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Galley lights went out – Marathon says…
in my ’98 Marathon:
I turn off all the lights in the coach when I go to sleep. Pretty normal, right? I woke up Monday morning, flipped off the “master lights” switch which turns all the lights back on and the galley lights did not come on. I worked through every button/switch for the galley lights and though the panel light illuminates, no lights. I called Marathon and talked to Leon and his first response was, “bring it into one of our service centers”. Are you kidding me?
I pushed Leon and he said, “well, try resetting the coach, switch off all power”, etc. So I did that, no difference. “You are going to have to bring it into one of our service centers”. Are you kidding me?
So then he says to check for service lights on the control modules and try resetting the box (“it should be # 2 or 3”) and see if that works. There are no service lights on. “You are going to have to bring it into one of our service centers”. Are you kidding me?
“Well, okay, if you had access to an analog phone line, we could diagnose it remotely but those lines are hard to find.”
Beyond just being a rant, I’m curiuos if this is a normal experience? I appreciate that this is a nearly 20 year old coach and things break, but to have to drive the coach over 1000 miles each way (not to mention the time) to get the lights to turn back on in the galley seems ridiculous. Do all of the Prevost conversions work this way?
I think I actually do have access to the analog phone line so I will see if I can go that route. Otherwise I’m inclined to live without lights in the galley for as long as it takes me to make my way back to Florida (which could be a long time, I was just there in January taking the bus to Marathon)…
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2 Replies
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Charlie,
Did Leon have you check for a blown fuse? I’ve had the galley lights stop working and found a blown fuse in the bedroom rear closet on rear left corner wall behind the A/V units. Leon has always been helpful to me and goes out of his way to try to help solve any issue I may have. But there is only so much he can do over the phone. Marathon provides the most factory service centers located across the country to support their coach owners.
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I’m experiencing a similar problem. Also the galley lights and the cupboard lights across the aisle. Two light strings went out. I suspect the cause is one of the dual output Techlon 1022 output switches in the back closet. I’ll stop by at Marathon this coming Monday to have it checked out.
The system has been very reliable given how complex it is. It involves encoding of switch signals onto an Ethernet type bus (the blue RJ45 wires) and then performing the output operations in programmable relay or FET switches. The FET output switch is also performing the dimming operation.
If you find the FET switch that controls the specific lights, you can push the manual momentary switches to verify the output side being ok. In my case they did not make the lights come on, so I suspect the FET output switch is dead. There are also fuses in the output switches (10A) that might blow if you have wiring issues on the load side.
I think the passenger side coach wall where the switches are mounted can get pretty warm. If in addition, the lights are on, i.e. the switch is dimming the lights, the Techlon switches might overheat. They are just cooled by convection but there is little circulation behind the vinyl cover. I have measured temperatures up to 95F behind the vinyl cover while on this trip – I’d assume much higher temps in the summer. Of course, the switches are rated for up to 185 deg F and have worked for 17 years, so some aging of components must be involved as well.
One cannot just replace the Techlon switch. It requires custom software to operate. Possibly the EPROM that stores the firmware could be moved to the new switch. I have not checked whether it is socketed.
Will know more on Monday
Gerald
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