian Arctic package should be the same thing. There are holding tank heating pads along with some heat tape on the portion of the fresh water tank feed line that's in the underbelly.

The YETI switch could be turning on just the heat tape, or both heat tape and holding pads. Over a period of time, Heartland has done this several different ways. The wall-type switch that lights up could be either the water heater electric side, or it could be the YETI switch for the holding tanks. If you have rocker switches for the water heater, including one marked 110V (or 120V), then the standalone light switch is for the tank heating pads.

Btw, when the tank heaters are ON, you need a little water in each tank to dissipate the heat from the pad. It's possible to damage the tank if the tank heaters are ON with an empty tank.

The Power Control System (PCS) on Cyclones is a little different from the one used on Landmark 365. On the Landmark 365, the programming of the PCS sheds loads in a specific order to manage the total power consumption. So when the 3rd AC was turned on, if power consumption was too high, some load(s) would have been shed. On the Landmark 365, the 1st load to shed would be the Water Heater 120V operation. The 2nd to be shed would be the rear A/C. 3rd to be shed would be front A/C. 4th is the Washer/Dryer. 5th is the mid-A/C.

Keep in mind that on the generator, you won't have more than 5500 watts available (on shore power you have 12,000 watts). So depending on what other devices were consuming power, including some invisible loads like the Power Converter, it's possible the startup demand of the third A/C unit could cause the PCS to shed multiple loads all at once.

 

[pjones1969]

5) Trailer Breaks - About 200 miles into our first trip, the integrated trailer break controller in my 2016 RAM started giving me a "Check trailer brake wiring" message. I have looked for anything obvious with the wiring and not seen anything. Sometimes it will goes hours without the message, then it will go off every 30 seconds for the next hour (the dinging really starts to annoy the wife). Have pulled it about 1000 miles now and still have problem. Would like to get it into the dealership, but have several more trips planned in the coming weeks and they can not get it in before then.

Sorry for all the newbie questions, just wanted to get this all figured out and enjoy our new trailer.

Thanks,
Andrew

Welcome and Congratulations,

I had a "wiring fault on trailer" message on my Ford F350, I'm no electrician but I checked the wiring coming out of the axles and then inside the junction box on the pin box for knicks in the wiring, I was kind of excited to find a knick in the junction box on a wire and I repaired it, I also used dielectric grease on the 7 pin connection but the message would still pop up. I replaced the junction box with a 7 pole box from Bargman, and a 12ft coiled cord and have had no issues since.

- - - Updated - - -

The Power Control System (PCS) on Cyclones is a little different from the one used on Landmark 365. On the Landmark 365, the programming of the PCS sheds loads in a specific order to manage the total power consumption. So when the 3rd AC was turned on, if power consumption was too high, some load(s) would have been shed. On the Landmark 365, the 1st load to shed would be the Water Heater 120V operation. The 2nd to be shed would be the rear A/C. 3rd to be shed would be front A/C. 4th is the Washer/Dryer. 5th is the mid-A/C.

I don't understand how the Cyclone PCS works either, I was boondocking 2 weekends ago running (2) ac's, fridge and water heater and both 30a breakers on the generator tripped, I thought the PCS would have shed something to prevent this, I should have probably had the fridge ad water heater on propane but I'm still curious why it tripped the breakers

 

[andrew.l.garr]

Thanks for the tips so far.

The YETI switch could be turning on just the heat tape, or both heat tape and holding pads. Over a period of time, Heartland has done this several different ways. The wall-type switch that lights up could be either the water heater electric side, or it could be the YETI switch for the holding tanks. If you have rocker switches for the water heater, including one marked 110V (or 120V), then the standalone light switch is for the tank heating pads.

There is another rocker switch for the 120V hot water heater. So, the Yeti Pack switch must be the heat tape while the red light switch must be the holding pads.

I had a "wiring fault on trailer" message on my Ford F350, I'm no electrician but I checked the wiring coming out of the axles and then inside the junction box on the pin box for knicks in the wiring, I was kind of excited to find a knick in the junction box on a wire and I repaired it, I also used dielectric grease on the 7 pin connection but the message would still pop up. I replaced the junction box with a 7 pole box from Bargman, and a 12ft coiled cord and have had no issues since.

I just ordered a seven pin junction box to try. I am not a big fan of the metal box on their now anyway. Hopefully that will be the issue. Easier that rewiring the entire brake system.

 

[pjones1969]

I just ordered a seven pin junction box to try. I am not a big fan of the metal box on their now anyway. Hopefully that will be the issue. Easier that rewiring the entire brake system.

The 7 pole box really cleans things up, you might want to replace the cord too and add a Maglite D-cell flashlight clip.

I used those electrician wire tag markers and tagged everything before I dis-assembled everything, made it a lot easier going back