Our logic board has been giving us an intermittent problem for some time. After checking all the possibilities, I decided to replace it. A tough decision as the cost of the factory board is a pretty good chunk of a new heater. Being tighter than a tick, I thought there must be some cheaper and perhaps better way to do it.
Enter Dinosaur Electronics at: Dinosaur Electronics Home. High quality circuit boards for RV appliances. (http://www.dinosaurelectronics.com/) They make replacement boards for water heaters, fridges, Onan generators as well as test equipment. The boards come with a three year warranty, one year on the test stuff. Made in the USA too.
I called around but still didn't want to pay the $100 plus that RV dealers wanted so went back to the well again at Ebay. Here it is for $75 delivered, no tax. Took about 4 days to get here. See the page here: Dinosaur Electronics PC Board UIB S W Cover | eBay (http://www.ebay.com/itm/370661913816?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649)
The only modifications I needed to do was drill another hole for the bottom right board mounting and I still need to put some shrink tubing on the high voltage wire where it goes into the case.
Important: there is a 20 second wait for the new board to do it's thing. I had to re-read the directions.
Do go to the Atwood web site and follow their easy directions to make sure you need the board. Slightly crushing the sensor plugs so they are a tight fit may be the only thing wrong with the heater. I also jumped from the 12V (brown wire) at the board connector to the gas solenoid to make sure it was opening and eliminate that possibility.
Pierce
I don't think you can go wrong with a Dinosaur Board, I have used them in mine and also put one in a friends Reefer with good results. You are correct about the instructions, they have to be followed. RTFM :)
Gary B
I also installed a Dinosaur Board on my Atwood water heater, it works great.
Excellent Pierce. Great Pics along with installation instructions. Good testimony on the boards from Dinasaur Electronics from Gary B and Michael J. Some of us like to repair things ourselves if we can and save money for diesel, etc. It's part of that "pride of ownership" lesson that our Dad's used to talk about about when we were young pups.
Thanks,
Jerry aka Murph
Throw the Atwood away and install a new Girard. You get unlimited hot water for as many showers you want.
Best thing that's happened to DW and I in the last 2 years.
Earlier this year, the water heater started getting flakey, replaced all the controlls and associated wiring and a new Dinosaur board, all is good now. After 14 years I figured the old stuff had done it's job.