2005 DYNASTY - Missing Zone 2 - new Penguin II install.

[JMRTFH12]

Hello all, 

Long time lurker, new member here, finally getting into it as normally a search answers my questions. Thank you for that. I'll try to group this in a way so it's easy to follow.

05 Dynasty with three Penguin roof AC units, and five button thermostats from the factory. One t-stat is in the kitchen and operates the front a/c unit (zone 1). The second t-stat is in the bedroom and operates the bedroom unit (zone 1) and the kitchen a/c unit (zone 2).  DIP switches were set to furnace ON for the front unit, furnace ON and zone 2 ON for the middle unit and finally furnace ON for the rear unit.  

I just replaced all three with new Penguin II A/C + Heat Pumps and new CCC2 controllers, wired exactly the same as the old units.  Dip switches we all set to Heat Pump from Dometic. I added the previous units DIP switch settings to these units.  So, the new front unit now has furnace ON, heat pump ON.  The middle unit has furnace ON, heat pump ON and zone 2 ON. The rear unit has furnace ON and heat pump ON. 

Both CCC2's have been initialized. The front CCC2 recognized Zone1 and works properly. 

Here is the problem: 

The rear CCC2 blue screen looked weak, with a pulsing or dim flashing of the numeric lighting along with the blue lighting. During initialization the word "Zone" would populate but not a numeral.  A second attempt to initialize resulted in Zone 1 and 4 being recognized but no commands would result in action from either unit. (bedroom being zone 1 and kitchen being zone 2 for this CCC2) (There is no zone 3 or 4 in this coach)

After plugging, unplugging, inspecting and cleaning, and so on, I found that if I disconnected the coms line to the zone 2 unit (kitchen), the CCC2 looked healthy with no surging or pulsing.  It would initialize and immediately find zone 1 (bedroom) and operate properly just like the front CCC2.  As long as the middle unit was not connected, it worked as it should for the rear unit.

In an attempt to troubleshoot the kitchen unit, I switched the DIP switch zone2 to zone3 for the kitchen unit, then re-initialized the rear CCC2, thinking maybe the DIP switch is bad, and I got the same results, so I moved it back to zone 2.  I then ran to Lowes and picked up a new phone line... (wait for it) and decided to externally bypass the coach's coms line, which did make a change.  It turned the center unit on heat pump, fan high the moment it was plugged in....and because I am a slow learner, I decided to disconnect it from the rear unit and hook it to the front with the same results.  It was at this point I realized maybe a phone line is not what this is, and this is when I found Tom Cherry's post about this data line and its uniqueness which indeed is NOT a phone line. Thanks for that post, I was really thrown for a loop there.  

So...my question is, should I just order the proper line with the intention to test it and replace the factory coms line, OR do you think there is a possibility that the new board on the a/c heat pump unit is defective?  Am I missing something?  Is there something else I should test? 

We've owned this coach for 8 years and we love it...lately though, including this ac swap we've dropped 20 grand into this coach this year.  Our experience with service centers has been tested as of late, and I prefer to do as much myself to avoid them if at all possible...BUT...If I'm out of my league I'll take it in.  

Thanks, Jim

 

 

[Tom Cherry]

OK....

Reached out to Jim on phone.

He has done a lot of testing and trouble shooting.  We talked and he now has some tests to run.

We THINK it is NOT a problem with his new units.  FWIW.  His 2005 Dynasty is the SIMPLE system.  See the PRINT.  He did NOT see Zone 4 on the old 5 button Thermostat....so NO ZONE 4... NO HIDDEN CONTROLLER (Or AC Board).

He will be testing each unit with the thermostat. If BOTH Zone 1 and Zone 2 (all off the Bedroom Thermostat work), then there is or may be a data com problem and he will start to work on the Com Cable between Zone 1 and Zone 2.

He will post the results....