Boards on ECC in Country Coach

[dale farley]

While trying to locate the fuse for my left bank of curb lights, I got Paulette to help me determine which circuit each daughter board on the ECC controls. This is not a comprehensive list, but it is everything that I could see when she pushed every switch in the front of the coach.

Since my Left Curb Lights don't work when any of the switches are energized, I am assuming that they are controlled by Board #8, since #8 controls the Right Curb Lights. I realize the CC manual has several pages of wiring diagrams that list some of these circuits, but not all.



Daughter Boards on ECC



Starting from Left side of mother board:


1. Rear Flood Lights
2. Cabinet Lights--Bath Ceiling Lights
3. Galley Ceiling Lights—Galley Overhead Light
4. Air Compressor—Bedroom Ceiling Lights
5. Isle Lights—Bay Lights
6. Step Cover—Air Tank Purge—Front bumper Release
7. Fresh Water Fill—Water Pump—Porch Light—Fresh Water Drain
8. Fog Lights—Right Curb Lights—Left Curb Lights
9. Mood Lights
10.Backup Alarm—Webasto Preheat
11.Engine Block Heat—AC Power meter—Entry Light
12.Speech Mute—Panel Lights just inside door-Air Door Lock
13.
14.Generator Start/Stop—Gen Auto Mode—Gen Boost
15. Bay Door Unlock—Bay Door Lock
16.
17. Dash Heat Exchanger
18. Fresh Water Heater 1 and 2—Interior Heat Exchanger-Central Heat Control
19. Living Room Ceiling Lights- Right
20.
21. Living Ceiling Lights- Left
<O:p</O:p

[dale farley]

As I was troubleshooting the boards to locate the problem with my curb lights, everything seemed to be working on the boards, and I had no blown fuses. My next step was to swing out the ECC and look at the rear of the motherboard as Truk had recommended.

Unfortunately, I realized that the sliding Joey Bed prevents the motherboard from swinging out, so that was a definite roadblock. Since it looks like a significant chore to remove the Joey Bed, I may at least temporarily tolerate not having the left bank of curb lights.

[truk4u]

Dale,

I ran into the same problem with CC's drawings, there is a lot of missing information. Sorry you ran into the roadblock with the Joey bed, I don't have one and wished I did, but know I'm glad I don't.

When we get to Sevierville, we can open mine up and you can see all the little goodies on the back of the mother board. Some of the Daughter boards have several functions on the board and they're not identified in the drawings.
When it's open, it's easy to find each function because all the wires are numbered and you can then refer to the wire number pages in the book.

Do you have the wire number pages in your book? If not, I'll copy them and mail to you.

[flyu2there]

Check the back of the Motherboard for the "mini" switches. These are latching relays used to troubleshoot components in the system, they look like little white buttons, generally in groups of three. Should one of those relays been accidently pushed in theory they will latch on or off a sub system.

I accidently latched out the CC over the road air this way.

Might be worth a look

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Our newest member flyu2there has entered the asylum called POG in a big way.

He makes you turkeys that think you are hot stuff being in the TBC (two bus club) look like amatuers. This man has three coaches (not all buses) so show the man a little respect.

Welcome aboard Fly. Don't be afraid to spank these kids if they get out of hand.

[truk4u]

Flyman, I've been watching for ya, welcome aboard the nuthouse. You have to give Jon a break, his plane has the wings in the wrong place and when the gear folds up, it looks like a buzzard with broken legs.:p

For those of you that don't know flyu2there, he is a CC owner and I met him on a CC bulletin board he started for Prevost owners. We're sure glad to have another CC owner here and he is a technical dude.

Thanks for joining up.....

[Jon Wehrenberg]

My plane has its wings where mother nature intended for them to be.

Has anybody seen any birds with their wings coming from their belly? I rest my case.

[JIM KELLER]

Welcome aboard Flyman. There are several of us with 99 Country Coaches on this site. Hope to see you in Tn. By the way, what is your Coach #. Mine is 60382.

[dreamchasers]

When you guys, Country Coach Owners, start tinkering with the ECC in Tenn, please let me know. I have not had a problems with mine yet, but it does look interesting. I will be in Tenn for the Rally. I will be working with Jon on a suspension presentation. It will be easy to recognize me, I am the newbie.


What is the web site address of 'flyu2there's website for Country Coach Prevost owners?

"I met him on a CC bulletin board he started for Prevost owners"

I would certainly like to check it out.

Hector

[truk4u]

Hector,

This is the site, but I think we'll be hearing a lot from John here on POG:

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Country-Coach-Prevost/message/1

[dreamchasers]

Truk4u, thanks for the link. He has very interesting stuff on the site.

I wonder if now is the time to suggest a side seminar to share knowledge on the Country Coach ECC. For starters, Flyu2there seems to have acquired knowledge on the workings of the GSD board. My coach has a wire disconnected in the dash, '#184', that has something to do with the GSD. I would like to know more of the GSD workings to sort our where to plug in back into. I am certainly willing to participate and support the effort , but at this stage someone else would need to take the lead. I have yet to see the backplane of the ECC yet and have zero experience with the device. The white switches seem interesting.

I will have my portable PC and an LCD projector for any demos (Or even movie night?).

Does anyone have a training manual or know where to get data on the ECC? That would be handy.

Hector

[truk4u]

Hector,

That's a great idea since we're getting plenty of folks with the CC's. I'll be glad to share anything that I have learned while sorting through these electrical problems and will volunteer to open my ECC cabinet for the show and tell. Mike Kerley is up to speed on this stuff as well. Flyboy lives on the left coast and he may not be able to see us in Sevierville, but he has lots of experience with the ECC as well.

Any other CC's owners have an idea?

[mike kerley]

EXCUSE ME:). Mike

[truk4u]

OK Mikee, I fixed it.:o

[mike kerley]

Tanks Tom

U R Ok

[dreamchasers]

I spent the afternoon crawling around in the front basement bay of my coach examining the Electronic Control Cabinet. I snapped a couple of pictures to let guys that do not own a CC can see what they are missing.

I am fortunate, that during my time working with electronics, I have dealt with a wide spectrum of circuitry. So I have seen boards of this type in the 'Good Ol Days'. Today's circuits has processors doing the logic work. The good thing about processors, is unless the processors are dead, software diagnostics helps in locating I/O faults.

2449

2450

Also, I have included a listing of cards, with p/n's, that are loaded in my setup. FYI

2451


I am looking forward to the Country Coach 'side bar' demo/class concerning the ECC in Sevierville. The box looks like a mystery waiting to be solved (As LOC would say, "Good Ol' Fashioned Bus Smack!", Loc see what you are missing?) Count me in, again, as a participate.

Hector

[mcirco]

I owned a 2000 Country Coach Magna before I bought my Country Coach Prevost in July so I have some familiarity with the ECC. I would be glad to join in, help diagnose and/or reverse engineer if necessary the ECC system in Tennessee. For better or worse I was an electronic geek (actually nerd back then) for most of my workiing career so I might be more helpful doing this then finding an air leak. I guess I will leave Mr Bubble at home and bring the Oscilloscope instead.


Miles & Laura Circo
2004 Country Coach 45' XLII D/S

[flyu2there]

Truk4u, thanks for the link. He has very interesting stuff on the site.

I wonder if now is the time to suggest a side seminar to share knowledge on the Country Coach ECC. For starters, Flyu2there seems to have acquired knowledge on the workings of the GSD board. My coach has a wire disconnected in the dash, '#184', that has something to do with the GSD. I would like to know more of the GSD workings to sort our where to plug in back into. I am certainly willing to participate and support the effort , but at this stage someone else would need to take the lead. I have yet to see the backplane of the ECC yet and have zero experience with the device. The white switches seem interesting.

I will have my portable PC and an LCD projector for any demos (Or even movie night?).

Does anyone have a training manual or know where to get data on the ECC? That would be handy.

Hector


Hector,

Responding to this older thread. Does you fuel gauge work? According to my drawings the 184 wire is power to the fuel gauge from the GSD card.

I think that CC has had so many problems with this that they jump the circuit board completely, but, to work as intended it really should be corrected.

BTW I have a couple GSD cards, factory new from Innercity in Eugene...the vendor who made that thing they call a motherboard, daughterboard and assorted cards.

John

[dreamchasers]

Yes, my fuel gage does work. After several conversations with Nick Hessler on this subject, he (we) have concluded that the #184 wire that is disconnected was done so to disable the voice synthesizer announcing the low fuel warning. I am not 100% sure at this point, but I will work the issue when I return from Sevierville.

Nick stated that he had seen this done before.

Thanks for the response.

Hector

[flyu2there]

Hector,

As I am sure you know the GSD card was installed so that the generator will shut down when the fuel qty. indication reaches 1/8 tank. It will also warn you of lo fuel quantity when this signal trips. It also monitors vehicle battery voltage from the 391 wire which is connected to the master switch in the engine compartment and is the source for power to your fuel gauge. All of this "stuff" is transmitted to the voice processor.......appropriate oral warnings are issued from there.

So, if the fuel gauge works it tells me that it is receiving power from another (hot 12V) source....probably a fault on the GSD Card caused the original issue. As I mentioned I have a couple of them which I will be happy to ship to you should you be so inclined.......

Probably not a big issue unless the generator auto start goes off some time and, in theory, it could run you out of diesel. However if you are aware of this it's really a non event....I just like things that run according to design.

John

[cthalfman]

I recently lost the panel lights on 5 of my CC switch panels. The panels that went out include two nightstand panels, the bathroom panel, the galley panel and the passenger side panel next to the door. All of the switches in all five panels work but there are no back lights on any of them. I have tried to toggle the "panel light" button on each of the five panels to no avail. The other panels (overhead on dash and driver side) continue to have back lighting. Might these panel lights be fused on an ECC card? If so, does anybody have an idea of which card?

[dreamchasers]

The drivers overhead lights and left drivers lamps get power for the LEDs from the circuitry located in the pneumatic bay, below the drivers seat. I am not sure where the salon LEDs receive power, but I would assume it would come from the CCC located in the first basement bay. I am mobile now and do not access to my drawings. I would look at the fuses that installed along the bottom edge of the electronic bay. I bet one of these fuses is blown. This is my best guess without looking at the drawings. Good Luck.

[cthalfman]

Thanks Hector. I will start searching that bank of fuses.

[cthalfman]

I have checked the entire bank of fuses at the base of the ECC (the fuses all look good and each circuit has a light that indicates continuity that goes out when the fuses are blown or removed) as well as all of the fuses on the individual circuit cards within the ECC without success. Might anybody have any additional suggestions as to where these five panels get there power for back lighting from? I also checked each circuit breaker in the drivers side panel without results.

[garyde]

Hi Chris. I don't know much about Country Coach lighting, but My coach lights are controlled by a cuttler-hammer relay system which is s simple relay system of low voltage wiring from each switch going back to the relays. The backlight is part of that system. The link type fuses which control the lights are on a separate fuse block as the system is 24 volt. Also, at the front door , I have a switch which turns off all of the back lights on the switches. I hope this may help.

[rahangman]

I think a call to Nick Hessler is in order.

[JIM KELLER]

Chris, I have an interest in this Thread as I have two switch panels that have a low light issue. They light but not very bright. I have been wondering if this happens before they go out completely. This weekend I am going to test the voltage on the back of a low light panel compared to a bright one. Have you removed one of the problem panels to check for voltage on the back side ?

[Gil_J]

Gary, can you tell me more about your configuration? I looked at the "Easy" product and it looks interesting. Is that the product you have? What switches were used? Do you have a functional diagram or schematic of your system?Thanks,

[cthalfman]

Rodger, any ideas on how to contact Nick? (email, PM, phone, etc.)

[Gil_J]

Chris,

I can't find Nick's contact information. Try Miles Circo at mcirco@hughes.net

[JIM KELLER]

Chris, I have Nick Hessler's # 541 954 2452. Let me know how this goes. Are you going to the Rally ? Miles will be there.

[cthalfman]

Thanks Gil and Jim. We are not able to make the Rally. We hope to catch everybody at the next one.

[rfoster]

On my formerly owned 2003 CC There are fuses embedded on some of the cards in the ECC. Not only check the fuses at the bottom but flip the panel to the back side and examine closely looking for fuses on the cards and have your test light handy. If there is no juice in the circuit you will have to remove the fuse to closely inspect that it is good or not. I did not have the problem you speak of so even if you found a bad fuse I can not promise that would fix your issue. Good luck.

[garyde]

Hi Gil. Basically, I have a pin relays with a Allen-Bradley Processor , and a Crestron system networked into the relays. Not Cuttler-Hammer as I originally said. So, the Push buttons work by low voltage wire from each switch to the appropriate relay. Then the Processor and the Crestron are essentially paralleled to the relays. Ill see what I can find regarding the wiring diagram and email it to you if you like.

[Gil_J]

Gary, I'm looking for a relatively simple intelligent relay system that can be controlled by typical push button control panels. The Cutler-Hammer "easy" relays may be the ticket.

[JIM KELLER]

Chris, I talked to Miles yesterday afternoon and last night. I read your post to him explaining the problem and talked about my issue. He said to contact him through the email Gil provided. I will be on a mission this weekend to resolve my low light problem based on information gained from Miles. He told me the possible causes of your no back light issue and I thought I would be able to relay the information to you but, as I sit here typing I know I will mistakes in passing it on. I'm computer challenged and can't do math. He said the fact your switches work dispite no back light speaks volumes on the diagnostic procedure. Also, no power is supplied from the ECC to any of the switch panels.


Good Luck.

[dale farley]

Chris, Jim, Miles. Someone please make sure you post the solution to these problems when they are resolved. This will be valuable information to others.

[cthalfman]

Jim, thank you for mentioning this to Miles. I just emailed him and will be sure to post his reply as well as my final outcome with this issue.

[rahangman]

Jim Keller beat me to Nicks contact.

[cthalfman]

Here is the response from Miles. Chris:The basics of panel lighting for Country Coach is as follows:Each switch contains 2 leds - one green and the other red.* The green*one is illuminated all the time and the red one is switched on and off*based upon a signal from the corresponding board in the electronics*control cabinet (ECC). Hence when the red led is off the switch is green*and when the red and green are both illuminated you get "white".* The*Leds have an integral resistor which sets the proper current for the Led*when driven from 5 volts.* The 5 volts is derived right on the panel*board itself with a 5 volt regulator (P/N 7805) . This regulator uses*the nominal 12 volts from the house battery bank as it's input and*outputs 5 volts to run the Leds. In some cases Country Coach put the 5*volt regulator on a small seperate PC board from the panel board and*used this separate board to run multiple switch panels..** No power is*provided by the PC boards in the ECC to illuminate any of the switch*Leds.* The boards in the ECC only provide a signal which turns on a*transistor which allows current from the 5 volt supply to flow through*the red led. So if your panels are not illuminated you are missing*either the 12 volts to the regulator (whether on the panel board or on a*separate regulator board) or you are missing a ground line.* You should*be able to verify what is going on with a voltmeter.* Since the*regulators are fed from the domestic battery bank there are various*places where Country Coach could have tapped into the battery bank. For*safety reasons there is usually a fuse at the point of connection.**Country Coach usually provided a number of designated places to tie into*the domestic battery bank - one usually to feed dash devices, one to*feed overhead devices, sometimes one in the electrical compartment next*to the drivers seat, one in the ECC and another in the rear near the*house batteries.* There is not as much consistency as you would think*but a modest amount of investigation will usually lead to success.* If*you are missing a ground, wiring will be very similar to power circuit*without the fuse of course. Since you have multiple panels out I would*first check to see if any of the panels have the 5 volt regulator - if*they do then the 12 volt feed is probably missing. If there are no*regulators on the panel boards then you need to find the small regulator*board that drives the panels. Once you find that board you will*determine whether it is missing the 12 volt feed or if the regulator is*bad. I hope this helps. Miles

[JIM KELLER]

Well this certainly is a wealth of information. I too will be trying to find my low light issue with some of this information. I suspect mine will be a ground problem. Chris, when I was talking to Miles he told me he found a control board for his remote control shades under the floor below the refrigerator. So.... there is no boundry of where these seperate regulator boards could be. Keep us updated on your adventure !