Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

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

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #25 – September 02, 2010, 12:21:59 am

I believe it was noted the other two are amber and should never be lit up as they are reverse polarity - so they don't wear out...

Quote

On 9/2/2010 12:12 AM, Jim Frerichs wrote:
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

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #26 – September 02, 2010, 12:45:15 am

Dave,

Oh oh, I missed that.

Thanks,.

Jim

Quote

I believe it was noted the other two are amber and should never be lit up as they are reverse polarity - so they don't wear out...

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.

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #27 – September 02, 2010, 09:43:33 am

Quote from: Dave Head – September 02, 2010, 12:21:59 am

I believe it was noted the other two are amber and should never be lit up as they are reverse polarity - so they don't wear out...

Correct! We've only seen them light once, and that was coincident with a ground issue. For some reason I thought they were red, but they could be amber. It's been a while.

Michelle

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #28 – September 02, 2010, 11:49:15 am

Jim:

I think those are the amber bulbs (open ground) that Dick mentioned and are HOPEFULLY rarely lit up. They are most likely just fine in most of our coaches.

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #29 – September 02, 2010, 11:52:44 am

Oops... and I didn't see page two of the posts so I missed the the fact that that Dave had already replied to the amber light issues.

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #30 – September 03, 2010, 11:37:25 pm

Quote

I have also ordered the components plus a new solder pump/sucker.

I used my inexpensive solder pump/sucker as well, it really is the only way to go when you need to clean the old solder out of the through hole and really helps remove a lot of the old solder to help free the part

A third hand is also a big help, I used a portable bench vise (with non-conductive foam on the jaws) to gently hold the circuit board while I lifted the components (with spring loaded tweezers) from the component side while applying heat to the terminals/pads (after I removed most of the old solder with the pump).

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #31 – September 07, 2010, 07:45:03 pm

Thanks Dick for all the info. I received my bulbs today and installed them. Everything worked as you said. Thanks for the valuable information.

Regards, Mark

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #32 – September 07, 2010, 08:21:58 pm

I can't believe I missed this topic when it started back in June! In our coach, the polarity check lights flicker continuously with a dim, green light and the display for voltage check has an odd lighting effect that doesn't even resemble numbers anymore... Both MOT & FOT said the units aren't manufactured anymore and that there's really nothing to be done unless I would like to spring for a new inverter...

Good info! Thanks!

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #33 – September 07, 2010, 10:53:16 pm

Bill,

If your 7 digit leds are also going (assuming its not the power supply) those are very easy to replace as they are in sockets. I just reopened my case to get the PN of the LEDs and they are KingBright SA03-11GWA. Found them on digikey.com for $1.24ea (you will need 6 of them)

Steve

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #34 – September 08, 2010, 11:59:24 am

Quote from: Steve – September 07, 2010, 10:53:16 pm

Bill,

If your 7 digit leds are also going (assuming its not the power supply) those are very easy to replace as they are in sockets. I just reopened my case to get the PN of the LEDs and they are KingBright SA03-11GWA. Found them on digikey.com for $1.24ea (you will need 6 of them)

Steve

Thanks, Steve. Will get 'em ordered!

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #35 – September 08, 2010, 09:25:51 pm

Steve,

That's good information, Thanks

Dick

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #36 – September 22, 2010, 12:25:02 am

For the past 10 days or so our power line monitor has been giving us fairly accurate numbers. Go figure.

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #37 – September 24, 2010, 09:17:28 am

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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.

Steve and Dick,
Thanks for your great information and pictures. I also thought the dim flickering green lights were normal, as it has been on every other Foretravel I looked to purchase. I guess if my budget was higher I might have looked at some newer models and found out otherwise.

Brad

2000 U320 4000

Power Line Monitor Repair

Reply #38 – October 13, 2011, 11:34:43 pm

This thread is over a year old, but I thought I would report that I finally got my power line monitor repaired using the procedure described here. Works great. I found an individual in Tucson with lots of soldering experience and she effected the repair for me. The repaired monitor is shown below.

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #39 – October 13, 2011, 11:48:29 pm

I offered to come up and do George's when he was in FL but he passed.

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #40 – November 03, 2011, 10:04:55 pm

Quote from: George Stoltz – June 13, 2010, 08:50:25 pm

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

cgi.ebay.com/Digital-AC-Power-Watt-Meter-V-P-Monitor-Boat-RV-Ship-/350243621075

This actually would work for a motorhome. Not only that it's priced reasonably. It would indicate voltage, current and power drawn by the circuits in the coach. It would not indicate polarity or poor grounding, however. And it needs an appropriate shunt which they say is "not provided"; and no immediate mention of where to get one. But it's pretty cool, otherwise.

Craig

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #41 – November 10, 2011, 04:26:07 pm

Dick,
I hate to flog a dead horse but I have a question about resistor sizing. You chose ten times the original 47K ohm which you said still gave acceptable bulb brightness. I have various packages of resistors on hand but the closest I have are 1meg ohm. Do you think these would work or should I go out and purchase another package of resistors closer to your 470K ohm resistors?

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #42 – November 10, 2011, 04:33:24 pm

Howdy Richard,
I know this wasn't directed towards me, but I just completed project this a week or so ago and I, like Steve, used 220k. It works great!!! Seems to me, the brightness of the Neon tubes, is just right..Time will tell.. I have some extra 220k 1/4watt resistors if you are interested..Just PM with an address and I'll drop in the mail.
Good Luck, Dave Abel

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #43 – November 11, 2011, 09:59:07 am

Richard,

The value is not critical. I just chose the largest value which I felt gave me adequate brightness, using the theory that the larger the value I used, the longer the life of the bulbs. It has worked well for me. 220k should still give you a much longer life than the original 47k.

To see if you think 1 M resistors give you enough brightness, temporarily install one (without soldering) and very carefully plug it in to see. That's how I did it. As I recall, when the resistance got too high, the bulb started to flicker, but I don't remember what that resistance was.

Dick Mason

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #44 – May 09, 2012, 02:18:19 pm

I will be replacing the neon bulbs on my board this weekend if I find the time. I bought them from All Spectrum Electronics. My purchase was made online, but I noticed in-store pick-up was offered, and the store is in Van Nuys CA (next to the airport, they are also a pilots supply store). Easy to get to, andI spoke with the owner, Moses, and found out the shiping would have been very resonable. They also offer soldering irons and supplies if you are in need.

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #45 – February 13, 2025, 04:58:47 pm

So here we are 14 years after the original topic was addressed and Spectrum is still in business and has white and amber bulbs. I didn't see any green ones but a plug in power line tester I have uses all amber LED's so I went with them. I just received them and will install shortly and let you all know the results.
I ordered a large sample of resisters that they didn't have in stock but they sent me upgraded ones with a nice hand written note on a 3X5 index card explaining the change.
Wow how often to you get something like that!

Tyson

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #46 – February 13, 2025, 06:17:55 pm

Awesome to know you can still get those bulbs. I had updated our 03 and the repair looked like new years later when we sold the coach.

Our 2000 already had the repair/update done. Whoever did that repair left the bulbs a bit too proud of the PWB surface causing the pointy tip of the bulbs to work their way through the Lexan cover. So be sure to seat the bulbs down as far as the existing ones so they don't, eventually, blister the plastic cover.

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #47 – February 14, 2025, 04:51:25 pm

No one has tried LEDs yet? The newest ones I would think have the drivers integrated in a small footprint by now.
Maybe we don't need to reinvent the wheel on this one.

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #48 – February 14, 2025, 09:05:37 pm

Quote from: AdventureSofie – February 14, 2025, 04:51:25 pm

No one has tried LEDs yet?

If they have I've not seen the post on how to do it.

I think the challenge on changing over to LED's is that Neon bulbs are AC, so you would need to add a series diode, maybe even a FBR, and then a series resistor to set the current to the forward current of the LED you choose. In the end that may be more work then swamping out the NE-2 bulb and updating the existing resistor. I hope one of the EE's on the board will let us know the correct steps.

Another option is, that there is so much room in the existing box,, replacing the internals with a modern solution that uses the old "face" could be a fun project.

Re: Power Line Monitor Is On The Fritz

Reply #49 – February 19, 2025, 10:40:57 pm

First I should say that until I found this thread and discovered that there were supposed to be some lights, I was perfectly happy. But once I noticed what should be there, I just had to do something.
I am trying some LEDs.
I found some on Amazon. Amazon.com: Gebildet 10pcs 6mm LED Metal Indicator Light 110V-220VAC... They were under $10 for a package of 10 so I figured why not. When I got them they were too tall so I thought about taking the clear cover out of the faceplate and just have the bezel through the faceplate. if I left them as is, they would stand out about 1/2" so I decided to cut one down to see if I could end up the flush. In the process, I discovered that the LED could be removed from the housing and still was Green and that the color of the bezel was not all that made the light green.

you can see in the pictures, the process. Cut with a hack saw all the way around and you don't have to be too careful because the blue plastic protects the wires. the LED comes out of the blue plastic after the wire insulation is removed.

The diode is there and I tested the LED on the board with the non functioning neon bulbs and they worked.

Next step is the solder them, but I am afraid of cooking the diode because I don't have great skills soldering small stuff. I may try to find someone with skills.

I will let you know how it works out, but I have faith that these parts will work if the de-soldering and re-soldering is done skillfully.

It appears that the correct height will be just about at the diode to wire solder joint.

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