Ok folks. We have a 2013 Monaco Knight. We recently had some troubles with a PCB PN 16626855. This board controls washer system, turn indictaors, hazards, part of the smart wheel functions, head lights. So, the exercise begin's, first looking to replace (no success here) so best bet was to get this PCB repaired. Wow, asking for something to be repaired these days, in particular a PCB for an RV, "impossible". So, we wanted to share with our fellow campers, something that may help you. A very good friend of ours, now retired, was an Electronic Eng for many years, working on very complex HV/LV etc, PCB's, mainly "repairs. So we asked for help, and explained our story. Bear in mind, as with all electronics in RV's these days, many of these will have you out of service, until you can fix, meaning NO driving. Well, we are now on the right track, and having our PCB repaired. I am not saying every RV electronic problem, he can just have fixed in a flash, but, if you have no options, we would highly recommend to have a chat with him. Drop us a line if you would like to speak with him. Safe travels folks. Tony & Lesley.

Can you give us a little idea of what he did to fix the board or fix the system?

I'm also a retired EE. You wouldn't believe how many failures are simply solder related. When they happen after a period of time it's often because of cold solder joints and contamination during the flow solder process. If one knows what to look for, it's often just a matter of resoldering.

Ditto what ScottG said. I'm an EE as well. What frustrates me to no end is when relatively simple circuit boards are potted (filled/covered) with epoxy so they can't be worked on. But if your board has everything accessible, then that makes it much more likely to be repairable. After solder joints, the next common culprit is either bad connectors (or broken wires at the connector) or relays which no longer work. ~Rick

I have found a lot of times the larger parts like relays when the boards are wave soldered do not have enought solder on the leads and do crack the joint over time from heat/cool cycles and vibration, all common in motorhomes.

Sure a bunch of retirted EE's here - Count me in Been repairing HDTVs, Converters, Inverters, etc... for many years now Typically as above a straight forward simple repair process for items that should never be tossed in the trash. Yes today's HDTV can easily be repaired - please do not toss them in the trash

Electronic failures, PCB repairs. | Good Sam Community

11 Replies

ArchHoagland
Explorer
Dec 02, 2019
Curious what parts he found that were bad.
ArchHoagland
Explorer
Nov 17, 2019
How is the repair coming along?
TonyandLesley
Explorer
Nov 10, 2019
Folks. We are glad to here that many of you are EE. I am not sure i can describe the whole repair that our friend is completing, but what i can say is, it was to do with IC's & some program that is stored on some chip in this PCB. Also was told that certain improvements have been made to increase the reliability-life of this particular PCB. Seems, the OEM board had some areas for improvement!! The bottom line is, when you hit the point of "obsolete parts" you need to have skilled people who know how to repair, reverse eng these parts, and we are lucky we know someone who can help.
Chris_Bryant
Explorer II
Nov 09, 2019
I also find there are often common failure points on some of these boards. Compressor relays on DuoTherm analog control boards, a particular 2 watt resistor on Norcold 600 power boards come to mind.
ScottG
Nomad
Nov 09, 2019
Rick Jay wrote:
Ditto what ScottG said. I'm an EE as well.

What frustrates me to no end is when relatively simple circuit boards are potted (filled/covered) with epoxy so they can't be worked on. But if your board has everything accessible, then that makes it much more likely to be repairable.

After solder joints, the next common culprit is either bad connectors (or broken wires at the connector) or relays which no longer work.

~Rick

And we shouldnt forget those pesky solder balls!
Of course they usually show up pretty quick.

Scott
ArchHoagland
Explorer
Nov 09, 2019
TonyandLesley...The board is currently being repaired as I understand it.

I'd sure be interested in the final outcome and what he finds.
KJINTF
Explorer
Nov 09, 2019
Sure a bunch of retirted EE's here - Count me in
Been repairing HDTVs, Converters, Inverters, etc... for many years now
Typically as above a straight forward simple repair process for items that should never be tossed in the trash. Yes today's HDTV can easily be repaired - please do not toss them in the trash
77rollalong
Explorer
Nov 09, 2019
I have found a lot of times the larger parts like relays when the boards are wave soldered do not have enought solder on the leads and do crack the joint over time from heat/cool cycles and vibration, all common in motorhomes.
Rick_Jay
Explorer II
Nov 09, 2019
Ditto what ScottG said. I'm an EE as well.

What frustrates me to no end is when relatively simple circuit boards are potted (filled/covered) with epoxy so they can't be worked on. But if your board has everything accessible, then that makes it much more likely to be repairable.

After solder joints, the next common culprit is either bad connectors (or broken wires at the connector) or relays which no longer work.

~Rick
ScottG
Nomad
Nov 08, 2019
I'm also a retired EE. You wouldn't believe how many failures are simply solder related. When they happen after a period of time it's often because of cold solder joints and contamination during the flow solder process.
If one knows what to look for, it's often just a matter of resoldering.