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That was close
Well I reported I was having strange issues with my lights and diesel hot water heater, turns out we should all take a look at our switch controllers every so often mine corroded and shorted melting my wires and causing the issues around the bus.
are these switches still available?? Or do the have to be repaired?
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15 Replies
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24v-push-button-self-lock-switch-led-light-momentary-latching/
These look similar. I cant tell if they are the same type. These are latching but they also have non latching.
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Good news is, it looks like the part of the connector with the pins on the circuit board can be saved by careful cleaning with contact cleaner. That is a custom part and likely hard to find.
The plastic female connector part that melted would need to be replaced and the ribbon cable shortened a bit to expose undamaged wires. If you don’t have enough slack to shorten the ribbon cable, you could patch in just the wires that corroded/melted.
Count the wires in the ribbon cable and search for “female ribbon cable connector” with the appropriate number of pins/sockets.
Here is an example
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/HARTING/09185406813/?qs=GZB%2FOSW0r0G7wPxAoQA0Lw%3D%3D
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I guess it’s not the batteries LOL.
Donnie Myers might be able to help with the part.
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Nope not the batteries lol. I found the female connector on Amazon it is a 40 pin connector and I spoke to a board repair shop near by and they said they would try to repair it worst case. Also spoke to featherlite and they are checking there inventory to see if they have any leftover stock.
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Maybe loose connection caused heat and then that?
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Looks to me like that board has been wet at some time. I have seen boards with corrosion just like that one.
Jeff and Lindsay
91 Marathon XL -
What are those 2 things that look like o-rings on the pins?
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Yea those switches are on my Slide wall maybe due to humidity they start corroding. Don’t think it was a lose connection, those are o-rings I believe to keep the connector straight and from going all the way down the plug.
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
Ralf:
Couple of things:
Did the diesel heater work on the other buttons once you removed the shorted panel.
I had my bedroom slide out cover removed for replacement and it rained which in turn allowed water to come in the slide and get that same panel wet. I sealed the seam at the top of the slide out and let the panel stay out until it dried. Been over a year and no problems. You got me double guessing myself now, think I will pull the switch panel back out.
Chuck
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
Electrical connections can create serious problems if they are corroded, loose, or wet. I would like to say I check all connections once a year but I don’t. Over the years I have had bad grounds that took a lot of searching to find, and I have had loose terminals that created arcing and resistance and which eventually damaged or otherwise melted adjacent parts.
Our problem is we have so many potential points where loose, corroded or otherwise damaged connections that it is almost impossible to do a complete inspection of all on the coach. From experience I have learned that at the first sign of an issue, whether it is a slight flickering of a light, or a device that hesitates to turn on, or any other abnormal sign that I need to find the circuit and go from start to the end to determine what is going on.
In every case where I have had issues the plastic on the device was burned or melted or the wires or cables had burned insulation. Some wires and cables carry heavy loads and the heat generated on a single circuit due to loose or corroded connections can start a fire anywhere along the length, and even half way between the power and the device in a fat wire bundle. Once that occurs it is a short path to burning a coach to the ground.
It is easy to say to inspect all connections annually, but reality says that task can literally take days and a visual inspection may not show anything. Like chasing air leaks there are numerous ways to isolate problems, including a visual inspection, feeling for warm or hot wires or connections when the circuit is under load, or ohming out the circuit from beginning to end. At the very least when something electrical does something unusual make an effort to inspect the entire circuit. It may prevent a costly repair or loss of a coach.
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Chuck: the diesel hot water would work and at the same time turn my bathroom lights on with the occasional flicker or lights would turn off it started with just the bathroom lights acting up, they would turn on and off and sometime not at all and all of a sudden turn on on there own. So I thought it was an issue with the lights, but when I tried to turn the diesel hot water heater on from the kitchen and it also turned on the lights I knew there was something else going on. So I decided to take the panel off that was the least responsive to the lights and to my surprise I found the burnt connector and wires. (Turns out my wife is not crazy when she was nagging me that she smelled something burnt lol). I would double check yours just in case. I have summed it up to my bus is use to miami weather and is telling me never to bring it up to the winter weather lol.
jon: this has definitely been a learning experience for me and I will definitely make it a point to check all my connectors from this point on just as a precaution, I have also developed a few air leaks while the bus has been in freezing conditions don’t know if that has anything to do with it or not but I feel once I leave Maine my bus will be close to new with all these repairs lol.
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Cold will always show air leaks not evident when the coach is in relatively warm temps. That applies not only to air leaks, but coolant leaks as well.
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
Well I bought a bunch of new fc-40p connectors and cleaned the board up with alcohol and dielectric grease and it seems to do the trick, so far so good. I was out of options as the board is obsolete and featherlite can no longer produce anymore.
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Good job. Dielectric grease should prevent corrosion going forward
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