Norcold N611L Not Working

[jodeb720]

Ok guys -

My cousin purchased a wanderer TT - not sure of the year, and yes, it has some issues.

This one is a Norcold N611L.

Because of his generation, he doesn't like to chat on the phone and loves to text. Go figure.

Anyway, he's reporting the unit is cooling on AC but on on gas.
I asked him if when he's not plugged in are the Lights bright - thinking it's a crappy battery. He told me it was dim.

So I had him plug it into AC, and switch it to GAS on the Coldest setting. You hear a buzzing sound from teh back of the unit, but when he looks at the igniter, there's no spark. The gap between the igniter and the metal rod is a bit bigger than 1/8". I asked him to make the gap 1/8" - which is what I have had to do on my Dometic's in the past on my own rigs.

He then tells me the Power LED is blinking 4 times a second.

off to BryantRV.com and found the service manual and it's reporting the control board failure.

Tomorrow he and I will talk and I'll confirm:

1. Does it work on AC and cool Normally?
2. He's going to clean out the entire burner tube assembly - there's a good chance there's a web or two in the burner assembly.
3. Let me know if he gets a spark after he adjusts the igniter to 1/8" or so.

Any Suggestions I can pass onto him would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

josh

[jodeb720]

it's a 2005 Wanderer (Sorry - I don't know the manufacturer)
I'll walk him through the process of doing the NoCo reset on the board.
It can't hurt.

I did download the NoCo reset from chris bryant's site so that should help him follow the instructions

[dougrainer]

jodeb720 wrote:
OP Here.

Couple of Items.
1. He checked there was 12v to the control board with a multimeter. 13.2volts (he's plugged in).
2. He's not getting any cooling running on AC - so that was a red herring.
3. He's not getting any spark at all - I had him try the ground. He tried a couple of different ways, but no joy.
4. On both Gas and AC he's getting 4 blinking Power Light every 3 or so seconds. According to the service manual, it's saying it's the control board.

So - if you were going to order a replacement board would you go OEM or Dinosaur for your replacement board?

Have we missed anything on the diagnosis process?

YES

Need to know year Model of RV. I believe the Norcold N611L is older than 2004. 4 Flashes does mean fault in control board, BUT, I am not sure when Norcold incorporated the NO CO fail system in their refers. The NO CO was not in the pre 2000 or so models. So, I would google NO CO Hard reset and see if doing this restores the operation before getting a new board. Doug

[jodeb720]

OP Here.

Couple of Items.
1. He checked there was 12v to the control board with a multimeter. 13.2volts (he's plugged in).
2. He's not getting any cooling running on AC - so that was a red herring.
3. He's not getting any spark at all - I had him try the ground. He tried a couple of different ways, but no joy.
4. On both Gas and AC he's getting 4 blinking Power Light every 3 or so seconds. According to the service manual, it's saying it's the control board.

So - if you were going to order a replacement board would you go OEM or Dinosaur for your replacement board?

Have we missed anything on the diagnosis process?

[dougrainer]

opnspaces wrote:
Does the shaft of the screwdriver have to be grounded for the spark to jump?

No, the spark is "hot" enough to jump. Doug

Also, If you can "wiggle" the Piezo tower and it then works or stops, odds are the solder connections for the Piezo tower are loose and you can re-solder on the back of the Board and save the cost of a new board. The piezo tower would come loose from repeated removal of the Ignitor wire to remove the black cover and failure to use a back up to hold the Tower in place when removing the spade terminal. This type thing happens when you have to do a hard reset for a NO CO lock out.

[opnspaces]

Does the shaft of the screwdriver have to be grounded for the spark to jump?

[dougrainer]

Remove the Ignitor wire from the Piezo tower of the circuit board. Take a long handled screwdriver and hold the metal end about 1/4 inch from the spade of the Ignitor tower. Start a LP gas sequence. IF the spark does not spark, your Board is bad. IF the spark arcs, the Spark electrode is bad, probably has cracked porcelean insulator. Doug

[Old-Biscuit]

Circuit board has failed

[agesilaus]

He needs to check 12V to the board, that's the outside board not the one with the display which is called the eyebrow board.