Refer Debacle

[johndebbie]

We took delivery of our 2019 Solitude 2930RL in late September 2019. We are snowbirds, so we did a shakedown run and other than issues described elsewhere on this forum, all was good. Mid October we headed for south Texas. November 1 we reached our destination. Mid December we experienced a power failure of our Dometic side-by-side refer and puck lights on that slide-out. First check, fuse at fuse box and there I discovered GD has the furnace and refer on the same 12VDC circuit, fuse is good, furnace powers up. Next check, power to refer. There is a junction block on the refer, 12.8V, so now I get help. Just so happened a Dometic certified tech happen to live in the park I was staying and his testing determined it fault to be the refer lower board. One was ordered, and installed, same problem. Perplexed, the tech got Dometic involved, the factory determined it was an internal fault that was non-serviceable and sent a new refer. Installed new refer, same problem. There's more, but in the end, there is a junction block at the furnace and the wire that powered the refer and slide lighting had fried and enough strands of wire allowed voltage to pass through but not enough amperage to power things up. More than likely in the haste to bang these units out at the factory, someone forgot to properly tighten a nut.

[Jkwilson]

A key piece of troubleshooting most people, even pros, forget that would have saved you some pain is that unloaded voltage measurements are almost meaningless. You need to measure voltages as close to the load as possible with the equipment operating normally. Needle sharp meter probes to pierce wires and liquid electrical tape to seal the holes is a very valuable troubleshooting tool.

[johndebbie]

Update to above problem. My dealer, while fixing this and many other warranty issues, found a "burned" junction block at the furnace. I do believe, had this been a stand alone circuit, this issue would not have come up. RV's continue to have "refer fires", maybe it's not the refer alone?

[Country Campers]

Update to above problem. My dealer, while fixing this and many other warranty issues, found a "burned" junction block at the furnace. I do believe, had this been a stand alone circuit, this issue would not have come up. RV's continue to have "refer fires", maybe it's not the refer alone?

Interesting find. Would you happen to have a picture or a little more info on where the junction block is located?

Brian

[johndebbie]

Interesting find. Would you happen to have a picture or a little more info on where the junction block is located?

Brian

I do not, it was all handled by the Dealer under warranty. First, check your fuse box as yours may be different, mine has the furnace and the refer on the same 15ADC fuse You might be able to follow the conductor from the fuse box to the furnace.