Brett63

Ray, I have talked to one of the design engineers for this system at Kongsburg several times. Trust me they want nothing to do with it....lol

Jim I thank you for having the vision, hope and checkbook to take on this project. I was convinced Frank would eventually get it fixed. I just was not able to hang on long enough. I am happy that not only getting the issues fixed, but that I was able to re-outfit with the monaco original furniture. I don't believe the ole girl could have a better story or a better owner. I just hope that you are ble to enjoy her more than I did. The irony to this is that once my wife and i bought this coach I had some major health issues and my wife almost lost me twice, so we actually were able to put very few miles on and enjoy our new home bfoe the tradgety that brings us to where we are today. We loved that coach and were so proud to actually own what we considered one of the finest coaches ever made (except for the Kongsberg system). Frank knows how much I appreciate him and how many hours we sent working on this before I was forced to give in. Another funny side bit is that during the Monaco rally in Tampa just a couple months prior to the lightening I had actually started working on how to fix the system, or to make a total replacement and spent many hours on that. Least be known to me I would eventually turn that into how to repair mine...lol Anyway thank you to all for the hard work and dilligence and I look forward to reading about the miles and smiles. lastly, thank you to the Monacoers staff for not removing me from the group as I no longer have a Monaco and i hope that now this saga is complete they will allow me to remain on here.

To all Admins, thank you for not deleting this portion of my story. Frank and I talked extensively about this when he first discovered and I vowed to not say anything UNTIL he was able to make repairs, which at the time was an unknown time. Needless to say this really pissed me off becasue I know how the "candy shop" opperates, is very unwilling to help and charges unsuspected people fortunes for simple repairs such as the smart wheel 5v system that Frank and I fixed on mine for about $40 total. I know some that have contacted me personally saying they paid in excess of $5K to have that repaired. And then for them to turn around and steal from me in order to help them take from others just really hit a nerve. This is not an attack on a business, this is MY story and I know for certain they told me they read this board all the time and "laugh" at all the rediculousness people come up with trying to repair sophisticated systems...This story goes with this coach and the issues I had and tried to overcome and it is MY story. So thaank you again to the Admins for leaving this portion and I hope it gets to stay here. My hat's off to everyone here that tried to help me, helped me and helped Frank. This is probably the most truely intelligent group of problem solvers I have met anywhere and that is appreciated.

I didn't mark and would not have known had Frank not been able to read the circuit boards. I may have Franks side a little wrong, but once he started diagnosing my actual parts, after Jim bought the coach it was determined that each module was numbered on the circuitry such as Master, 1, 2, 3, 4....etc. In the system there are two master modules and a series of slaves numbered consecutivly. Instead of mine being sequential I had something like 4 #4's, 3 #2's.....ect. That could not be and could have never worked. Mine all worked. So he knew by that alone that the modules had been switched out. I didn't do it and the only other custody of my parts was the "candy shop" and they had many broken ones as they told me personally and said they were working feverishly to find working modules so they could do similar to what Frank did. I assure you that once they figure it out, if they do and are able to do a fix it will be thousands and thousands of dollars becasue they know they have you by the ballz.

"Also, @powerpro2000 , Jim, who bought Brett's coach was able to source some of the slave switch modules that really helped to identify which circuit boards went with which module. (A previous shop had them all mixed up - but that's a topic for another discussion)." I am NOW going to give a little of this story as the discussion. Some of you may know, as Frank may have shared offline with you this information while others would not have a clue. But here it is from me. While Frank was frantically working away he called me early on with a few questions which led to some unbelieveable, yet totally believeable new found knowledge. What I am going to share cannot be proved by physical knowledge it can be proved by Franks electronic knowledge as software and hardware simply do not lie. I will not mention a specific shop name (let's just say the shop ha a name similar to a great candy that melts in your mouth and not in your hands) To meet the insurance requirements I had to remove both CCM's and all of the switch modules and send them to the "candy shop". After a couple days they called and said both CCM's worked but ALL of the switch modules were bad. I found that very odd as Frank and I knew without doubt that simply was not correct. By this time we had diagnosed exactly what systems had failed as he and I had spent hours and days maping, chasing wire, taking readings and doing it over and over. There was a time I think I slept with my multimeter. I actually had made 45' test leads so I could do continuity checks from one end to the other. Anyway, I knew what I had been told was total BS. Anyway shortly after I received that info and shared it with the insurance company the coach was totaled. I called the "candy shop" and requested they send my components back. The stated they would send everything back the next day. I received all my components back a few days later and checked to make sure everything was there. I then had to put the CCM's back in the coach as it hd to be driven a half mile or so in order to hook it to the wrecker. All of the switch modules were left in the box and put in the basement and the coach went way. Now comes the good part, and what went on. Frank called me and informed me that the switch modules, MOST of them were not my modules and could not have been my modules. This was found out by Franks test system he had built. There was no physical or electronic way these modules were in my coach.....With that said that only leaves one possible explaination. When I told the "candy shop" my coach was totaled and asked them to send me my parts they knew exactly what modules worked and which one didn't and simply replaced my working parts with their known bad parts and sent me the bad parts back. See the whole time I had been talking with that shop from time to time and they had expressed MANY times that they were not able to get their hands on any working modules and that was what they needed in order to be able to figure out how to make repairs.....This was the treasure trove they were seeking and knowing the coach was totaled and no one would ever know they made the swaps. Yes I am officially on record making this statement. Beside the theft of my working parts, this presented Frank with many more hurdles he had to endure to make this system work again. I am not telling the story to declare that the "candy shop" stole my working components and replaced with non working, I am shareing this because it shows even more tenacity of Frank in the background. So not only did he come up with a way to repair this system, he did it with his hands tied behind his back. I am sure he went through more than one bottle of wine during all of this....So make surre you doubley thank him, and think twice before reaching out the the "candy Shop" in Ohio. Yes, it still pisses me off.

One issue I ran into was I did allow the house batteries to drain down unbeknownst to me. We were driving and apparantly the BB relay failed while driving and the house batteries were not charging. We did not know that until it started getting dark abou 45 miles from our next campground. When I went to turn the headlights on I barely had any lights. The battery boost would not work and the Gen would not start. When we arrived at the campground I was able to put the slides out and then I called Frank, where I learned the CCM's were powered by the house and not the chassis. He explained that in the beginning the chassis supplied the power but becasue of the huge parasitic draw the chassis batteries would be dead rapidly, so Monaco moved the power to the house...That works well untill the house goes down and you don't know it. With all of that said, the next day the coach fired up and the house charged via shore all night. Everything on the coach still worked as it should and we did another 500 mile day back to FL where one week later we were hit by lightening thus killing the system. I am postivie Jim is going to have a great coach when this is all done. Frank is awesome and we were convinced he could fix it. We just were not able to hold on that long as it was our home. Now we live in a London Aire and the ole girl Sig is gonna get to see the country side again. Brings a smile to my face.

That's what I am saying though, the smart wheel functions worked AFTER the lightening strike. At least the cruise turned on and high idle worked as well as the wipers. Either way, the issues are working themselves out with every new part which is a great thing.

What I am not understanding though is that all functions of the smart wheel work from the front CCM and it all worked and had worked since I did the 12 to 5v converter. So I am not sure how the rear CCM had anything to do with the smart wheel..

Awesome news. I said from the beginning and told Frank as well that I called MM diagnostic totally wrong from the very beginning. There is no doubt in my mind Frank and I diagnosed everything exactly correct. With that said, your front CCM should be fine. Everything about it tested good. If you can get your ECM sorted I believe you will have a fully functional coach aside from the switches. Firtunately most of those really only operate nice to haves. Other than the engine brake, toll window and being able to start the gen from inside the rest can really be not working and be ok. But I am positive the front CCM is just fine. Anyway good deal on the progress.

Jim, send me your email and I will send you some info. I am all but positive I found a new roadmaster rear CCM while I was working on everything. Never found a new front one though, but pretty sure the front one is ok. I know the rear is bad, but the front one checked out ok during all of my tests.

Just go with constant on. Bring power right from the hot lug in the FRB.

Frank and I always thought and said to each other that we believed there was a fix. We both also agreed that if we had a working master and slave switch pod he could probably do much more diagnostics. However, at the time we did not have any working switch pods and asking someone to donate theirs was a bit far fetched...lol As for M&M saying I had two properly working CCM's, in my opinion is a load of crap. I say that becasue I know what measurements I was seeing and how I was isolating. I also know what worked and what didn't work. So I don't believe they did much of a test other than to confirm none of my switch pods worked, which Frank and I also knew. You have to remember, He and I were diagnosing near daily for months. I had 50' leads made up just so I could do resistance testing on wires between the cockpit and anywhere on the coach. He and I were both keeping log books of exactly what readings I was getting under any circumstance. I was able to get both he and I a copy of the Cadet software and we both got the associated and needed peripherals so that we could check. I could connect to both CCM's but would drop connection within a couple seconds, only to reaquire and drop. So We were never able to get Cadet to connect long enough to actually see. During all of this I also had a good friend that is a Freightliner mechanic that specializes on the J1939 side of heavy trucks. He was helping me walk through the diagnostics of the backbone system and the ECM side of things as well as providing me with manual documents and interpreting all of my readings while I was also keeping Frank informed, while he was also helping from his end. During all of this I was simultaneously talking with Kevin at REV Coburg and two local mobile techs that were Monaco techs when lazydays East was the Monaco service center. All were confirming exactly what Frank and I were seeing, my readings, and our diagnosing. I did find what I believe is a brand new rear CCM on a shelf at __http:/www.veurinksrv.com/__but I did not confirm the actual part number. Frank may actually now hold the missing piece he and I needed and may actually be able to effect repairs. So like he said, hold on and let's see how this plays out. At the time the coach was totaled this piece of the puzzle simply didn't exist and we had reached the end of anything we could do. I could litterally write a book on everything he and I did, that I researched, the people I talked to, the companies I interacted with, the possibilities....etc of this coach saga. At the end of the day there are only two things I can absolutely confirm, I became a Kongsburg system guru to include how virtually every wire and cable ran and where every component lived and how to access them and it was not fixable at the time I had it before insurance totaled it, which they did not do lightly. The true irony to all of this story though, is that I actually started this repair process a couple weeks before the 2021 Monaco Rally at Lazydays because I had time and simply wanted to find a fix to a delinquint system that I knew at some point may do someone some good. Little did I know that just a couple months later that someone would be me.

Noel, no harm my friend. When I read your post I had to scratch my head for a second becasue I knew you and I had talked numerous times and I knew you knew the switch pods were there and accounted for. It struck me wrong I guess. But I completely understand and there is no issue. I spent a year on this coach doing everything I could to make it work. I asked on here repeatedly for any assistance. Frank and I spent literally HOURS on the phone and probably hundreds of texts and emails trying to figure something out and diagnosing. I would never do anything mallisiously to this rig as my wife and I hoped it would be our forever rig. We even cleaned the indside as if someone were buying it before the wrecker came and got it. Honestly the coach was as perfect inside and out as a 2009 could have been.......except it didn't work....I will offer to Jim my assistance in anyway I can the same as I did to you. I am glad to see it was purchased and not parted and I hope the coach finds good roads to travel on forever. Sorry if I took what you said personally, it wasn't meant that way at all. But I do appreciate you speaking up and clarifying, that is stand up. I wish I had met you and your friend prior to throwing in the towel....but I had reached the end of my road.

There was nothing missing from the coach. Why would you say that. The switch pods were removed (unplugged) and in a box in the basement. That is a 30 min job to plug those back in.

That is impressive if you drove it to Orlando as it would not shift out of first gear when i drove it out of the resort to get it to the wrecker that took it to Copart. Also there were no working lights on front or rear, to include brakes or turns. But glad you got it somewhere.