SOLVED: ATS-5070 Transfer Switch - Shore Power Only

[KendallP]

SOLVED in post #14

Hello,

This is in my grandfather-in-law's 2004 Winnebago motorhome. I'm guessing it's original. Generator is an Onan 7500 diesel and appears to be running great. No one can remember when the switch worked last. Only shore power is getting through to the coach. No genny power.

I'm getting 120 at the switch's terminals from the generator, but none at the output. The delay is supposed to be 20 seconds. I gave it 10 minutes.

Things are pretty tight in the power locker. Is it worth cracking open the old switch to inspect the relays? Or maybe a loose wire? Or is it just time to landfill it and replace?

If I replace, I can get an ATS-501 still... which may be the direct replacement for the 5070. 200 bucks. I'm told a 503 might be more robust, but bigger for about the same price. I have basically zero play to work with in both the generator cable set and the output set. So a direct replacement would be ideal.

Or is there another unit you recommend that would be an easy swap?
.

[KendallP]

Parallax got back to me on the question of whether or not the ATS501 is a direct replacement for the 5070 vs the ATS503. Since post #14 was labeled "Solved," I went ahead and added this there too...


"Hello Kendall,

The easiest swap by far would be the ATS501.

The ATS503 needs wire slack to be able to be connected and the chassis on the ATS503 is larger.

You will need to go with the ATS501.

Have a wonderful day Kendall,

Bruce Jones

Warranty Dept
Parallax Power Supply"

[KendallP]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
I like to clean my relays then saturate a Q Tip with spray silicone lube.
I dab the lubricant onto hinge points and work the mechanism several times. 30 amp DPDT relays are hard to find down here and when one is found the price weakens my knees.

Also on critical stuff I'll wipe DeOxit D100 across contact points.

Special attention goes into making the relay enclosure moisture-tight.

I don't imagine you could afford your knees any weaker, gramps.

🙂

Thanks for the "tips." When MEX talks tech, the wise listen.

Yeah, I wish I could get a better view of those hinge points without marking and de-lugging about 2 dozen heavy wires in order to remove those relays for study. And really... it doesn't act at all like a lube issue. It's like it unseats from the fulcrum, but again... I couldn't see where that fulcrum was.

I suppose if it happens again... I'll be forced to remove the relays and assess. In which case, I will surely employ your maintenance methods.

Thanks, old man.

P.S. I sold my old rig. The buyer seemed impressed when I bragged on your hot-rodded alternator design with the Ford fan. Thanks again for that too.

🙂

[MEXICOWANDERER]

I like to clean my relays then saturate a Q Tip with spray silicone lube.
I dab the lubricant onto hinge points and work the mechanism several times. 30 amp DPDT relays are hard to find down here and when one is found the price weakens my knees.

Also on critical stuff I'll wipe DeOxit D100 across contact points.

Special attention goes into making the relay enclosure moisture-tight.

[KendallP]

MrWizard wrote:
Thanks for the feedback
We like to learn results and remedies to these problems

Least I can do

[MrWizard]

Thanks for the feedback
We like to learn results and remedies to these problems

[KendallP]

Solved

I did it like you said, Wiz. And I was able to get it to work intermittently.

But that obviously wasn't good enough, so I cracked 'er open. Not easy, but I was able to get in there and check out the relays. First thing I noticed is how clean the points were. No signs of arcing at all. Makes me wonder if my grandfather-in-law either unplugged from shore first before ever starting the generator... or at least was good enough not to have any major loads running before starting. He was pretty sharp, so both of the above could be possible.

But what I DID find was something funky with the cantilever action of the generator input relay. The house relay worked as one would expect, but the other one acted like something was broken at the fulcrum or something. But it was very difficult to see what was going on in there.

I messed around with it a bit and it suddenly started rocking properly. I messed with it some more and got it to foul up again.

After maybe a half dozen of these back and forths, I was no longer able to get it to foul up.

I sure wish I could have seen better and figured out exactly what was wrong, but... it's working as it should now and... I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed.

But at least I know where the problem lies. If I run into trouble while out on the open road again, I'll break out the tools and crack 'er open again.

But I'm so happy I was able to get this far. Replacement... or even landfilling it and wiring up an old-school, manual outlet... were much more labor intensive options. I still work 60 hours a week and the stealership would probably want an arm and two legs for any of those options.

Thanks everyone!

EDIT: Additionally...

Parallax got back to me on the question of whether or not the ATS501 is a direct replacement for the 5070 vs the ATS503.


"Hello Kendall,

The easiest swap by far would be the ATS501.

The ATS503 needs wire slack to be able to be connected and the chassis on the ATS503 is larger.

You will need to go with the ATS501.

Have a wonderful day Kendall,

Bruce Jones

Warranty Dept
Parallax Power Supply"

[MrWizard]

Do it with shore UNPLUGGED
Generator RUNNING
you want the Transfer Switch .. To pull in from Generator power like it is supposed to do

[KendallP]

navigator2346 wrote:
Give the transfer switch a little love tap on the side with a hammer or something substantial.

Will try that. Thanks.

Should I do that with or without power supplied to it? Or both?

[KendallP]

BFL13 wrote:
Usually on here they say to jumper/by-pass the ATS to see if that is where the fault is. You only need to do that with the generator side.

If that works, then you could do PT's idea and have manual switching between shore and gen. If you get an inverter you will need to do that manually. With a portable gen you do it manually between the three 120v sources. You don't need no steenkin ATS.

Yeah, but I'm fresh out of badges, though.

Yeah, the old Winnebago was manual like that. And since some are shy about starting the genny when plugged into shore, the labor is about the same, i.e. virtually none.

The heat pump runs off a 30A circuit when necessary, so the only situation I can see it being a bit of a pain is when it's parked at the house receiving 15 or 20A for battery maintenance and one wishes to cool the rig off while loading or unloading on a hot, sunny day. But again... about 45 seconds of "effort."

There IS a Xantrex Freedom 458 inverter in there. So what else do you need to do manually with this in mind?

[navigator2346]

Give the transfer switch a little love tap on the side with a hammer or something substantial.

[BFL13]

Usually on here they say to jumper/by-pass the ATS to see if that is where the fault is. You only need to do that with the generator side.

If that works, then you could do PT's idea and have manual switching between shore and gen. If you get an inverter you will need to do that manually. With a portable gen you do it manually between the three 120v sources. You don't need no steenkin ATS.

[pianotuna]

Get rid of the transfer switch and use plugs.

[KendallP]

BFL13 wrote:
That one white looks a little yellow/brownish ?

Yep. That's the shore cable.

There's also something on the Parallax site about it being able to handle 70A from the generator. It's a 7500 watter, after all.

Ironically, the generator cables are notably thinner than the shore input and the output to breaker panel cables.

They really went overkill on the output set... which is like... 3' away from there... at the foot of the queen bed. (Sorry... that's approximately 1 metre in your language. 🙂 )

[BFL13]

That one white looks a little yellow/brownish ?