Saturday, October 15, 2011

Murphy?

Lutz, Florida

We were wondering if Mr. Murphy left Judy and came to visit us.

We were sitting here fat and happy when all of a sudden we lost power.  Well, at least some power.  Al heard a noise coming from up front and then all of a sudden, we had no air conditioning, no fans, no lights, no water pump.  The crazy thing was that our Tv still was working.

Al checked all the fuses and breakers.  Nothing.  It appeared our 12v system was gone.  The a/c is not powered by the 12v system, but the thermostat that controls it, is.  We have this lovely new toilet that Lazy Days put in before we got the coach.  It’s electric….and guess what?  It’s evidently powered by the 12 volt system and didn’t flush. Uh oh!  We checked our Progressive surge guard to see if it had any error codes.  It didn’t,  and our power source was fine.  None of our interior lights were working and neither were our fans.  It was getting warm inside.  We were at a loss for what the problem could be.  We started reading manuals.  We turned off and on the outside battery switches.  We re-set the inverter.  It didn’t help.  It seemed to be a 12 volt issue, but that was all we could determine.  I never realized just how many things depended on the 12 volt system.  The generator started and so did the engine.  We checked the slides and they worked.  At that point we were just wondering if we could get to Lazy Days for service.  We’re still not sure if the levelers would retract without 12 volt. 

Fortunately, I remembered Lazy Days has an 800 technical support number that we could call.  Al spoke to a very nice guy.  We told him briefly what happened.  He asked what kind of coach we had (Monaco) and he said.  “oh.”  It sounded kind of ominous.  Fear set in.   He said Monaco was known for this problem.  Uh-oh….more fear.    Then he  told us that there is a battery cut off by the door, that is a known issue with Monaco.    After he said that, I remembered that switch, and knew right where to look for it.   At that point, I figured what happened and it was probably not a Monaco problem, and more than likely a kitty problem.  As soon as we hit the switch, our 12 power was back on.  Hooray!  Such a simple solution for such a big problem!

He said there is some issue with this switch that causes it to shut off on it’s own.  My thinking is a cat jumped up onto the dash and hit that switch on the way up.  They have been know to turn on other switches occasionally.  I’ll bet this is what happened then.  It made us realize that we need to do something to prevent that, because they could have turned off the air conditioning on a day when we were gone for the day.  The guy at Lazy Days was certainly our hero.  Another plus for purchasing from them, I guess!

So, now on with our day.  Sorry Judy.

10 comments:

  1. That was an easy fix not counting the fear factor. So now we know that Murphy has some four legged assistants:)

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  2. Have Al install a plastic guard over the switch that you can open to turn it off and on when you need to.Be safe out there. Sam & Donna.

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  3. That sounds like the battery disconnect switch that I had OFF when it should have been ON when I had problems last week with my battery. As soon as I started reading your post, I knew. The same kind of things were happening to me. Isn't it nice when it's a quick fix you can take care of yourself?

    I'm glad that's all it was.

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  4. Ahhh, I immediately thought of Barbara with Me & My dog - glad she commented. Yep, an easy fix, but I also agree, find a resolution so it can't happen again. A/C in Fla is a must!

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  5. Isn't it a great feeling to find out that what you think may turn into a major hassle turns out to be as simple as turning on a switch! Plus, you now know more than you did before at no cost!

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  6. WHEW!! I was getting worried the more I read. Don't you love 800 tech support when they know what they are talking about. We are on first name basis with nearly every one who answers the line at Winnebago Tech support and they have saved us zillions of hassles and a lot of $$$. All's well that ends well!!

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  7. Ah Shucks!!! Here I got all excited that someone had volunteered to get Murphy off my back. :(

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  8. good for you guys..too bad for Judy!!

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  9. That sure sounded somewhat similar back to the time when I had my Class B, Ms"B"Haven and the generator kept shutting off. The cause was Annie - she bumped into the generator switch. Roger put a small piece of rubber tubing behind the switch to keep it "on".

    Glad you weren't out of power for long - these motor homes get hot fast.

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