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Old 04-02-2017, 03:08 PM   #1
Casey & Carolyn
 
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Cold in the middle of the night

I have a 2017 Prime Time Crusader lite 29 RS. We have had this unit about 2 months and have had it out for 3 times for 2 night weekend trips. Not every night but more than half of them sometime in the middle of the night the thermostat on heat set at 72 will decide the change all by its self to 42-47 degrees. I contacted Prime Time and was sent a new thermostat to try. The first one only the bottom half of the LCD would illuminate. Marked that off to a bad thermostat. The second one they sent me does the same thing. Picks a temp some where in the 40's on heat. Any suggestions as to what might be causing this. Attached is a picture of the thermostat. Very basic single zone.
Thank you in advance for your help.
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Old 04-02-2017, 03:24 PM   #2
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Your picture did not make the trip but that's fine.

I would like to suggest you go to Lowes or Home Depot and buy a better thermostat than what you are being sent and see if it make a difference.
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Old 04-02-2017, 05:56 PM   #3
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I have a 2017 Prime Time Crusader lite 29 RS. We have had this unit about 2 months and have had it out for 3 times for 2 night weekend trips. Not every night but more than half of them sometime in the middle of the night the thermostat on heat set at 72 will decide the change all by its self to 42-47 degrees. I contacted Prime Time and was sent a new thermostat to try. The first one only the bottom half of the LCD would illuminate. Marked that off to a bad thermostat. The second one they sent me does the same thing. Picks a temp some where in the 40's on heat. Any suggestions as to what might be causing this. Attached is a picture of the thermostat. Very basic single zone.
Thank you in advance for your help.
I think I figured out how to attach a picture.
You really all 3 thermostats could be bad and 2 of the three have the exact same failure.
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Old 04-06-2017, 02:09 AM   #4
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Sounds like a bad lot of thermostats.
If you have more than 2 modes of climate control such as a roof unit that heats and cools plus a gas furnace, I'm not sure a house thermostat would work.
Good luck figuring it out.
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Old 04-07-2017, 09:34 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by Casey r View Post
I have a 2017 Prime Time Crusader lite 29 RS. We have had this unit about 2 months and have had it out for 3 times for 2 night weekend trips. Not every night but more than half of them sometime in the middle of the night the thermostat on heat set at 72 will decide the change all by its self to 42-47 degrees. I contacted Prime Time and was sent a new thermostat to try. The first one only the bottom half of the LCD would illuminate. Marked that off to a bad thermostat. The second one they sent me does the same thing. Picks a temp some where in the 40's on heat. Any suggestions as to what might be causing this. Attached is a picture of the thermostat. Very basic single zone.
Thank you in advance for your help.
I wondering if you are having power drop-outs or low voltage going to the thermostat, causing it to only show part of the digits and/or the memory and processor default to a low temp. I would check all the electrical connections in the chain, and reseat the 12V fuse that powers the thermostat. On my A-frame, the thermostat is on the same fuse as the heater blower.

Just a thought
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Old 04-07-2017, 11:40 PM   #6
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I wondering if you are having power drop-outs or low voltage going to the thermostat, causing it to only show part of the digits and/or the memory and processor default to a low temp. I would check all the electrical connections in the chain, and reseat the 12V fuse that powers the thermostat. On my A-frame, the thermostat is on the same fuse as the heater blower.

Just a thought
Fred W
I was thinking about a power drop-out as well but have ruled that out only because if I turn off my batteries the thermostat looses power. When the batteries are turned back on and I cycle the mode back to heat is is still set at 73. I do plan on checking the electrical connections at the fuse box and heater power supply as well as checking the tension on the terminals in the fuse box for the heater circuit.
Thanks for your suggestion and if you should think of any thing else drop me a note.
Thanks again
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Old 04-08-2017, 01:59 AM   #7
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I was thinking about a power drop-out as well but have ruled that out only because if I turn off my batteries the thermostat looses power. When the batteries are turned back on and I cycle the mode back to heat is is still set at 73. I do plan on checking the electrical connections at the fuse box and heater power supply as well as checking the tension on the terminals in the fuse box for the heater circuit.
Thanks for your suggestion and if you should think of any thing else drop me a note.
Thanks again
What you have said makes me believe more than ever that you have a power issue. The fact that the thermostat works correctly - and even remembers the setting - after you reset the battery is very telling.

Key question - does the thermostat misbehave if connected to shore power? If the problem only happens when you are running off batteries, that would point me to your batteries being in poor shape, and unable to hold much of a charge, or were pretty low before the night began.

The heater fan sucks the batteries to an even lower voltage. Then the battery is too low to operate the fan. The fan sends a fault signal to the thermostat, which errors out. Or the low battery voltage by itself causes the erratic operation of the thermostat.

Resetting things by unloading the battery will give a very temporary recovery of battery voltage. This is similar to starting a car with a weak battery. After several failed starts, you let the battery sit for 5 or 10 minutes and it may recover just enough to give you a start.

A loose or intermittent connection can also give low voltages.

When I was running a bank of computers on Windows 98, I found that repeated Blue Screens of Death (BSOD) were invariably caused by power supply malfunctions. I lost track of how many components (memory sticks, CPUs, and hard drives) I changed in a fruitless effort before I realized that the power supply was the faulty component.

While the thermostat is in failure mode, measuring voltage at the thermostat input and at the battery might give you an idea of whether my theory is correct.

Of course, if the problem happens while connected to shore power, and you are reading 13.7V at the batteries, then I will believe both thermostats are faulty.

Fred W
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Old 04-08-2017, 10:14 AM   #8
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So far this has only happened on shore power. I have not run the A/C for any length of time to see if it occurs on A/C.
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Old 04-08-2017, 02:39 PM   #9
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So far this has only happened on shore power. I have not run the A/C for any length of time to see if it occurs on A/C.
I assume your converter is working fine while on shore power (you should see 13.2 or 13.7 volts at both battery and at thermostat). Which means I was wrong, and it is not likely a low voltage problem.

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Old 04-08-2017, 06:48 PM   #10
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I assume your converter is working fine while on shore power (you should see 13.2 or 13.7 volts at both battery and at thermostat). Which means I was wrong, and it is not likely a low voltage problem.

Fred W
I think I'm going to check for loose connections at the fuse panel and on the heater first. Not sure what my next step will be from there if that all checks ok and the problem pursisits. Maybe a different thermostat.
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Old 07-20-2017, 07:28 AM   #11
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I have a 2017 Prime Time Crusader lite 29 RS. We have had this unit about 2 months and have had it out for 3 times for 2 night weekend trips. Not every night but more than half of them sometime in the middle of the night the thermostat on heat set at 72 will decide the change all by its self to 42-47 degrees. I contacted Prime Time and was sent a new thermostat to try. The first one only the bottom half of the LCD would illuminate. Marked that off to a bad thermostat. The second one they sent me does the same thing. Picks a temp some where in the 40's on heat. Any suggestions as to what might be causing this. Attached is a picture of the thermostat. Very basic single zone.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Just a fallow up on my original post. I found no loose connections . Before finding the fix used the a/c and it also picks a random temp Never know when it's going to happen but sometime during each trip it will happen at least once. Now for the good news. After several conversations with Prime Time warranty deptartment including one of there techs they directed me to Dometic. Called there tech support and explained my problem and they sent me a circuit board. Tech told me if it's not the thermostat then it has to be the curcuit board. Installed the curcuit board 2 days ago and the a/c thermostat setting has remained at 78 degrees. Looks like it is fixed. Headed out for a 2 week trip tomorrow. That should be a good test.
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Old 07-20-2017, 07:34 AM   #12
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Thanks for the follow-up post and information.
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