shore power alde display won't stay on

PNWtabber

We just completed a week of well below freezing temperatures in the Seattle area.  Because folks on this forum suggested a water valve related to the toilet was susceptible to freezing (and I had only done the blow-out method of winterizing), I opted to put a space heater in my trailer (trailer is at my house and plugged in to shore power), I ran the space heater on the lowest heat setting and blocked open the wet bath door.  I checked on the trailer a few times during the week to make sure all was well.

Today I went out to the trailer to turn off the space heater, as temps are finally above freezing.  I discovered the space heater was off, but I was able to turn it on again, so electricity seems to be working.  I turned off the space heater and turned on the Alde display, thinking I could set the Alde to 40F in case the temps drop again.  Well I pressed the power button on the display, the display started up but then shut off.  I tried about 3 times, but couldn't get it to stay on so I could set the Alde.

My first thought was, "did I blow a fuse?"  But if I blew a fuse, these things (space heater and alde display) shouldn't be working at all, should they?  Other thoughts for trouble-shooting this?  Thanks.

pthomas745

What setting is the Alde electric on?  1 or 2?  Trying to run the Alde on "2KW" on only a 15 amp household circuit, or even a 20 amp, might be a bit hard on that circuit. 

And:  how many watts was the space heater? 

Work from the power panel in your house back out to the trailer and make sure none of the house breakers are shaky.  Then into the converter circuit breaker for the trailer and the breaker for the Alde. Reset them all and see if things stabilize.

Denny16

If you are only connected to a 15-amp plug at the house, running the space heater and Alde may have created a low power brown out situation, without blowing a fuse.  Try turning off the space heater, then make sure your battery switch is on, and try turning on the Alde display, and set the AC  power level on the Alde to its lowest setting (1KW) this should allow the Alde to come on whilst on AC power alone.  I would also turn on propane setting to get the Alde warmed up, to reduce initial AC power load.

Also,what size ext. cord did you use to plug the TaB in with.  You are drawing power from the WaCo power unit as well as the Alde, so an ext cord rated for 15-amps may be too small on a long run.  I would not use an ext. cord with wire smaller than no. 18 Ga. wire (20-amp cord).
 Cheers 

Dutch061

The Alde control operates off of 12 VDC, so I would look at the battery state of charge. It should have nothing to do with the Shore Power, unless the battery switch is off, or the battery is dead.

If the 1 KW or 2 KW setting tripped the breaker for the Shore Power, the heater would not have restarted as mentioned.

Brad

PNWtabber

Thanks for the replies.

The "extension" cord is the regular black RV cord (as you would use in a campground), and it is connected to the house with a surge protector (Progressive Industries 30 Amp Portable RV Smart Surge Protector, SSP-30XL).  I can't see any writing on the cord to say what the amp rating is.  I do not know the rating of the house circuit it is plugged into, I will have to check.

The Alde is not running.  I wasn't sure about running it continuously for an extended period of time, so used a space heater instead, in retrospect that may have been a mistake.

Once the rain lets up, I'll go check the status of the battery.  We didn't have any power outage during the week, so I would have expected the space heater to have simply draw from shore power, no?  I have no indication that the shore power was interrupted at any time.

"What setting is the Alde electric on?  1 or 2?  Trying to run the Alde on "2KW" on only a 15 amp household circuit, or even a 20 amp, might be a bit hard on that circuit."  -- The Alde is not running and I was not able to get the display to stay on yesterday, so I don't know what the settings are, and can't turn the Alde on at the moment.

pthomas745

Check the wattage on your space heater. The small space heater here in my room is a "Lasko", and it has a max wattage of 1500 watts. It would approach 13 amps running on high on a 110v breaker.

MuttonChops

@PNWtabber ;
Suggest you start with the basics . . . full power down, then restart
to confirm electrical system starting point.

 -  Disconnect shore power
 -  Set Battery cut-off to OFF
 -  Set Main 30A breaker at Power Center Off
 -  Toggle Off/On all Power Center 15A & 20A sub-circuits
 -  Let trailer sit there for 5+ minutes
 -  Set Battery cut-off to ON
 -  Check SeeLevel Battery Voltage . . . most likely will be < 13V  > 11V
 -  Connect Shore power . . . confirm trailer power cord LED is on
 -  Set Main 30A breaker to ON
          Good chance you will hear the Power Center fan turn on
          If your battery has a good charge fan will quickly turn off
 -  Check SeeLevel Battery Voltage . . . should be > 13V showing Convertor is working
 -  Now try to turn-on the Alde panel
 -  If it powers up and stays on, set Heat Source to 1500W; Level 1 electric

 -  If panel still being weird - - - update us on how it is acting

P.S. My trailer has sat with no heat in outside temperatures as low as 9F over the past month.
Today cabin temperature was 23F (same as outside).  Adle started on Level-1 Electric OK.  Glycol temperature increased from 23F to 58F in ~20 minutes.
Will check it in an hour or so - - - cabin should be getting warm by then.  I also use the air-blow-out method and I include 'flushing' the toilet to clear that water line . . . knock on wood, so far no water system damage issues (now in second winter of long < 32F storage)

Denny16

If you have a standard RV hookup cable, they are normally 30-amps, so the cord should be fine.  A temp brown out could cause the heater to shut down, or if the wind blew hard enough to rock the space heater, it’s safety (tip over) switch could shut it down.

If you can not get the Alde display to turn on, either your battery switch is off (as mentioned, display works off 12VDC side), or a fuse is blown in the WaCo power panel on on the Alde boiler.  I assume your TaB cord is plugged into the 30-amp connector on the trailer.  Try turning on one of the TaB’s cabin lights, if it is working, then you have 12VDC circuits working.
 Cheers 

PNWtabber

Thanks to you all for your suggestions.

• Battery is fine, monitor reads 13.2.
• Interior lights work fine.
• Electric dehumidifier was running fine (plugged into the same outlet I had been using for the space heater).
• I brought the space heater (1500 watts) into the house and it works just fine.
• The plug for the Alde didn't look "straight" so I jiggled it into alignment.
• And, now the Alde display works just fine.
• I've set the Alde to 50F on electric for the night to make sure it is working.

I don't know what happened.  Perhaps operator error when I tried to turn on the Alde the other day?  Perhaps the Alde plug was loosened when I was adjusting the various valves during draining and blow out?

I think everything is fine.  I think I panicked needlessly.  **fingers crossed**
So grateful to have this supportive group to go to.

Denny16

Glad you got it sorted.  

Cheers