Problems with new 5er that dealer can't seem to resolve...

[RayJayco]

Happy New Year All!

My BIL and sister bought a new Keystone 5er from Camping World in New Port Richey, FL in August and they have been battling a problem that seems to be revolving around the touch screen control center ever since.
They live and work in Tampa and have the 5er in Homosassa for weekends and a get a way after they retire in 2 years.

When the dealer delivered and set it up, the problem was seemingly more than the dealer's guy could figure out, so he ordered a new touch screen control panel. That hasn't resolved the problem and the dealer seems to be dragging their feet and/or stumped by the problem...

I asked my BIL to write the details in an email so that I could ask you guys.
Thanks in advance for your considerations!

It’s a 2013 Keystone Cougar Mod# 331 MKS

Trouble: Master control panel locks up and is totally inoperative after being dormant for as little as a week.

We have to shut the main power (110v) source off along with the battery disconnect for a period of about 5 minutes and it resets the board allowing full function of the lights, water heater, awning, slides and etc.

No lock-ups occur while the unit is occupied and the water heater is on. Porch light, ceiling lights, tank and battery indicators all work just fine until we are gone for a few days.

When we leave the unit for a day or more, we turn the water heater off, the water supply off and all the lights. The a/c remains on auto set for 85 degrees. We’ve had the unit since August and every time we leave we have to reset the panel when we return top get anything to work...

It seems odd that 2 control panels would be bad, so it must be something else... If you guys can think of anything that we can tell the dealer (don't want to void warranty) as it appears they are at a dead end...

Any help would be appreciated!
Thank you,
Ken

[mena661]

PaulJ2 wrote:
So--all the computerized junk that has crept into and controled our lives at our homes and cars has now made into our RV's? Great!

All my electronics works, must be the user.

[64thunderbolt]

and I thought my old keystone was a problem. Hope you get it resolved. I would be all over that dealer. Like calling several times a day.

[DiskDoctr]

PaulJ2 wrote:
So--all the computerized junk that has crept into and controled our lives at our homes and cars has now made into our RV's? Great!

You just have to update it to version 8, or is it 8.1, or 8.1.1.2.1.1?

nod to Mr. Gates 😉

[Bob_Landry]

There are several threads pertaining to this on the Keystone Owners forum and the problems wi this control panel have become semi-legendary.Supposedly, there is an "updated" panel that is supposed to fix this issue, but i think there are still owners having problems with them. The best solution I have heard is that some owners refused to take delivery of their trailers unless the panel had been replaced with the "old style". If you already have your trailer and are dealing with this issue, good luck. I would keep copies of all correspondence, work orders, emails, et. pertaining to this and hope that if your problem is not resolved before the warranty runs out, keystone won't drop you like a hot potato. They do not have a stellar reputation for customer service, and the "techs" at the dealerships are not going to fix it. This is a design/component problem with these panels

[PaulJ2]

So--all the computerized junk that has crept into and controled our lives at our homes and cars has now made into our RV's? Great!

[RayJayco]

DDmay wrote:
Rayjayco, I recently purchased a Keystone Cougar also and had the same problems. Disconnecting the battery switch is not enough to allow a reset. You have to disconnect the battery at the cable connection and let it sit for a few minutes. The dealer and I got tired of doing this and he finally installed a n updated control panel that I had contacted the factory about. It was an updated to 2014 "filtered" panel that looked the same as original, but was supposedly different inside. We have had no further problems, although we have not used it very long, 2 camping weekends, until colder weather set in and it is stored for the winter. This was a warranty situation and they did it within 30 minutes or so. Unscrew and unplug panel,then reverse procedure.
DO NOT BREAK TECH'S CONCENTRATION WHILE HE IS DOING THIS, there are lots of plugins.
For further, contact me, as names and phone numbers are in camper and it is stored for now. Below 0 here right now!
DDmay

Thank you! This seems to be the solution.
They would often arrive at the trailer at night and have to disconnect power and battery, wait a few minutes then reconnect, to have lights, open slides, etc. Not very good if you are tired, it is late and raining!

Stay warm!

[RayJayco]

Thanks everyone for the help!

gypsy, I found a similar thread to the one that you found:
2013 Cougar Master Control Panel Problem


It appears that some have had rocker panels installed from Keystone, some have had success bypassing the battery disconnect and some have a newer updated control panel.
It seems that the dealer is going to have to make sure that they get the new updated panel that will hopefully resolve this.

A bit of a shame that Keystone has been aware of this problem and kept selling trailers without updating the control or making it known of the problem so it could be repaired in a reasonable time...

Thanks again everyone for your time and input! 🙂

[fla-gypsy]

After doing a little digging I found it may be a bigger problem. Seems to be a recurring issue on Keystone touch screen control panels. see more on it here;

http://www.keystonerv.org/forums/showthread.php?t=11756

http://keystonerv.org/forums/showthread.php?t=8797

[DDmay]

Rayjayco, I recently purchased a Keystone Cougar also and had the same problems. Disconnecting the battery switch is not enough to allow a reset. You have to disconnect the battery at the cable connection and let it sit for a few minutes. The dealer and I got tired of doing this and he finally installed a n updated control panel that I had contacted the factory about. It was an updated to 2014 "filtered" panel that looked the same as original, but was supposedly different inside. We have had no further problems, although we have not used it very long, 2 camping weekends, until colder weather set in and it is stored for the winter. This was a warranty situation and they did it within 30 minutes or so. Unscrew and unplug panel,then reverse procedure.
DO NOT BREAK TECH'S CONCENTRATION WHILE HE IS DOING THIS, there are lots of plugins.
For further, contact me, as names and phone numbers are in camper and it is stored for now. Below 0 here right now!
DDmay

[fla-gypsy]

doxiemom11 wrote:
You mention water heater off. Is it possible as that the electrical wiring is somehow run on the same circuit as the water heater? Ours was in our coach. Strange, but we found that out when the whole circuit was bad and the tv, dvd player, other electrical equipment up front and the water heater wouldn't work. DH ran new wiring and put on seperate circuits. They were wired into the same GFI also.

doxiemom11 may be on to something. Some simple experimentation would confirm or rule that possibility out.

[doxiemom11]

You mention water heater off. Is it possible as that the electrical wiring is somehow run on the same circuit as the water heater? Ours was in our coach. Strange, but we found that out when the whole circuit was bad and the tv, dvd player, other electrical equipment up front and the water heater wouldn't work. DH ran new wiring and put on seperate circuits. They were wired into the same GFI also.

[past-MIdirector]

Since this is probably an option item I would contact the manufacture of the control panel directly also if there is no manual ask them to send you one. Now a days with these electronics it's not that unlikely to have new panels bad from the start.

[RayJayco]

fla-gypsy wrote:
Sounds like it is going into sleep mode. I will bet this is a very simple problem to overcome when you find the right person who knows how the system works. Have they contacted the manufacturer directly to get some tech support?

Thanks for the reply gypsy!
You seem to be the right track, at least in my mind. Hopefully someone here will know how to reprogram or disable the feature, if that is truly what is happening.

I don't know if the manufacturer has been contacted as it has been in the dealers hands. 5 months is becoming a long time to resolve a problem on a new trailer. This is why I thought asking this website may lead us into being able to help the dealer get a resolution.
Thanks again as sleep mode does seem like a possibility.

If he knew the model of the control panel I could look up a manual for it, however, I won't have that info until this weekend when they go back up there.

[RayJayco]

newman fulltimer wrote:
If the batt disconnect is in the off position the panal will not stay on so you have to reset it

Thanks for the reply newman!
He doesn't disconnect the battery when they leave, he has to disconnect it to reset it when they return after being gone for a few days. He keeps the power connected from the source, he just shuts off all lights and appliances, except the air condition.