Electrical. E350 2006 Ford 6.0. This week I heard about a 4 second whistle

ebrogie · 10-07-2021, 08:46 AM

Turned on a rear cabin light. Heard a whistle on driver side. The whistle ended and then the DC shut off only in the entire back cabin for about a short time up to a minute shore power to AC was not interrupted. Refrigerator and lights turned back on. Espar heater remained flashing This sequence repeated when I tried the cabin Espar heat. House battery appears fully charged. What is the possible problem and fix?
The whistle changed pitch

REF · 10-08-2021, 09:07 AM

The only thing I can think of possibly whistling on the drivers side would maybe be the RKE module (remote keyless entry), but that’s not vacuum operated, it’s electrical so not sure, it’s mounted up behind the drivers seat behind the pillar and paneling, or something door lock related? Just thinking of anything that has mechanical movement that might create a noise….
Otherwise, might be something else that’s vacuum operated that could be failing, has a leak, shorting or momentarily overloading that circuit and not tripping or blowing a fuse?
Either way, sounds like you’ve got some digging around to do.
It’s worth noting that there have been cases, one I remember being documented a while back, think it was Ramsay’s van, where the wiring harness up behind the drivers seat behind the paneling chafed through on the bare metal cuts that SMB had made, shorted out and caught on fire, luckily it was able to be put out before the whole thing went up. Good luck!
Well gang, it looks like we’ve got another mystery on our hands!

ebrogie · 10-08-2021, 09:24 AM

Could the refrigerator be part of the problem

**daveb** · 10-08-2021, 10:46 AM

My Espar (Airtronic & Hydronic) fuel pump makes a whine sound as does the water pump on the Hydronic when trying to start but you should hear that every time it tries to start. If my house batteries are low, both my Espar units will cycle for a few minutes before they finally shuts down. Did your espar throw a code? Both units pull several amps during startup and shut down. I doubt it would pull so much that it would shut down all the DC unless you have a bad voltage or connection issue. A bad connection could cause it to see low voltage during startup. Sometimes a bad electrical connections can be intermittent. If a load is applied it can cause the bad connection seem to work properly after the load is stopped. This can be anywhere between the battery connection and distribution point such as the DC fuse panel provided it is affecting the rest of the DC lights and fridge.
If this happened to me I would use a good voltmeter and check voltage at different spots to see if there is a difference with and without a load. I prefer to start at the easiest places to do a voltage check, such as at the DC fuse panel and check voltage before starting the Espar and then start it and recheck it during startup. Even the battery terminals can appear to work correctly until a load is applied. Being you said the Espar is still flashing I'd think there is a voltage issue. To cause all the DC to fail for a while and then go back to normal, I'd inspect the main run (including the battery posts) if you are seeing a large voltage drop at the DC fuse panel.

Just guessing here.

Twoxentrix · 10-08-2021, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveb

My Espar (Airtronic & Hydronic) fuel pump makes a whine sound as does the water pump on the Hydronic when trying to start but you should hear that every time it tries to start .

Odd, I have never heard a whine on either Espar units, I do occasionally here a clicking sound that comes from the fuel pump when it’s pulling fuel up from the tank.
Will file this in the back of my mind; At least now if I ever hear a whine I know where it’s likely coming from.

arctictraveller · 10-08-2021, 11:53 AM

This is a tough one to diagnose from a distance. Due to the fact that you lost power to a few things, I suspect there may be a bad connection between the house battery and the load center. What you described as a whistle may have been electrical arching, but its hard to tell from a distance. The fact that it occurs when a load comes on again makes a bad connection suspect. I'd put a volt meter on the main power wire to your load center and then start up the refer to see what kind of voltage drop you see. I'd also visually check all the battery connections including the battery terminals, and try wiggling then too.

ebrogie · 10-08-2021, 12:17 PM

I now have lost all DC power in the rear cabin

N147JK · 10-08-2021, 12:47 PM

Are you saying there is always 110V AC power, but the 12V DC side is acting up? I think many of the DC power centers will trip offline, then come back, if there is a short, overheating, or other problem. Might try focusing on the DC power center (power converter/charger). Check the fuses there. Isolate each 12 volt circuit one at a time and see if anything changes.

ebrogie · 10-08-2021, 01:40 PM

How do you post a picture here?

https://www.sportsmobileforum.com/fo...lbums1545.html

I need help telling me what this component to my DC electrical system this is and it's function

1der · 10-08-2021, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ebrogie

How do you post a picture here?

Attaching image/file:
https://www.sportsmobileforum.com/fo...l&titlesonly=0

Where are you located??

Sportsmobile or DIY or ??

House battery location (s)?