AC on DC circuits?!

[Jerryr]

Not necessarily--if the trailer's wiring is taking out the refrigerator it's a Grand Design issue.

At the very least I understand his frustration.

In addition to the refrigerator problem, look at the list of electrical issues he's had (in his signature line)!

• 2 water heater failures (2 boards replaced)
• Bedroom USB outlets have never worked
• Dual Kitchen USB outlets fail when charging 2 devices
• Coffee bar circuit breaker trips on coffee pot with nothing else on

I can understand his frustration but I’m not so sure I would point to GD wiring as being the cause of the failures.

If he’s having problems with the refrigerator when directly connected to an isolated 12 volt battery that would eliminate trailer wiring as being at fault.

Dual USB outlets can be overloaded when 2 high current draw devices are plugged in.

Coffee pot tripping breaker could easily be a weak breaker.

Atwood/Dometic Water heater boards are notorious for early failure. Best to replace with a Dinosaur brand UIB64 board. https://dinosaurelectronics.com/UIB-64.html I keep one in my spare parts box.

[howson]

I can understand his frustration but I’m not so sure I would point to GD wiring as being the cause of the failures.

If he’s having problems with the refrigerator when directly connected to an isolated 12 volt battery that would eliminate trailer wiring as being at fault.

Dual USB outlets can be overloaded when 2 high current draw devices are plugged in.

Coffee pot tripping breaker could easily be a weak breaker.

Atwood/Dometic Water heater boards are notorious for early failure. Best to replace with a Dinosaur brand UIB64 board. https://dinosaurelectronics.com/UIB-64.html I keep one in my spare parts box.

I understand and agree the problem could very well be the refrigerator. But why the rash of failures in his refrigerator? Bad luck getting a couple of bad boards from the manufacturer? Possible. But I'm not willing to eliminate the frig's power source (yet) as a contributing factor.

This forum has debated how warranty issues are handled before so I am not attempting to rehash an old subject...BUT...chemist308 bought this trailer from Grand Design. Grand Design should follow through and make it right. It was Grand Design that chose to put a Dometic refrigerator in the trailer.

I really don't like how these problems are handled. As someone else already said (better than me), can you even fathom if this was the way automobile manufacturers handled warranty issues? (I've heard the comparison of an RV to a house purchase. I just don't like it.)

I apologize, chemist308, as my post is probably taking your thread OT. I will refrain from posting any further. If anyone wants to discuss further how Grand Design handles warranty claims, please start a new thread.

[Hokensalem]

As stated in post #7 , he tried the refrig on a separate battery and power source. That would pretty much eliminate the RV electrical system. It would not surprise me if the board is not defective again. Seems this whole thing is a dealership problem, as many things he's had wrong. If your state has a lemon law, look into that.

[Jerryr]

I understand and agree the problem could very well be the refrigerator. But why the rash of failures in his refrigerator? Bad luck getting a couple of bad boards from the manufacturer? Possible. But I'm not willing to eliminate the frig's power source (yet) as a contributing factor.

This forum has debated how warranty issues are handled before so I am not attempting to rehash an old subject...BUT...chemist308 bought this trailer from Grand Design. Grand Design should follow through and make it right. It was Grand Design that chose to put a Dometic refrigerator in the trailer.

I really don't like how these problems are handled. As someone else already said (better than me), can you even fathom if this was the way automobile manufacturers handled warranty issues? (I've heard the comparison of an RV to a house purchase. I just don't like it.)

I apologize, chemist308, as my post is probably taking your thread OT. I will refrain from posting any further. If anyone wants to discuss further how Grand Design handles warranty claims, please start a new thread.

Great timing! I was reading through the Dometic RM1350 Diagnostic Manual this morning looking for the AC requirements and came across this paragraph (related to your issue) but couldn't remember who was having the problem.

SECTION 4 DC VOLTAGE................As a last test, use a battery and run wires directly to DC terminal block. If the unit works ok on direct DC volts from a battery, the problem is in the coach not the refrigerator control system.

The Dometic troubleshooting guide leads one to believe that his problem is not in the coach since it faulted on a seprate battery.

I spent a good part of my working years working in tech world. Everything from Military and Civilian Avionics to working as a 3rd level System Support Engineer providing phone and on-site software and hardware support for high end systems connected to main frame computers. These types of repeating problems excited me.

Coffee pot tripping a breaker is an easy thing to troubleshoot since it’s repeatable. Is it tripping the GFCI or the CB in the breaker panel? Easy to isolate and fix. My Keurig coffee pot draws close to 13 amps. It could easily cause A weak 15 amp breaker to trip.

The cheap USB outlets are junk. They likely share 10 watts / 2.1 amps of charging power.

Again, The Atwood/Dometic water heater boards have a history on “infant mortality”. More than one of us have had multiple failures.

And back to warranties. A home builder will supply you with warranty booklets for appliances, water heaters, air conditioners etc., just like GD does. Dometic Warranty is 2 years from what I remember.

On a positive note, once all these issues are put to bed the OP should feel better about his trailer. It may take him some time to gain trust.

[Hokensalem]

I wasn't questioning you on your post at all. I was just giving my opinion (without giving my resume) on his problem. As with a lot of these problems the solution will probably be a simple one. Most of the time, people will start with the most difficult solution and work down instead of the opposite. That is commonly known as "over thinking" That is also where the saying may apply "K.I.S.S."

[john&debbie]

So as some of you know, I've been having issues with my Dometic refrigerator for months--so far about 6 visits from a mobile repair guy. Dometic finally approved replacing the board which was done this week. Then the fridge started throwing an "EO" error code, which is linked to communication between upper and lower board. After some troubleshooting directed by Dometic, the repair guy is telling me that it's a Grand Design wiring issue. He's saying there's a board in my rig that could be allowing AC to travel across the DC circuits. He's telling me the fix would have to be done by Grand Design service and they'd likely have to pull down the enclosure from the underbelly.

Is this even possible? Or am I just getting a line of BS from Dometic trying to get out of more warranty work. So far it seems legit--he's got my fridge running on a separate battery and an AC power connection external to the rig. Has anyone heard of this?

I posted I had similar issues with my Dometic refer. I have a Solitude 2930 5er and the furnace and refer are on the same 15A dc circuit, the furnace is in the main chassis and the refer is in a slide. I had occasional loss of dc power to the refer and when that happens, you lose the refer. It would magically come back, twice to be exact. The third time it quit entirely. I checked for the obvious, loose wire/connection, blown fuse etc and found nothing. I had a "Dometic" tech get involved, a lower board was ordered, nothing. Then Dometic said the refer was bad and sent a replacement, still, nothing. Dumbfounded, the "tech" run a jumper wire direct from the coach battery to the refer, it powered up, all along it was a GD wiring issue. This, and many other issues will be addressed when we get back home in April. BTW, I tapped into a clean Dc fused conductor and the new refer works like a charm.

[chemist308]

Well, now I can post an update. Short version is, this might FINALLY be fixed! Not long after the fridge was isolated from the RV, it failed again. Dometic, in their infinite wisdom was just going to send another lower control board (which they had literally just replaced) despite the RV tech telling me it might be an upper control board. I got Gentry with Grand Design involved and he was able to get Dometic to stop screwing me around and send both boards. About a week ago the repair tech replaced both boards, and the repair seems to be holding--notice my uncertain language here. But fingers crossed, and prayers, this issue might actually be fixed. Let's hope. It'd be nice if I don't have to dump this thing and opt for an apartment until I can get a decent one.