What's left of Our Progressive EMS Unit
This is whats our EMS unit looks like after our last excursion. The box got fried. Bought it in 2009 and it has worked flawlessly up until a couple of weeks ago. No I don't know what or how, but it s...
Forum Discussion
SoundGuy wrote:
No, I fully understand your point ... my point is that any electrical device will generate some degree of heat so given that why enclose it at all when the alternative of not enclosing it ensures that none that heat can become trapped, regardless how little it may be? Seems like a simple concept to me.
wnjj wrote:
It may seem like a simple concept but you're still not hearing me. The amount of heat that box makes will be neglible compared to the thermal properties of an RV cabinet. Of course an "enclosure" traps heat but it's the amount that matters. Keeping your heater turned up 2 degrees will make your unit warmer than one in a cabinet in a cooler RV.
It's a real stretch to assume that's what caused the OP's unit to melt. Resistive connections (which were tight) or the relay contacts are more likely the culprit.
You have no way of knowing definitively just how hot the OP's EMS may have gotten. You say "negligible" and "turned up 2 degrees" but obviously from the pic his EMS got MUCH hotter than that, hot enough to melt the EMS plastic box. Perhaps the relay contacts were the source of the problem but regardless, enclosed as it was, heat created had no way to escape and therefore only further exacerbated the situation. My point is that given this experience it only makes sense to install any replacement where it's not totally enclosed and can therefore vent any heat generated no matter how little or great it may be. Common sense - you're arguing otherwise simply for the sake of it. :R
