Alde not turning on

Bill&Suze

My son is back from a two night outing in our T@B 400. While he was out he reported that the Alde control panel would not turn on. Now that he's back I've been experimenting and indeed, the Alde control panel does not turn on. I've plugged into shore power and it appears that there's no 12V power at the 7.5 amp fuse for Alde in the WFCO. When I pull adjacent fuses a little red light comes on but not when I pull the Alde fuse. I've taken a look at the two glass fuses in the black box on top of the Alde unit and they look to be fine. The red communication cable is snug where it plugs into its port and the cable isn't kinked. Everything else powered by the BB battery functions, even if shore power is disconnected. Might 12V power to the Alde system be unavailable until the boiler water reservoir is at the correct level? The fresh water tank is 1/3 full and I've activated the pump while on dry camping mode running faucets. The pump shuts off as it should after stopping water flow rather than continuing to run to fill the boiler reservoir so I'm guessing that it is full. Any thoughts would be much appreciated. The camper is about two months old.

Grumpy_G

No, the panel should work even with no fresh water in the trailer. That's sort of a feature for people that camp for extended time in freezing temperatures.

If you have a test light or voltmeter check the fuse in the WFCO on both sides and then the ones in the Alde unit. Disconnect shore power before poking around on the circuit board in the Alde system. Did you check the communication cable on both ends ?

pthomas745

Trying to look at the fuses in the Alde to determine they are "ok" has been shown to be difficult. Either get the meter on the Alde fuses or just swap them out. 

You say you have "two" fuses in your Alde 3020?   The Alde 3010 had two fuses (which you probably saw in the Fuses for Newbies file) and they were prone to blow under certain conditions. (Like...its Tuesday, 4 am , time to blow).  But, since the 3020 and the single fuse, better grounded setups, that model rarely blows fuses.

I would guarantee that fuse or fuses on the unit is good before any other steps.

If it is a blown fuse: the usual thought in the days of the Alde 3010 blowing fuses was it happened due to inadequate grounding of the Alde.  If owners changed a power configuration....and the Alde was "on", the surge in power would blow one of the fuses.  The common solution was a slow blow fuse.  Some owners upgraded the grounding.

In the newest trailers, there is a ground wire attached to the batteries, a white cable.  That would be another place to examine.  I'm assuming the white cable goes to the ground bus bar?

ScottG

Bill&Suze said:

...

Might 12V power to the Alde system be unavailable until the boiler water reservoir is at the correct level? The fresh water tank is 1/3 full and I've activated the pump while on dry camping mode running faucets. The pump shuts off as it should after stopping water flow rather than continuing to run to fill the boiler reservoir so I'm guessing that it is full. Any thoughts would be much appreciated. The camper is about two months old.

Same answer as before. The Alde is actually designed to run with or without water in the boiler reservoir. As Grumpy_G noted above, this feature allows the use of the Alde for cabin heat while camping in freezing temperatures that prohibit use of the freshwater plumbing system.

It's a reasonable question, but in this case a red herring. The problem you are experiencing is almost certainly electrical in nature.

Bill&Suze

Thanks so much @Grumpy_G and @pthomas745. I managed by sheer coincidence to find the source of the dead Alde. It was a disconnected power wire in the black wiring/communication box on top of the unit. I've attached 2 photos of what I found and also 1 showing where I found and checked glass fuses. One is obvious but the other is hidden in the green fuse case I've pointed to. By the way, @pthomas745 is correct that there is a white ground wire leading to the BB battery negative terminal.

pthomas745

Every day...something new.  The Alde 3020 manual on the web does mention an "optional board for the Alde 3020, and that extra cable and fuse is apparently for the Alde Flow. (The manual's diagrams match the diagrams on top of the Alde in these photos.)  I don't think that fuse has ever been mentioned before in this group.

Great catch on the loose connection.  How did the wire "re-connect?" Just a "push fitting" sort of thing?

Looking at the schematic in the manual and the photos here: this would appear to be a separate power connection  between the Alde main board and the control panel on the 400's with the Alde Flow?  Or, are these two power connectors spliced together somewhere along the line?

Bill&Suze

To answer your two questions, the red wire that came loose has a half inch long solid silver colored metal tip, same as the black wire. These push into mating openings in the plug and I assume are simply a tight friction fit. When fully inserted they make contact with the circuit board contacts.

I don't know the answer to your last questions. Until now I've had no experience with Alde wiring. What I can attest to is that if this particular cable is not making contact with its circuit board there is no power to the Alde unit, to the WFCO fuse block nor to the control panel.

Thank you again for your attention to my earlier questions @pthomas745!

pthomas745

Thanks for bringing this up and showing us.  Another wrinkle has been added to the Alde file!