Dinosaur Replacement Norcold Boards
As I have said in the past I’m a huge fan of Dinosaur brand replacement circuit boards. The only problem I have had was with the new Norcold “N” series- they have very complex circuit boards, along with many different models, so I doubted that Dinosaur would ever come out with an N series replacement board.
Thankfully, I was wrong.
Dinosaur N series board
This new board replaces the following Norcold part numbers:
621267, 621667.001, 621268, 621268.001, 621269, 621269.001,
621270, 621270.001, 621271, 621271.001, 619360, 619361, 632168.001
You can read more about it at the Dinosaur website
Obsolescence- finding parts
I wrote a blog post about cleaning the Norcold burner on my RV.net blog. On the refrigerator I was working on at that time (a Norcold 662), I needed to simply replace the burner.
I grabbed a new burner off the shelf, installed it, and everything was good to go.
I then went to re-order that burner, and found out that Norcold now considers anything over 10 years old to be obsolete.
Now- our current travel trailer is a 1977 model- just over 30 years old. It’s still in good shape (though it does suffer a bit from the ‘shoe makers children’ syndrome)- but I can still buy
1977 Airstream
factory parts for it, though a door lock is a mind numbing $500+, simply because it is hand machined, but I can still buy one.
On the Norcold burner, there is a new burner that will fit right in. The only difference is the original uses a compression connection, with a ferrule and copper sealing ring, and the new one uses a flare connection. A modification to a flare connection should not be at all hard, and it really wouldn’t be hard for Norcold to come up with a retrofit kit- a more reasonable one than the $200+ kit they have for the 900 series. All the kit would need would be the burner and a new tube (soft aluminum). I just cannot see telling a customer that their perfectly good 1996 refrigerator is not repairable because I cannot get a $30 part, and they have to spend $1200-1500 for a new one. On the other hand- I take a bit of liability on my shoulders by modifying a part like this, so…..
Even though I grew up in a very affluent period (relatively), a large reason was my parents remembering and observing the old adage- “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”
I’ve also been running in to range parts being not available (safety valves and thermostats)- this time due to mercury content. While I understand this a bit more, it still isn’t easy to deal with.
Ah, well….
–Chris
TV Changes
Last week, my RV.Net blog post was on TV in your RV, and upcoming changes, including digital and Satellite HD reception.
A couple of things to keep in mind- the standard Winegard Sensar “Batwing” antenna will work just fine for Digital television- no need to buy a special “digital” or “HD” antenna.
There is a difference between Digital and HD. If you are going to buy a digital converter box for your RV, if you have an “HD capable” television, you will need to buy a high definition converter box. If, however, you have a standard tube type “SDTV”, one of the cheap , err…. inexpensive converter boxes will do just fine.
There is a good comparison of “Coupon Eligable converter boxes” at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_CECB_units
Dometic Recall- the Saga Continues…
Well, I’ve been writing about the ongoing Dometic recall in this post and this post, and today I had an unwelcome finding- working on a refrigerator I had done the recall on nearly a year ago, but the cooling unit failed in the area concerned with the recall.
Called to order a new cooling unit, and was told that Dometic is no longer replacing failed cooling units out of the warranty period.
Needless to say, I am not a happy camper.
–Chris
On RVNetBlog- 5 Ways to Assist the RV Service Facility.
Gary Bunzer, the RV Doctor is writing a great series of posts on things that people can do to help the RV Service center.
Highly recommended.
–Chris
Patterns of Failure
Sometimes I run in to patterns of failure on different items- bad batches from the manufacturers, faulty designs, etc. The past few weeks I have run in to 2 different items that have been giving me problems.
The first is a fairly simple thing, but one that has potentially very bad consequences.. and that is a vent lid (yep- about the simplest thing there is). Read more
Generators and bad gasoline
Disclaimer… I’m not a generator tech- I do have a rudimentary understanding of them, have had a few introductory classes on them, and service our own Onan Emerald, so…
Today I had (on the end of a list of things to service) an Onan Microquiet 4K which would crank but not start. In trying to start it, I could smell the unmistakable smell of old gasoline.
Battery Maintenance
I’m just finishing up my second custom inverter install for a client, and for this coach we had room for 9 group 29 batteries (yowza!).
The area we had to install them was previously occupied by the frame mount LP tank, so the height was somewhat limited (no room for 6 volt GC batteries), but the group 29s fit quite well.
Furnace Troubleshooting (the first step)
I recently had a furnace come in- complaint was that nothing happened- no fan, no heat.. nothing.
Whenever I have a furnace problem, the first step I take is to go to the thermostat. This one had a simple heat only, mechanical thermostat. I pull the cover off, switch my multimeter leads to read amperage and hook up the leads across the thermostat terminals.
Measure Twice…. Order Once…..
When I mess up, I have a tendency to mess up repeatedly! This past week I managed to make two good mistakes, once in a price quote, once in a special order…
Subscribe using Google
Subscribe using Feedburner
Translator
RV Daily Report- Several mauled by bear at Montana campground July 28, 2010
- Alabama RV park sets date for grand opening July 28, 2010
- Camping fees to rise at Arkansas state parks July 28, 2010
- Utah releases new tourism guide July 28, 2010
- Exploding propane tank injures three RVers in Washington July 28, 2010
- RV Business news
- Fleetwood RV Fills 2 Management Positions July 28, 2010
- TRVA Convention Aug. 13-16 in San Antonio July 28, 2010
- RV Count at AGI’s ‘The Rally’ Reached 2,867 July 28, 2010
- FMCA Convention Show Hours Announced July 28, 2010
- Veteran Editor Named for RVDA Trade Pubs July 28, 2010
-
Subscribe to rx4rv