OTR

[Gary Carmichael]

On leaving Fla the other day noticed the bus air was not working, called troy said it was probably a selenoid valve or a breaker, worked fine when I last used it. Where is the breaker , and what valve would it be and where. Troy told me to stop a J-ville Prevost on my way up but they were booked. If I can't figure this out will go to Goodletsville while in Tenn in may. Any suggestions?

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

P1060853.JPGP1060854.JPGGary, I can only tell you what I have. In the photo see a plastic box in the fan bay. On the outside is a label, CB8 & CB9 on the bottom of the box are large buttons corresponding to the circuit breakers. Press each in (very hard press) to reset, after which try your OTR.

What are you trying to determine? When the dash switch is turned on you expect power to get to the motor to enable it to run, that simple.

Still not working loosen the 6 screws holding the above box closed and look inside, you will see two large solenoid switches, as with CB8 &CB9 one is for the fan on the curbside and the other is for the fan on the street side. With a continuity tester check the continuity of the actuating coil of each, that is continuity between the two small terminals of each. If it is open you need a new solenoid. Also with a volt meter start at the power source in the compartment and trace the power through the circuit breaker through the solenoid to the fan motor. Most likely the voltage will stop on the input side of the solenoid and because the actuating coil does not make the contact to pass the voltage through to the fan motor it will not run.
You may invert the order of testing, but both must be performed.

Both motors are DC and have a speed control to vary the speed. It is in the bay on the street side of the coach and looks like a 10"x10"x2" finned heat sink. It could be defective, I do not now anything more about it.



If all the checking proves out to be A- OK and you get voltage to the motor and the OTR still does not run, you must then look to the 4 brushes on each motor. It is possible they are just stuck and not touching the armature (the round segmented copper you see beyond the brush). If this is the case you must figure a way to loosen them without breaking them, ie, light tapping or push,pry. The brushes are a maintenance item and perishable at some variable interval dependent on your use of OTR, heat and air. Both fans must be functional for OTR AC to function.

The brushes are in channels that hold them and allow them to slide in towards the armature and being pushed along with lever springs. When the brushes are worn and requiring replacement the spring will rest on the channel and not push the brush inward any longer. At this point you need new brushes for sure, prefferably with inspection before hand you will change the burushes before that time.

This is an overview, hope it helps and good luck.



JIM

[Gary Carmichael]

Thanks Jim, I will investigate what you have said Gary

[Gary Carmichael]

Just an update, Have not had a chance to look at bus just got back from Fla on Saturday and am trying to get taxes out, and four months of paper work filed. On top of that this computer " It use to belong to Fred Flintstone if that tells you any thing" is not working good maybe a bug? centipede? Can at least get on this site can not get to the other site. Will let you know what I find with thw OTR as soon as I can. Thanks for the help, Gary