No power

[Mbrown1618]

I have a sunline Solaris t2499 I have no power on my control panel for the water heater and level is this a common problem if so is it best to replace it with a new unit . I can't get the water heater to work.

[ggrvguy]

Have you checked fuses?

[JohnB]

Hi Mark,

I saw in your other post you were having a problem, assuming the tank panel and water heater is the issue.

What model year is your T2499? Sunline only made that model from 2003 to 2007 and the tank panel was different pending the year.

Tell us some more about the water heater problem. Are you tying to run the heater on electric or LP gas?

Does the tank panel water pump switch light up red when turned on?

Do any of the tank level lights ( red dots) light up at all? Even for an empty tank or battery check?

Does your tank panel have 2 or 3 red rocker switches? And do any of the lights turn red when you turn them on?

Did you just buy the camper and this is the first time you are trying to use the water heater or has it worked in the past and is now not working?

The questions above help us try to give you better help. The tank panel switches only give an enable signal to the water heater on either electric or gas. Once the heater is enabled then there are safety sensors and the heater controls actually start and run the heater. Corrosion on the heater wiring connections have been known to not let the heater do anything, like it was not enabled and this has nothing to do with the tank panel.

Tell us some more about the questions above so we can help better.

Thanks

John

[Mbrown1618]

3 rocker switches and none work . 2005 year model . Can't get it to work on propane or electric. Just bought it was on first trip no hot water. Don't know where to turn now?

[JohnB]

Hi Mark,

OK, your last info is a place to start. You have the KIB M-23, 3-rocker switch tank panel system in your 2005 T2499. It looks like this, correct?


Here is a "big picture" statement to describe what "may" be wrong with your camper:

A. You have lost "all" or "partial" 12 VDC power to the KIB tank monitor panel.

B. You might have 12-volt power, but the red light bulbs in the red rocker switches may be burnt out, and you cannot see that they are working.

We will address A and B above in a moment, but here is what the tank panel is supposed to do when it is working. And this is for your 2005 vintage water heater.

- When flipped on, the Water Pump switch will light red and supply 12-volt power to the water pump, and the pump will run unless it has reached system pressure.

- When flipped on, the Water Heater LP gas switch will light red and supply 12-volt power to the water heater control board. The water heater controls are then energized to run on LP gas. The tank panel only supplies the 12-volt run signal, and the heater will operate all on its own.

- When flipped on, the Water Heater Electric switch will light red and supply 12-volt power to the water heater control board to operate in the electric mode. But, there is also a need for the 120 VAC power circuit breaker to be flipped on for the electric portion to work. The 12 VDC water heater controls are energized and allow the heating element to run on 120 VAC electric power. The tank panel only supplies the 12-volt run signal, and the heater will operate all on its own. NOTE: The red light on the tank panel switch can be on, but without the 120 VAC circuit breaker on, the electric element will not heat.

All red rocker switches will feed power to the device even if the red bulb is burnt out; you will not see the light.

There are also other buttons in the middle of the tank monitor, the tank levels, and the battery power level; I asked if they worked and if any indicated the tanks were empty, partly full, or the 12-volt DC battery system was active. Did you try any of the other buttons? If they work, that means some level of power is getting to the tank panel; if they are also all dead, even the battery, then it seems you lost all power to this area.

NOTE: While the water heater can still have other issues preventing it from working, we have to get past the tank monitor panel not working, as this is where all the run power for the heater starts. Once past the tank monitor, we can deal with only the potential water heater issues.

Did you check all the blue fuses in the power converter panel under the stove area? Are any of them blown? Gary (ggrvguy) stated this also.

Here are some more questions that may sound odd, but it helps tell if power is getting to the tank panel area.

1. Did you check the top blue fuse (the one below the green 30 amp) in the power converter labeled "monitor - pump"? Is it not blown and fully inserted?

2. Do you hear the water pump run when you toggle the red water pump switch, even if the light does not work? This assumes you were not on city water at the time you tried.

3. Do the lights above the kitchen sink work?

Tell us about the tank panel buttons for the tanks and the battery, if any red lights come on, if all the blue fuses are OK, and the three areas of fuses/pump/lights questions above. We are trying to track down what does and does not work before we start deeper electrical troubleshooting.

Are you friendly with 12 VDC power? The camper is no different if you can work on 12 VDC car electrical. Do you have a volt/ohm meter or a 12-volt DC test light? Or if you can do home 120 VAC wiring, that is OK too. I can start with what to hunt for electrically, pending the answers above, but if you are not electrically friendly, I do not want to put you in a dangerous situation.

Here are some things that may help.

This link is to a 2004 T2499 wiring diagram from our FILES section. Your 2005 should be close to the same, at least for what we are looking for. This is from my prior 2004 T2499. I was lucky enough to get it from Sunline before they closed up. https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/d...do=file&id=357

Here is the KIB tank panel system diagram for your camper. It might not be a lot of help, but it is what they give out. It, too, is in our FILEs section, I uploaded it tonight
https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/d...o=file&id=5646

This is out of my 2004 T2499 power converter; your 2005 one should be about the same.


Here is the overview


The power center would look like this if someone did not change the power converter on the left with the fans. You do not have to take this cover off if you are not electrical-friendly; I only provide it for reference.


And here is a pic of the 2004 T2499 kitchen area with the tank panel by the sink and the ceiling lights etc. I built the shelf where the paper towel rack is; yours would not have that.


I know this may be a lot to absorb, but this should get us closer with your feedback, and we can work on where to look next.

Hope this helps

John

[Mbrown1618]

#1 fuse is good and fully inserted.#2 pump will not run #3 lights work above sink. Checked voltage at the battery was 12.6. Don't know where to turn next.

[JohnB]

OK,

It appears you have access to a volt meter as you checked the battery. Just so you know, the battery at 12.6 Volts is good if the camper is not plugged into shore power (120 VAC). If you plug into shore power and the front A-frame header-mounted battery disconnect is on, the battery should go up to 13.25 or 13.65 VDC from the power converter boosting the voltage. This is not part of the issue right now; just letting you know for the future.

If you were plugged into shore power, the disconnect was on, and you get 12.6 VDC at the battery, the power converter is not working, which will be a problem.

Now to the tank monitor that is not working. This points to a power issue feeding the tank panel. Let's try the more simple part first. If anything I will show is beyond your skill/safety level, please don't do it. I think you should know your abilities.

You don't need to be plugged into shore power; if you are, just unplug it, as you do not need any 120 VAC power for this part of the troubleshooting. You are going to be doing 12 VDC power testing.

Turn the battery disconnect off for this first test. And make sure the shore power is not plugged in. You want the camper to have no power to it.

Go to the power center to see if the wiring is tight and if 12-volt power is coming out of the fuse clip later. Open the power center door, it will look like this.



At the top and bottom of the fuse block are two small Phillips head screws. They are silver in this pic above, remove them, and the front cover will come off.

It will look like this with the cover-off.


Look at the top blue fuse below the green one, the tank monitor/water pump fuse. Look at the wire on the right side of the fuse and see if it is loose. Check it with a screwdriver. And with all the power off, check all the other fuses, the AC breakers, the white AC neutral wires, and the bare ground wires. It is common that over time of bouncing down the road towing, those screws loosen up, and getting a new to you used camper; it is good to check all those connections to be tight.

If you found the tank monitor/pump fuse wire loose, that is a good find. If it was loose, it might be the issue. So we are going to the next step.

Voltage check:

Leave the front power center cover off, get your volt meter and turn on the battery disconnect, and leave the shore power 120 VAC to be off/unplugged.

Look at the picture above. The big heavy red wire at the top of the fuse block is the + 12 VDC from the battery. At the bottom of the fuse block is a big heavy white wire, the - 12 VDC. Check between the big red + 12 VDC wire and the big white - 12 VDC wire for voltage. It should read the same as testing the battery. If not, could you tell us the difference?

Next, test between the wire on the blue fuse for the tank monitor/pump (+ 12 VDC pos) and the big white wire (- 12 VDC neg). You should be getting the battery voltage. If you are not getting battery voltage, that is a problem; report back for the next steps if there is no power at the fuse wire. A problem is something that is more than 0.1 to 0.2 volts lower. If you are 0.01 to 0.09 volts, that is not a big issue; it could be your meter probes etc.

Tank monitor panel measurements . Assuming you have power coming out of the blue tank monitor fuse, now check the pump switch at the tank monitor and see if the pump runs. If it runs GREAT, you found a problem, and now onto the water heater, see if the red rocker lights up on LP gas mode. Let's talk if the LP gas rocker switch lights up, but the heater does not start to fire off on the gas. That is a different issue than the tank monitor panel. If the gas does start to fire off, shut it down quickly if there is no water in the heater, and you can get back to start-up mode.

Assuming you have found no problem yet and the tank panel switches are still dead, proceed to the below for the next steps. You will only do this if nothing is still not working.,

If the pump does not run, you did not find the problem. First, turn the battery disconnect switch OFF. We will pull the tank monitor panel apart.

Tank monitor cover removal.

These pics are of a two-switch KIB panel, but yours will come apart the same way. Please ensure the battery disconnect switch is off in case a loose wire is behind the cover so you do not short it and blow a fuse in the removal process.

Remove the front cover with a straight-blade screwdriver, insert, and twist to pop it off. Look for the tab on the side like in the pic to put the screwdriver behind.


The cover will come out like this, and it has a PC board on it for the tank level buttons and LED lights


Sometimes the wires pop off the red connector, watch so this does not happen; you can unplug the red connector from the PC board. Be gentle.




Next, remove the four screws from the white outer ring holding the ring to the wall. This will expose the pump switch; the water heater switches.

See the 4 screws


When you remove the outer ring, wires with wire nuts in the wall cavity also need to come out; gently tug on them to get them out in the open. The fused power wire (12 VDC + Pos) from the power center is in this bundle, and so is a white 12 VDC - (neg)


OK, Now you are hunting for the fused 12 VDC power wire from the power center. From here, you are looking for why that 12 VDC power wire would be dead, with no power. You have a few options pending for your meter skills.

You can do an ohm meter wire continuity test from the fuse block up to the tank panel power wire with the battery power OFF to see if the wire has issues. It should have full continuity.

OR, you turn on the battery disconnect and use the volt meter, and test for 12 volts at the tank panel area between the fused hot wire to the white ground wire at the tank panel area. That 12-volt power wire from the fuse block should be hot/live with the battery on.

If it needs to be clear up what the problem is, please take pictures and post what you are seeing so we can see what you see. Odds or high, the fused power wire lost connection with the entire tank panel. Worst case, something chewed through a wire or something. More once you know more on this.

Feel free to ask if you need help posting pics, and we can help show you how.

I hope this helps, and good luck to you.

John

[Mbrown1618]

John b I wanted to think you for all the help we have decided to get a toy hauler so we traded the sunline in.

[JohnB]

Mbrown1618,

You are welcome. Thanks for reporting back. Happy camping this season.

John