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Topic: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz (Read 4070 times) previous topic - next topic

Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

The power line monitor in our coach is operating erratically by giving us voltage readings that are far above normal -- between 139 and 149.  Fortunately, our Progressive Industries voltage monitor gives us normal voltage readings as does a separate plug in monitor I keep on hand.

I have two choices:

1)  Ignore it (but it bugs me to see these high numbers)

2)  Find a replacement without having to pay the inflated factory price.

I am leaning toward #2.  Does any one have any suggestions where I can find a replacement?
George Stoltz.  Retired from full-time living in a great Foretravel and now are back to living in a traditional sticks and bricks in Florida.

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #1 –
George....  my FT voltage panel also seems to read high, but not as high as yours.  Plus some of the LEDs are out.  If you do find a replacement, let me know since  I'd like replace it.  When we bought our coach at FOT we were told that replacements were not available.

George H
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George Hatfield

  Never ever use World Line Motors of Nacogdoches for service!

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #2 –
Will do.
George & Sandy & Trixie
Lost in America in a
40' Foretravel aka "Moose"
Follow our adventures at
http://sangeo-travels.blogspot.com/
Quote
George.... my FT voltage panel also seems to read high, but not as high as yours. Plus some of the LEDs are out. If you do find a replacement, let me know since I'd like replace it. When we bought our coach at FOT we were told that replacements were not available.
George H
George Stoltz.  Retired from full-time living in a great Foretravel and now are back to living in a traditional sticks and bricks in Florida.

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #3 –
When my coach was about a year old, the green polarity testing bulbs had grown so dim it was really hard to see them.  Foretravel replaced my whole monitor on warranty. but admonished that "they all do that".  To prevent a recurrence, I replaced the bulbs' series resistors with ones 10 times the original resistance.  This made the bulbs somewhat dimmer, but still very useable.  Now about 8 years later, they still work fine.

Also, the voltage readings were close, but not very accurate.  I found trimpots on each half of the monitor that adjusted the voltage readings.  I set them as closely as I could to a reading from a good DVM.

If your readings have changed a lot, there probably is a reason, however there is a good chance you can readjust the meters back to the correct readings using these trimpots.  It's worth a try.  If the readings still keep changing, then you could look for a new unit, or possibly just adjusting them would make the unit workable until you can find a replacement.

If you decide to do this adjusting, just plug in one side of the meter at a time, and be very carefull, as there is 120 volts all around where you are working.

Dick

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #4 –
Dick,

Thanks for a great answer.    I will look at this tomorrow.  Are the trim pots located on the back of the monitor?

Also,  I am curious as to why you installed resitors that made lights dimmer? Did you mean to say brighter?
George Stoltz.  Retired from full-time living in a great Foretravel and now are back to living in a traditional sticks and bricks in Florida.

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #5 –
George,

As I recall, the pots are on the circuit board that is exposed when you remove the electrical box from the rear of the monitor.

And no, I did mean increase the resistors to dim the bulbs.  The original bulbs wore out in less than two years due to being overdriven (my theory anyway).  When I received a brand new unit I decreased the current significantly to allow a longer bulb life.  It seems to have worked, as they are still about as bright 8 years later as they were when new.

Dick

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #6 –
Dick... can the LEDs be replaced?  If not, do you know of a source of these boards?  All but one of my LEDs are out.
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George Hatfield

  Never ever use World Line Motors of Nacogdoches for service!

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #7 –
George,
These are not LED's, they are a neon bulb that apparently has a phosphor in it to glow green.  I am sure they would be replaceable if you can find them.  I suspect that you could, if nothing else, get bulbs from a power line tester and put them in.

I have no idea where you would ever find a replacement board.

Good luck,

Dick

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #8 –
Bumbling around on Google and I came up with this marine device.

Not sure it would work for a motorhome, but thought I'd post it here

http://cgi.ebay.com/Digital-AC-Power-Watt-Meter-V-P-Monitor-Boat-RV-Ship-/350243621075
George Stoltz.  Retired from full-time living in a great Foretravel and now are back to living in a traditional sticks and bricks in Florida.

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #9 –
George -

Earlier I noticed only line 2 having lights and line 1 struggling to glow, now I've only one tiny flicker on my monitor tonight, if I hold a light to it can see flickering - after reading all this post I shutter to think this is my first item to go and needing replacing -

The readout is 124 on both lines

I'll be watching this post to see if ya find any replacement & I'll check to see if my ever so expensive "warranty" for coach will cover this -

Ah welcome to the life of owning a dearly loved coach :D
Virginia and Jim
Virginia Cunningham
Motorcader # 16992
'99 U320 40'
'06 Black Silverado 2500HD 4x4 Crew Cab

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #10 –
George,

I have done a lot of searching on the Internet looking for a suitable replacement bulb for the line monitors.  It appears that what we want for an exact replacement is an ne-2g bulb.  I found these offered by several Chinese distributors with a minimum order of 10,000 pieces - a little too many for me!  It may be that an appliance repair outfit would have some, as they are used as pilot lights for a number of small appliances.

One source said that the Radio Shack Green Neon Lamp Cartridge pn 272-708 contains a similar bulb, but I cannot verify that.  If you are satisfied with an orange color lamp, the ne-2 or ne-2h bulbs are much more available.  These are what are in all the inexpensive line testors I have found.

The basic problem with all these bulbs is that they typically list an average life of 25,000 hours.  This sounds like a lot, but if you keep your coach plugged in all the time, it is less than 3 years!  Because of this I suggest making the series resistor as large as possible while giving an acceptable brightness of the bulb.  The larger the resistor, the longer the life.  I repaced mine with 10 times the resistance and they still look good after 8 years.

If mine ever go out again, I think I will replace them with green LED's, which would require adding as a minimum a series diode and changing the series resistor.

Dick

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #11 –
Dick;
    If you get this repair  figured out ,I will be your first customer,then there will be hundreds after. Good luck on your new bidness.
Gary 99 295
Gary & Sharon Karnes
1999 295 WTFE 3600

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #12 –
Hi all,

I finally found a source for the ne-2g bulbs for our power line monitors!  It is All Spectrum Electronics in Van Nuys, CA (www.allspectrum.com).  Under the topic of NEON LAMPS they list about 10 different size and lead length combinations of the green bulbs.  I would have to open my monitor and measure the existing bulbs to verify the correct one.  Prices run around $0.50 each, varying a little by exact bulb.

Dick

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #13 –
OK,  I went out and pulled my monitor out and opened it up.

The steps to open it are:
1  Remove front panel from electrical box - 4 screws
2  Unplug 2 cables from front panel to power supplies
3  Remove 4 hex nuts and remove board from front panel

The 4  NE-2G green bulbs are 6 x 12 mm.  There are also 2 plain NE-2 (amber) 6 x 12 mm bulbs for the open ground indication.  I didn't touch the circuit of these 2 bulbs as they are almost never (hopefully!) lit, and should last forever.

I replaced the original series resistors with 470k for long life and not too dim a bulb for the 4 green bulbs.  Before you change these resistors, you should follow the traces and verify that your board layout is the same as mine (2000 U-270).

The attached photo shows these as well as the adjusting pots to calibrate your volt meters.  Just be careful of the high voltage, both as for shorting anything while it is hot, and coming into personal contact with any high voltages!

Dick

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #14 –
That is fantastic information,  I just ordered my 4 bulbs!  Thank you for sharing how to make the updates and where to get the bulbs (and the great picture)

I bet All Spectrum is going to wonder why they have this sudden rush on small green neon bulbs. 
2000 / 36' / U320 / WTFE
WildEBeest / "Striving to put right what once went wrong"

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #15 –
Question..... Do these bulbs just plug in or do they need to be soldered in place. 

Thanks in advance.

George
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George Hatfield

  Never ever use World Line Motors of Nacogdoches for service!

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #16 –
George

They are soldered into the PC board.  It is fairly delicate work.  If you do not have experience working on delicate electronics, you should find someone who has.

Dick

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #17 –
Hello All;
  I would like to give a huge round of applause to Mr. Dick Mason for all of the correct information needed for the repair of the power monitor board. I have never worked on a circuit board,but , with this information, I now have nice green lights in all of the correct places.
Approx. 90 minutes working time. Cost less than $10.
Again THANK YOU.
Gary
Gary & Sharon Karnes
1999 295 WTFE 3600

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #18 –
Hi Gary,

I'm glad I was able to help and that it all worked well for you!

Dick

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #19 –
Dick,

Count me as another satisfied customer ... Just finished updating my line monitor in our 2003 U320.  The circuit board looks to be identical to the one you showed, it was also dated 1998.  I posted some pictures of my update in the photo section.  The only changes on my part were the use of 220K resistors and since I did not want to go back to radio shack I used .5 watt ones instead of the small .25 watt ones.

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2000 / 36' / U320 / WTFE
WildEBeest / "Striving to put right what once went wrong"

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #20 –
Steve,

I am glad it all worked out for you.  As you said, the hardest part is removing the old components!  Thanks for the update and the step by step pictures.

Dick

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #21 –
Great information Steve and Dick; didn't realize my Power Line monitor was supposed to have brightly visible green indicator lights as they have always been very dim and flickering ever since I've owned the coach.

BTW, I am ready to order the bulbs from Spectrum and the NE-2G 6x12mm lists a 30mm lead and a 60mm lead; which do I need to order? 

Fiddler
01 U320
Fiddler
1959 Parris Island grad
40' 2001 U320 Build 5875
1999 Suburban K1500 toad
1986 Corvette Pacecar
ssoftail@comcast.net

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #22 –
I also ordered some. 30mm is almost 1.2", more than enough for this application. You will end up clipping some off. As you can see from Steve's pictures, they do not stand off the board very far.

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #23 –
Quote
BTW, I am ready to order the bulbs from Spectrum and the NE-2G 6x12mm lists a 30mm lead and a 60mm lead; which do I need to order? 
Bob nailed it ... 30mm is more than enough, really 6mm is enough as they do not stand very far off the circuit board ... so either will work as you will be clipping most of the lead away after its soldered in place.




2000 / 36' / U320 / WTFE
WildEBeest / "Striving to put right what once went wrong"

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #24 –
Hi guys,

FYI, if you are going to order replacement bulbs the power monitor board be sure to look at the pictures again.  Four neon bulbs are lit up, but there are 6 on the board.

Jim
Jim Frerichs
2002 U320 42'