Alde "connection error" message

newell

      The last camping trip of the 2017 season in Delaware our Alde stopped working and gave a "connection error" on the control panel. Our dealer and the techs at nucamp  were unable to suggest anything over the phone that I hadn't already tried.  We made arrangements to have a new circuit board installed at our dealer when we returned to New York.  After the new install, the Alde worked and it was the end of the season. We winterized and put it up for the winter.  
     Today,  I drained out all the RV antifreeze from the fresh water system,  flushed everything out and fired up the Alde.  All afternoon I had hot water and heat on electrical power.  When I decided to call it a day around 4:00PM I went to lower the thermostat and got a "connection error " message again.  So, the new circuit board worked for about 3 or 4 hours. I tried to reset the Alde per the manual by disconnecting the 12v power and reconnecting with no success.  I checked continuity on both fuses and they were fine.  So here I am.  No hot water, no heat and a six week trip ahead of us to California.  
     Anyone out there have a similar problem?  

Photomom

I would call or email Alde. The last time I contacted them with a question they got right back to me. 

newell

     Thanks Photomom,  I have been talking to Alde and they have been great.  It just so happens that I am going to be a the nucamp factory next week and hopefully we can get this behind us.  
     Just to make this problem more interesting, here is the new twist.  This problem only happens (so-far) in the heat of the day.  At night the error message goes away and the Alde works normally with heat for the camper and hot water for the sink and shower.  Once the heat of mid day comes around, the system goes back into default with the "connection error" message.  This has happened for (4) days now.  

Tabaz

Could it be a faulty thermostat in the control unit?

Tabaz

I meant control panel/display.

Photomom

did Alde have any ideas as to cause other than what’s in the user manual?

newell

Spencer at Alde although having said he has never encountered anything like this before said it can only be one of three things.  As you said, the control panel, the circuit board or the wiring harness.  He even said the connection error is something he hardly ever sees.  Hopefully they can figure it out on Tuesday when we're at the factory.  

Photomom

Since I’m out of warranty if I had the issue I’d look at the wire that runs from the display to the Alde and make sure it wasn’t pinched or nicked and the connectors that plug in at both ends were tight and properly terminated. And I’d check the circuit board in the display for a bad solder connection. It sounds like a physical problem to me. 

newell

     This thing with working during cool hours and getting the error during the heat of the day is strange.  It seems to me it must be due to some kind of temperature induced expansion and contraction.  Whether that's physical or electrical, who knows.

ChrisandAlexis

@newell, since it might be temperature related, can you troubleshoot using as we used to jokingly call "tech in a can", aka a can of cold spray?

Photomom

Is it related to a specific TIME?

newell

"tech in a can" ?   Like the General said in the movie War Games, "I'd pee on a spark plug if I thought it would help."  As far as a specific time, probably only as it relates to when the sun gets high in the sky.  It's been cool and cloudy today so of course it's working.

ChrisandAlexis

@newell, yes, a can of cold spray found at an electronics store. Whenever we had a problem with a board that failed after it had been on for awhile (possible thermal issue), we would spray it with a can of cold spray to see if we could isolate it to a particular component on the board, hence the saying "tech in a can".

newell

Do you think that would work to cool the control panel and possibly get rid of the error message when it gets overheated and defaults?

ChrisandAlexis

@newell, if it was a component with a thermal issue on the circuit board, cooling it down would just be temporary. It would not be long before the error will reappear. We used the can of cold spray as one of the methods for troubleshooting a board.

newell

ChrisandAlexis, My fear now is that when we get to the factory this week, that it won't go into the error message. 

Michigan_Mike

I'd change out the digital thermostat control panel as I've seen them go bad and replaced one myself. But agree with the Alde tech as it is one of the three that's defective and since the circuit board was replaced and the problem reoccurred I'd be inclined to believe it's the thermostat panel.  

ScottG

Maybe you could replace it with one of these functional and reliable units!  :-) :-) :-)

Ratkity

Just FYI, I have a manual thermostat panel that is functional. I will ship it to you if you want to try it. It does NOT fit into the hole made for the digital. As you can see in the picture, it's a rectangle and shorter, but you can see if it's the controller and don't have to mount it.

Let me know via PM if you want it.

newell

     Ratkity, Thanks for the offer but it looks like I won't be needing it.  The guys at nucamp were able to simulate my problem by warming the controller with a heat gun to mimic hot temperatures in the camper when it's all closed up on a sunny day.  As soon as it got above 90 it went into error.  They replaced the controller and that was it. (hopefully) 
     By the way,  during this process I did find out from Spencer at Alde that the Alde systems are warrantied for two years not one.

Ratkity

newell said:

     Ratkity, Thanks for the offer but it looks like I won't be needing it.  The guys at nucamp were able to simulate my problem by warming the controller with a heat gun to mimic hot temperatures in the camper when it's all closed up on a sunny day.  As soon as it got above 90 it went into error.  They replaced the controller and that was it. (hopefully) 
     By the way,  during this process I did find out from Spencer at Alde that the Alde systems are warrantied for two years not one.

Yay!!! Wow about it just getting fried over 90F. Loose solder joint? Never know now days. Great that they were able to replicate the problem and hopefully all will be well from now on!

Trailpixie

[reopening this thread]

I had a problem this weekend where the thermostat/controller just started wigging out. It automatically rebooted twice, and after I reset it to factory defaults, it wouldn't restart. 

We went without it for the night. In the morning it still wouldn't start with the power button. It wouldn't start by holding both buttons down or one or the other, etc....

So as a last ditch effort I did what every man does, I opened the hood and stared at the engine. I opened the compartment and looked around at all the Alde hoses and at the big pretty box. I took off the fuse plate and looked at it. Then...I saw a wire that looked like it might go to a thermostat, so I unplugged it and plugged it back in. BINGO, the thermostat restarted. It worked fine for the rest of the weekend. 

I'm not sure if it is fixed for good or if I have a workaround for a lifelong problem. Unfortunately it is so hard to get dealers to replace (under warranty) things that only fail intermittently. 

Weird stuff.

P.S. I have also vindicated myself about the wisdom of opening the hood and staring at the engine.

dsfdogs

Good job @Trailpixie! So, was this loose wire under the black cover where the two green fuses are? Thanks!

newell

     Glad to hear it was a simple fix.  So far since we purchased out 320s in the spring of 2017 our dealer has replaced our Alde circuit board in the fall of that year, the factory replaced our control panel in spring 2018 and the factory replaced our wiring harness in the fall of 2018.  All seemed to solve the "connection error" problem in the short term but it always came back.  We'll see how this wiring harness fix works in 2019.