RustyTools

"Ah-ha! I See!" Said the blind carpenter, as he picked up his hammer and saw! I took the block off again and re-reconfirmed that all ports are clear and solenoids open-and-close. Onward thru the fog

Are you saying the ride-height port (in the photo above) feeds one ride-height side, and the other ride-height port (the one next to the PRESSURE port on the flip side) feeds the other ride-height side? If so, what's throwing me is that the photo on page 13 of Richard's manual references only ONE ride height port! And then, shouldn't I be able to swap those 1/4" airlines at the block and see if the problem follows? While we're at it, the two 3/8" airlines coming off the side of the block are the lines that go direct to the airbags themselves, right?

Thanks, Ivan. That photo of the block and ports helped illuminate the ol' light-bulb, albeit quite dimly. It was also suggested I swap travel lines to see if the issue follows, and now I get where we're going. I think I went to bed around 1 this morning, still studying and following how the system works. Dunno why this seems so complicated to me, electronics was my forte and this shouldn't be that different . A real drawing or schematic would help immensely, I'm sure, as what I found are 'similar-to' versions (like Power Gear, HWH, etc), but not exactly what I have. For instance, all of the info/photos I've come across show the ride height port and the pressure port on the bottom (with the open exhaust port) and the 2 air-bag ports coming out the side like mine, but my block also has another air-line on the top. Can't find what it does. Nothing stamped anywhere and no info shown online. Anyone? I'm also going to verify that the solenoid(s) are really opening, and not just clicking. I'll keep posting progress (or lack thereof).

Thanks to all for sticking with me so far. Now I need more help, actually a lot of help. I'll give Valid a call when they open, but I'd like to understand things better before I talk to them. I tested the 6-pak on the bench, and then reinstalled it on the coach and tested it again (using the metal washer trick on each solenoid). It checks out just fine. When I ran the coach again, the driver side will lift in TRAVEL, but it seems like I'm getting almost no air in the right bag at all. I hear no leaks anywhere and the right side solenoid does grab the washer. I tried to follow the airline from the right bag, but it almost immediately disappeared up into the spaghetti-nest of lines and wires along the chassis. Where does it go? None of the diagrams (Valid or the previous Power Gear info) I've found tell me how air gets to the bag, or where it comes from. It's as if there's a blockage before the bag but I have no idea what's where. How does the control-panel by the driver tell a bag to lift/lower?

Hi Richard! We workamped several years in the FL Keys and loved it (in fact, moved here awhile back). Hope all is well with y'all. I'm not finding a lot of troubleshooting Valid details, other than calling up the Valid fault modes (which don't show any faults), so I'm kinda driving blind right now. In fact, I'm starting to feel like I'm chasing my tail. I just pulled off the 6-pak and it tested good on the bench. All 6 solenoids are working and air is flowing as a solenoid is activated. Controller? ugh!

We have air-only inflation on '08 Camelot 40PDQ, with the Valid system. I started to take the coach out to refuel the other day, and noticed that it went to full-inflate only on the left side when the TRAVEL button is pushed. Right side inflated normally. If I dump all air, it stays down. If I manually level it or put it in AUTO, it behaves normally. If I air-down the left side and then put it back in TRAVEL, it will slowly start going to full again. I've gotten myself totally confused over the valves and I got to wondering which side/valve is really bad, the one that lifts about 4-5" in TRAVEL or the one that stays lower? I never really paid attention as to how high the coach lifts in TRAVEL mode, so I don't know which side to believe is correct. Simplest and least expensive (relative terms indeed!) solution was to replace the valve(s). After a lot of searching and calling, I finally found the correct valves. The originals were Hadley, which are now Ridewell K861003 (also called 6330BFAB15), if anyone else needs that particular number. Exact same configuration, etc. I suppose other brands/models probably work the same, but I was hoping to do a one-for-one swap and be able to use the same 'rod' lengths without having to fiddle with adjusting ride heights. Anyways, the new valves didn't solve the problem. Like I said, the left goes to TRAVEL height while the right stays down. I can switch to MANUAL and get both to raise or lower, and leveling also works correctly when in AUTO. I don't know much about them or how to troubleshoot them, but do I start looking at the 6-pak or the controller stuff now? Is the 6-pak made by Valid as well? Any and all help is welcome... I'm sidelined in the FL Keys and it's the middle of hurricane season! __________________

Nevada Rob is right, it's the difference between the temperature going in the AC return vent (within the coach) and the temperature coming out the ductwork (and back into the coach), not necessarily the air that is outside of the coach. The 'outside air' and humidity does play a part in general by making the overall AC unit work harder, but the rule-of-thumb is to look for a ~20-25 degree change inside.

Our German Shepherd Dog has learned to get her ThunderShirt and bring it to us to put on her when needed. I was initially skeptical about them, but they do seem to calm her down.

We're in! We'll keep watching the update info.

Thanks for the quick reply, Matt. I had an 06' Endeavor, and I always thought the bottom-location of the cord was a nice touch. I'd forgotten about how smooth the concept was for the release rollers/etc with the heavy cord (especially in cold weather). Guess I got some more thinking to do.

I often chuckle with I read about propane-detector problems. I replaced two of them in our Endeavor years earlier than expected because they'd often sound off, and usually at what we thought was random times. That is, til wife noticed it was mounted close to where our dog liked to snooze. Methane is chemically close to propane 🙄 .

When I replaced my original transfer switch several years ago because of a couple charred wires, I replaced it with the Lyght unit. During install, I was disappointed to note that it used small-head flat-blade screws that were very tough to get tight on those big wires without stripping out the heads. I replaced them with allen-head screws which are much more secure. I may have gotten a Friday-Monday switch (LOL) because I've not read about anyone else mentioning a similar issue with the Lyght screws.

Sounds like good suggestions so far. Have you cut all 12v power (chassis and coach) for several minutes to recycle everything? The step 'brain' may have gotten confused. The plethora of electrical and mechanical gremlins that live in these things are the main reason I use only the dead-bolt on the entry door. That, and often leaving the bedroom window closed but unlatched (it's the highest one to reach from outside).

Having the power-cord come out the little door over the side-radiator looks cluttered to me (it just hangs there), and am considering moving the cord-run to exit from under that back corner of the coach. Leaving the reel in place, it looks there's room to snake the cord down and around the fan\radiator & hardware thru a piece of conduit, and have it exit out from there- like the water hose. Has anyone attempted this already? Any thoughts pro or con?

We went thru 3 (yes, three!) NotCold frigs in the first year in our Endeavor. Fourth failure wasn't under warranty so we put in a Samsung. And when I removed the final NotCold, I was shocked to see the amount of charred wood next to the flue/chimney. When we bought our Camelot, one of the big selling points to me was that the PO had already replaced the original Dometic with a Whirlpool.

Awesome people and service and fair prices at Josams'. After leaving the Monaco Get Together last year at Lazy Days, the little 'fizzy' bubbles (they'd show up after a rain) I'd been watching around a seam on one of my front bags were slowly getting larger over time. I was near enough to the 'old' Monaco Wildwood location to swing by and get a replacement bag and take it to Josam's for replacement. I've had work done by them before, and once again they didn't disappoint. The shop was pretty full, but when they heard we were pretty-much grounded, they scheduled us in immediately. Almost makes me want to move closer to them for the future... "just in case".

Yes, DishTV remotes (at least the newer ones) are also able to control more than just the tv. I was able to program one remote to do that, but don't remember how I did it so's I can program the other one too 🤔 . Wife said to "read the manual" (did she forget I'm a guy, and 'guys don't read manuals'?)

Did it warm up yet? What was the results of your test?

It took me 2 heating-blanket controllers to learn that same lesson (I'm kinda slow at times). I was told by one of the engineers at the 'old' Monaco factory (may it R.I.P.) that is the reason why they did not wire the bedroom outlets into the inverter circuit, but instead made them active only when on shore or genset power. CPAP machines and the like are also sensitive to MSW power and were the main reason for doing that, he explained.

Some humor, and lots of helpful hints. Good job! Brings back memories of working in a British Car repair shop I co-owned. Every once in awhile, someone would drop a few SAE bolts/nuts/etc in the parts box of an ongoing project car. Lots of fun to watch, unless it was the car you were working on 🤬 .

I mounted the board pretty high up on the firewall above the genset (so it's not actually 'inside' the coach), and spliced in additional wires for it to reach to there.

Here's hoping you get it resolved soon. My control board(s) were mounted on the underside of the step assembly itself. I went thru 3 or 4 boards over the years, til I got smart and re-located the most recent board inside the coach and out of the rain, dirt, slush, debris, etc, kicked up by the tire. No problems since.

Thanks for the offer, but I got my old one fixed. So far, so good 😀 Ron

Thanks for the reply and offer, Jim. Finally just bit the bullet and sent it back to Winegard. Good folks there. They spent a lot of time on the phone with me before I returned it to make sure that it definitely was a G2+ problem and not a user-error.

Grand-Dad used to say that you can't chuckle at other people's mistakes, unless you've made them too. I've noticed that I seem to laugh a lot as I get older.