Tank Indicator Not Working

[Papa-HILO]

I am in the process of installing a new refrigerator fan and need some help.

First Problem: The switch on the panel inside on the side of the refrigerator that says Refrigerator Fan (for the vent fan behind the refrigerator) will not light up. So I took the panel with all the switches on it (for the water pump, water heater and tank levels etc.) off to see if the switch had power going to it. The switch has three blades. Connected to the blades are two red wires and one white wire. So I assumed the white is ground? I checked both reds to ground and get no power. Understand one of the red wires go to the fan thermostat and the other from the power source. But I don't have any power to the switch. Any suggestions as why I don't have power to the switch?

Second problem: Now that I removed the panel my tank lights don't come on! Ouch! Any suggestions whe they would not come on?

Thanks in advance if you have any suggestions or tips.
God Bless
Papa

 

[jcurtis95]

I am in the process of installing a new refrigerator fan and need some help.

First Problem: The switch on the panel inside on the side of the refrigerator that says Refrigerator Fan (for the vent fan behind the refrigerator) will not light up. So I took the panel with all the switches on it (for the water pump, water heater and tank levels etc.) off to see if the switch had power going to it. The switch has three blades. Connected to the blades are two red wires and one white wire. So I assumed the white is ground? I checked both reds to ground and get no power. Understand one of the red wires go to the fan thermostat and the other from the power source. But I don't have any power to the switch. Any suggestions as why I don't have power to the switch?

Second problem: Now that I removed the panel my tank lights don't come on! Ouch! Any suggestions whe they would not come on?

Thanks in advance if you have any suggestions or tips.
God Bless
Papa

Papa,

I would suggest that you run a temporary frame ground wire up to the point where you checked the two red wires. IF you have a volt-ohmmeter, set the switch to ohms at a lower switch setting. Connect one of the ohm-meter leads to the temporary ground and the other to the white [common ground] wire. the ohm-meter should register near zero if there is continuity in white ground wire to frame. If the ohm-meter does not zero out or at least almost zero out, you have a grounding problem that should be fairly simple to chase down and correct. Next, connect one lead of the volt-ohm meter to the temporary frame ground wire and set the voltage meter to DC 30V. Touch the other end to your battery lead and determine if you get a meter reading of around 12 to 13.5 volts. If you get a reading, the white factory ground wire is open. To verify, connect the volt-ohm meter lead to the factory ground wire. If you got a voltage reading while connected to the temporary ground wire and get no reading when connected to the factory ground you have verified a faulty factory ground. I would suspect a broken ground wire. You should also verify the battery fuse is good. Sometimes they look good and are blown. Move the selector of the volt-ohm meter to 30v DC and connect one end to the verified good temporary ground wire and touch it to each side of the fuse. [there is a contact point on each side of the fuse]. If voltage is not present on both sides, replace the fuse.

Hope this helps.

Jerry Curtis
2406 T

 

[Papa-HILO]

Electrical problems

Jerry,
Thanks for your reply. As soon as this heat wave is over I plan on trying to run down the problem. I was out there last evening about 8:00 pm and in 10 minutes I was washed down in sweat. We live on the coast of SC and the humidity is very high.
Thanks again I may have more questions later.
God Bless
Papa

 

[jcurtis95]

Jerry,
Thanks for your reply. As soon as this heat wave is over I plan on trying to run down the problem. I was out there last evening about 8:00 pm and in 10 minutes I was washed down in sweat. We live on the coast of SC and the humidity is very high.
Thanks again I may have more questions later.
God Bless
Papa

Papa,

I hear you there! I had to mow and weed eat yesterday and waited til' it cooled down in the early evening hours before starting. By the time I finished I couldn't stand myself and was soaking wet! Why not turn your AC on in the Hi Lo?

In reviewing your problem, it seems to me that while in the process of removing your control panel that you may have either shorted the battery wire [is it common to everything in the panel] and blown a fuse or you had a high resistance open in the common ground wire and when you removed the panel, it pulled the primary ground white wire loose. It should be multipled with everything in the panel. Check your solder points; then touch the temporary frame ground wire to any of the multipled solder points and see if the panel lights begin to work.

We will be visiting your beautiful state in January to visit with a brother and sis-in-law in Eutawville. Won't be pulling our RV, just a week's visit before going on to Florida for a convention.

Good Luck and have a Happy 4th!

Jerry Curtis
2406 T

 

[Papa-HILO]

Electrical Problem

Jerry,
Thanks again. I have never claimed to be an electician but am willing to try to fix the problem. Just need to know some tips on what to do and how to get started. What you have suggested makes perfect sense to me but I doubt if I would have thougth of trying some of your recommendations. So I thank you for that.
With the tank indicator lights not working I'm thinking it's something simple. Like maybe a wire pulled loose when I took it off it's mounting? The indicator lights worked fine on our recent to the Hi Lo Rally. So I don't think it's a major failure. I just neede to sit down and think about how to determine what to do. Not knowing electricity I normally post the problem and then sleep on it. In the morning I'm over my worry and have some suggestions to try.
Thanks again and hope you have a great visit to SC with your brother. We are in Mount Pleasant (next to Charleston) so not far from him. He must live on the lake? Beautiful up there.
Thanks again and God Bless
Papa

 

[JIM L-HILO]

Hi Papa
I also had a switch on the panel that did not light. The light in the switch was bad. Got a new one from JR. Could not find the correct one locally at places like Radio Shack. While working on the panel another wire did come loose so had to reconnect it, so look for a loose wire first. Jim

 

[Papa-HILO]

Tank Level Lights

Thanks Jim L and Jerry for suggestions. I am half way home!!! YEAH

I got the tank level lights working. Found that when I took the switch panel on the side of the refrigerator off apparently the plug that is connected to the tank level lights circuit board came off. Well it plugs in where you can not see it. So I reconnected it and they would not work. So today I took the circuit board off and saw where it was connected wrong. The board has 7 pins and I had replugged it one pin off. Plugging it in correctly made them work. Glad it was a simple fix.

Now if the temperature will get a little cooler I'll get to working on installation of my refrigerator vent fan.
Thanks again for the suggestions. I have already started using them.
God Bless
Papa