RV Air Conditioner Troubleshooting: Start Here! [4K]
Вставка
- Опубліковано 27 сер 2020
- Join the HighTechLab Discord Server! / discord
Visit my website at www.currentconnected.com
In this video, I go over part of the issue I had with my RV - The air conditioner in my RV was being fed too low of a voltage due to the poor hookup. As a result, the evaporator was icing up due to the low speed of the indoor blower motor causing improper airflow.
The video was recorded in Northern Idaho, so moisture in the air is not a concern. If this were located in a more humid climate, the issue could have been far worse.
FTC Disclosure Statement:
Some links on this UA-cam channel may be affiliate links. We may get paid if you buy something or take an action after clicking one of these.
HighTechLab is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com - Наука та технологія
Fantastic video. Bought a ‘91 camper to move across the country with and the AC kept having issues on the worst days. Got desperate and watched a few videos. This one was definitely the best video and we got the camper from over 100 degrees back under to a comfortable level, saving the dogs and wife.
Thank you very much for the video 👍
Late to the party, but for anyone else having the issue, dust is also a major contributing factor. When the fins get Dusty they hold on to the moisture and Ice builds up very very quickly.
That being said, I do thank you for this video because it actually helped me out quite a bit! I was running off my generator and with everything I have running, it had bogged the generator down a little bit so although it was getting almost 116 volts which is much more than needed, it was cycling at about 56 Hertz because of the heavy load on the geny. I increased the load side of the throttle a little bit and brought it up to 59 Hertz and that completely solved the issue for me. Thank you again
Love ❤️ your posts. Looking forward to your new battery presentation!!
Thank u this was very helpful. We found out our filter was filthy. It seemed to fix the issue we were having.
Thank you chief
I have also read that fan set on medium with temp set on colder, will cause freeze u. Is that R-22, Mine is and I can't find it anymore.
U helped me out, IT WAS MY AMPERAGE I also cleaned the coils tho. Thanks for the tips
Could you tell me what type of freon my 2003 roof top ac uses
Hi i have a coleman TSR in my caravan when i turn it on theirs nothing no sound or anything any ideas what it could be will i check to see if power is going to it or do i spin the fan
Just put in a Coleman- Mach replacing a Carrier but using a adapter kit to keep the Carrier control. It works, but turns off after about 15 minutes and comes back on after a couple minutes. Did I do something wrong?
I would suspect long duty cycle and low air flow. Amp feed should not effect it unless you have large voltage drop. If voltage is correct amperage would be based on load and if you can only feed 20 amp because of fuse/breaker if load takes more then it would trip. Check air exit and inlet for blocks and fan rotating at correct speed. Use a coil cleaner to clean evap coil
It can be ether air flow or and issue with subcooling and super heat, aka your low on refrigerant, so temp of evaporator drops to freezing( witch is not something you want an conditioner doing). Can't really say too much more without seeing the frost pattern as it could also be a few other things.
Amp/volt analysis is wrong.
What is the draw?
Do you know what this AC model number is?
What is the model number of your a/c?
Frost can be due to low air flow or low Freon or temp. set too low. Most likely the problem is low Freon. Motor speed is a function of line frequency and number of motor poles. As long as there is no mechanical binding, the fan speed should be ok.
In this case it was low air flow because the fan motor was not being fed the proper voltage because of a circuit that was not strong enough.
@@HighTechLab just because the breaker says 20 amp doesn't mean it's only putting out 20 amp. What that means is that breaker can "handle" up to 20 amp before "tripping". So say it's 20 amp breaker and you try to pull 35 amp on it, it might try to power up or run for a few minutes and then the breaker trips cutting Power off. It's because the breaker was overloaded causing it to trip. The number on the breaker mean the amount of amps it can safely handle before the "overload feature" kicks in and opens the circuit..... I think the AC just needs some cleaning and maintenance.
New to the channel? Have you seen my projects? I have background in commercial and industrial electrical, breaker sizing and trip ratings isn't anything new to me. My point to my viewers was the same as yours - even though the utilization equipment is not exceeding the ampacity of the circuit, the total voltage drop at the equipment was below the specification hence the reduced blower motor speed and the corresponding ice.
HighTechLab so low voltage due to voltage drop or inverter upstream dropping voltage or long feed line on undersized wire. May want to setup RV with floating battery charger and run only on internal battery. See you have been working on RV battery system and currently running directly on shore power
@@HighTechLab I'm a electronics/electrical major. If there is a significant drop from the source to the output then you have an issue in-between. Since copper has a resistance already plus the gauge of wire being used and how long the run is. Also to keep in mind that power fluctuates through out the day so it all depends on that factor as well. More people drawing off the grid service will give you a lower output voltage.
🙏 thanks
Low freon will also cause icing up issues maybe get a hvac guy out
i doubt it's using freon but yeah, low refrigerant gas will cause ice up.
Pretty common to have an ultra slow leak that results in low gas on old units.
@@Psi105 lets say refrigerant just to keep everyone happy
@@joshuabest100 well thats what it is, Freons a brand of refrigerant
Great video man !! It’s normal the compressor is hot ?? I touched the compressor today when I was checking all the unit in the roof of my rv … the others hoses was super cold but the compressor tank was hot …
Yes normal
My ac won't even turn on it trips the breaker in like half a second. And everything is clean. What should I do?
It’s shorted to ground. Replace
Started to say the same thing!
Replace what? That'd be helpful to know versus throwing parts around.
The whole thing. They are package units hermetically sealed.
Get it replaced. Shorted to ground
I would tend to agree with your low airflow diagnosis, but I am not so sure low source voltage is the culprit. I am aware you know all of what I present below (my semi random thoughts), but my conclusions may be different, I have the same unit which used to be on my RV's roof. My roof is flat and the AC has enough weight to create a pond and cause chronic leaking. I removed the AC, and all other roof vents, so there will be _no_ roof penetrations when I rebuild my roof, but I digress. The fan motor is an induction motor so it has a large starting current. My guess is that, if your source voltage had trouble running your fan, it would have no chance at starting it. Usually the compressor is hardest to start and will go into a bucking mode until it trips the thermal overload. The fan motor drives the condenser and evaporator fans, so if the fan runs too slowly, my guess is that the AC might not be able to shed enough heat to let the evaporator chill. If the fan induction motor doesn't get enough run voltage it will slow down but the rotor/stator slip rate will stall very early (maybe 10 percent at most?) and the impedance will drop the motor into thermal overload or trip a breaker. I may be wrong here, but if the refrigerant charge is too low, the evaporator will vaporize the liquid shortly after it enters the evaporator coil, so will likely frost a corner of the evaporator rather than the whole evap. unit. All of these issues should be fairly easy to check, but it takes time and a clear understanding of how motors and refrigeration interact. In my opinion, by modern standards these RV AC units are terrible. My plan is to make or modify a mini-split from a modern window or automotive AC using R290 or R600a with a vfd or esc running each of the fans and the compressor. The only wall or floor penetration will be the refrigerant lines. The starting current will be almost eliminated due to the the full RPM range feature on all motors. This system could also be configured to run directly from your PV panels or almost any other source. A modern electronic expansion valve could also be used. Additionally, this design could be expanded into a heat pump. (BTW, I also ditched the propane fridge for an R600a mini-fridge, and 6 gal. electric water heater, no more propane in my rig, or at least not for burning). The above is just my opinion, if anything new develops in your neck of the woods, please let us know.
Sounds like you want a mini-split in your RV, or a variant close to one. Totally agree with everything stated here. Would have been smart to pull a voltage at the AC unit during operation.
@@HighTechLab ; Yes, but formal mini-split units are much more expensive than a window unit. And while I'm hacking a window AC, I can explore the possibilities for providing the rotational force to drive a refrigerant pump or fans. As long as the bits keep turning the AC should work, even a small herd of angry hamsters, theoretically, could drive an AC.
I had a chance to get some experience with newer window AC units today. A couple of days ago I bough three second hand window units that were in fairly good shape for $20 each (2 Daewoo DWC-0520RLE units and 1 Sharp AF-S85PX). Each uses R22 so I will need to have the refrigerant reclaimed if I want to modify them, but at $20 each how could I pass on that deal. I found that they have much lower starting current than my older RV roof AC. My 8kw battery inverter had no trouble starting each of these new units separately, but I found that in some configurations my mini-frig would brown out the circuit when the ac was on and the frig tried to start. I ran an extension cord to my 2ish kw inverter gas generator and ran the ac on this circuit all day. It is so nice to get some relief from the heat and have the RV sealed up, which I could not do with my portable swap cooler. My plan now is to formalize a window mount in the hole where the propane water heater was and live with it this way for while. If it works well enough I can start hacking on my old RV unit to try a mini-splitting mod. Maybe ..., it's still early days and I have much to learn.
meanwhile your are liquid flood back to compressor you may need to brush up on electrical a bit
Your public misses you!
front coil looks dirty to me
So, lack of power. Just great. Lotsa help with a real problem.
Not the amps bud. If you had either to much voltage drop or to small a wire the AC would either not run or run bogged down. This is more of AC problem than it is an electrical one. Hope you got it working.
extension cord too long or too small could be problem
We replaced an old Dometic in our 36 foot camper (vented). ua-cam.com/users/postUgkxDDbPbIlwLRcX_ntp51ui5UMtAUGpHYxE The install was a simple swap, all holes lined up, the electric plug back in with no trouble. Getting it on the camper was the most "difficult" part of it, and my friend made it look easy. I've seen people "sled" them up ladders as well though. I watched a UA-cam video for instructions, very easily done. Some say it doesn't come with instructions, but I found the instructions under the ac in the box. I didn't need them, but they were there.It works well to keep a 36 footer comfortable, all by itself. It doesn't seem to be any quieter than the original, but it isn't any louder either. We're very pleased with it. Esp with the ease of swapping them out.
You should disconnect the power and short out the start capacitor before messing with an AC. A start cap has enough stored juice to kill you. Ive run into a lot of aggressive dogs but no wasps repairing AC.
how do you troubleshoot an issue that only occurs when the power is on by turning off the power and shorting out the capacitor?
Even tough the motor capacitors are on an AC circuit. They can store a voltage like a DC capacitor. It may depend on where in the cycle that the power is turned off, but I have often seen significant DC voltage stored on AC motor capacitors. I tend to put a high value discharge resistor on power capacitors so that they slowly discharge on their own, or I do as Systems Planet suggests and manually discharge any power capacitors before working on a unit. It is easy to check motor capacitors by using a voltmeter set on DC with the AC power turned off. This link might have good information: www.hvacrschool.com/can-you-discharge-a-capacitor-using-a-volt-meter/
😃👍🏻👊🏻
My ac is a dometic had to put new fan capacitor and even new wall controller but it just continuously runs doesnt clcle off cools good it did cycle on and off for an hour but i have to turn breaker off to let it rest any ideas???
Check to see if the fan is on auto. If not fan runs continuously
@@TerryDavis-wd9omthanks!
Get a soft start Programmer.
It doesn't make the air cold it removes the heat from the air
Ok troll
NOPE... that unit should run on 15 amps or less...