Heater and Back up Camera problems

moldmkr · 01-05-2010, 12:52 PM

Hi everyone, hope everyone is having a good New year so far.

I have 2 problems I am dealing with right now. Went to leave on a trip last week and the back up camera was working and then the screen went blank and screen said "no signal". Checked the connection on the camera in the back of the MH and it looked OK. It was the wire with a screw around it going into the camera. took the screw out and put it back in. the connection is inside the camera. I could have gone farther into the camera, but was not sure what would happen if I did. Could not check the monitor connection without tearing the dash apart. Both side cameras are working OK. It is a voyager camera and monitor. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

The second problem is with the water heater. It can run on both electric and gas. With gas it works fine. If we are plugged into electricity I prefer to use electricity. I have switch inside and it lights up red when I turn it on, but it is not making a connection. I determined this by running the generator and checking the load meter when I turn the switch on. it does not put a load on the meter. The water heater was cold when I tried this. Any suggestion on this would be appreciated.

We have 2008 Itasca Meridian. Thanks for your help in addvance

George Z · 01-05-2010, 01:41 PM

The connection on the back of my Voyager monitor is not very tight and I have had the camera lead vibrate out. I had to secure it with a wire and screw.
The heat element may have burned out in your HW heater.(sometimes left on when empty) Check to see if you have power to the element where it is inserted in the water heater tank. If so replace the element. If not chase wiring backward to eliminate problems with the thermostat and circuit board.

George

smlranger · 01-05-2010, 03:14 PM

I have a Sony color cam so not sure I can help much on the Voyager. As previously noted, you may have to remove the top of the dash and check connections at the monitor. If it goes beyond that and you want to talk to an expert on RV cams, I can recommend Tim at RVcams.com.

As to the water heater, I also have the LP/Electric model and had the problem you described. The electric circuit has two switches....one in the coach as you noted and another on the back of the water heater. It is a re-settable switch. In my coach (others have reported the same problem), the switch on the water heater is not sturdy and will easily trip, shutting off power to the heating element. That switch is really not needed since you can turn the element on/off from inside the coach. I removed the switch on my water heater and bypassed it, and have had no further problems. Also, there is a circuit breaker dedicated to the water heater so you will still have that protection.

Theberrys · 01-05-2010, 03:43 PM

My camera has a inline fuse under the dash. Why it's not in the fuse panel I'll never understand, but yours may be blown, just not easy to get to.

Dick

Gary - K7GLD · 01-05-2010, 06:40 PM

If you have 3 separate cameras all feeding into a single monitor, where is the switch located that switches from one camera to another? Perhaps some sort of switch on the front of the monitor panel? If the monitor works with the side cameras - but not the rear one, the lead from the switchbox to the monitor is OK - it must be something between the switchbox and the rear camera alone - or the rear camera/connection itself - if it was the common lead to the monitor, none of cameras would display....

Cheryl Bisson · 01-12-2010, 05:52 PM

We had the exact same scenario on our hot water heater. On our 2005 Adventurer access to the wiring for the hot water heater is from underneath the RV directly below the back of the hot water heater. There is an oval black flat plastic panel which can be popped off. In there is the wiring. The hot wire to the element was partially broken and the plastic cover on its female spade connection was partially melted. When this was repaired by replacing the the female spade connection and reconnecting it to the element, the hot water heater was back in operation. Thank you RecTech, Holden, Maine!

moldmkr · 01-13-2010, 08:36 AM

Thank you everyone for your input. What I have found in regards to the water heater. Checked the black box on the back side of the water heater. everything was fine there. Then I checked the switch on the control panel in the coach and found one wire had come off. Put this wire back on and "voila" hot water on electricity again.

In regards to the back up camera. took the grommet off that the camera wire goes through into the coach. pulled the wire out til I got to the quick connect to the wire that goes the length of the coach to the monitor. Cleaned the connection, plugged it back in and we had back up camera again.

Once again thank you everyone for your input