The Glitches

[Jerry Winchester]

"The Glitches" has to be the electrical version of "The Leans" and I had a good case of them for a day or so while I was on my trip to DC and Cedar Point.

History

Get back from dinner one evening and the keypad next to the passenger's seat won't operate the lights or even show any sign of life. I use another keypad to turn the lights on and just head off to bed thinking I will look at it in the morning.

Diagnosis

Get up the next morning and it's still jacked up. No life from the buttons. I do the electrical restart of the coach (like turning your computer off and turning it back on) and no joy. Bad news is that the plasma TV is in the "down" position which will make it a little hard to drive. After some time on the phone with Mr. Tech Services at Marathon (Leon Snider), I use a jumper wire and raise the TV. Time to get on the road.

Get to Dayton, OH and try to troubleshoot the problem with another Marathon tech guy. No signal power on the CAT 5 cables to the relay boxes in the front / right side of the coach. I find a fuse problem and a "H" junction box issue with the cables. In the mean time I use a terminator that I liberated from another place in the coach to bypass the "H" junction, do the electrical restart and poof it all starts working.

Have a new part sent to the RV park in Memphis. Get to Memphis and poof, the lights won't go out. Reboot the coach and all is well.

Coach sits in the hanger for a week with no problems. I change out the "H" junction today and reboot the coach and poof, it all works like it is supposed to.

Summary

I think the whole problem is that the pad was adjacent to the passenger seat. When we leave the coach guess what occupies the passenger seat?

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I think this 14 pound dog stands in the seat with her front paws on the keypad pushing multiple buttons for minutes on end and this is the source of the problem.

Never had a problem before cuz we never had the dog in the coach. As I was cleaning the coach today, dog nose prints all over the window just above the keypad. Coach worked fine all week. No dog in it.

Therefore, Dog + Coach - People = Glitches

Any thoughts?

[Kevin Erion]

Jerry,
After our conversation the other day, I was so glad it was you and not me, then I had one of my spot light circuits go out. I do the same power down with no luck. I take the bus to storage and tell myself I will deal with it later.
Next day I drive to storage, power down everything, power up and still no hall lights, nothing. Call tech for help, they are on another call and will call me back. I go into the back left rear corner of the bus, look at the boxes and see 1 with a label for hall closet but before I can get to it I have to move the 2 DirecTV boxes that I just had Marathon install. Eveything is out of the way and I give the button another try, they come on. OK, maybe I moved a wire just enough to get them working, I move all the wires I can find many times but the lights never go out. Reinstall the TV receiver boxes, check the lights, all is good.
Get the call from Tech and he says, good job, but I didn't fix anything! How long until it goes out again?
I only wish I could put the blaim on the dog!
Glad to hear you got it fixed, I think!

[Ray Davis]

Phew, I'm glad you cleared that up. I thought for a moment I should be looking at coaches other than Marathons!!

[rfoster]

JDUB: Your glitches were probably caused by the dog. But the dog would not have been on the Key pad except for the irresistable gravy and BBQ residue left there from someones greasy fingers.

Feed that poor pup.

[garyde]

Jerry, where are the buttons ? My passenger side buttons are down on the side . Some of the buttons have clear small guards, to prevent accidental switching. However, the drivers seat has many controls up top without safety protection, like the leveling system.

[rickdesilva]

Don't piss the dog off or he'll lock you out like Barney did to Miles and Laura.

[Loc]

That's way ruff. Skipper is going to find out and leave a little present on your side of the bed. The WonderBeagle has never caused any problems in the bus. I guess the Millennium is a superior design. Thanks in advance for the bite me.

I will be sending the bill for working on the Royale this weekend for being Old JDUB Bus tech support.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Very reassuring to see and hear we are not alone, I think.

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[Jerry Winchester]

Gary,

The buttons are face up in a recessed area to the right of the seat. They are membrane type buttons. The buttons on the dash and driver side panel in the Marathon are like those in the Liberty, but the others in the coach are this same type.

Loc,

Since the Wonderbeagle's feet are firmly planted to whatever surface he is on, it is unlikely he could jump far enough to hit any buttons. I can send Skipper over to the Marathon Wannabe Coach to test for any button weaknesses.

Joe,

Midget dogs manage to have challenges of their own as I have learned. They can stand on things most standard sized dogs can't or won't stand on. Unless you are the world's fattest Beagle dog, then you stand pretty much where you are placed.

[truk4u]

Take off his sunglasses numb nuts and the little bugger will be able to see and not use his paws for braille!:p