Range Hood Fan Problem

[Ron in BC]

I just double checked mine. Yes, from underneath looking up mine rotates counter-clockwise. With the filter removed I noticed the flap really swings open more. If it opened that much with the filter in place I wouldn't bother using a clothes pin to hold it open.

With the small metal cover plate that covers the wires to the switch removed the connections are accessible. You could put the meter on the switch terminal and confirm the polarity. Other than that I guess we're waiting to here Reace's verdict.

Ron

[barry]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

I just double checked mine. Yes, from underneath looking up mine rotates counter-clockwise. With the filter removed I noticed the flap really swings open more. If it opened that much with the filter in place I wouldn't bother using a clothes pin to hold it open.

With the small metal cover plate that covers the wires to the switch removed the connections are accessible. You could put the meter on the switch terminal and confirm the polarity. Other than that I guess we're waiting to here Reace's verdict.

Ron

Ron

I already had that cover off so I just went out and checked it with the meter. If I touch the positive (red) meter wire to the live wire going to the switch and then touch the black meter wire to ground on the hood I'm getting the "-" reading but zero voltage on the meter so I'm guessing that the polarity is reversed, right?

Barry

[Ron in BC]

When I put my red meter lead on the black wire behind the switch and the other meter lead to a negative bus bar my meter shows no " - ". I can't imagine how yours could be reversed especially when the outlet you tested showed the correct polarity.

Ron

[Ron in BC]

Whoa, just noticed the no voltage. OK, on mine, the incoming power goes to the upper terminal on the fan switch and it is jumpered to the upper terminal on the fan light. With the red lead to it and the meter negative to ground I get a positive volt reading.

When you say " - " but with no volts, what terminal are connecting to?

And I know it's a real long shot, but any chance you could pull off the converter cover panel, 2 screws, and check the reverse polarity fuses and maybe do a polarity test with the positive lead to a fuse output terminal and the negative to the negative lug?

Ron

[barry]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

Whoa, just noticed the no voltage. OK, on mine, the incoming power goes to the upper terminal on the fan switch and it is jumpered to the upper terminal on the fan light. With the red lead to it and the meter negative to ground I get a positive volt reading.

When you say " - " but with no volts, what terminal are connecting to?

And I know it's a real long shot, but any chance you could pull off the converter cover panel, 2 screws, and check the reverse polarity fuses and maybe do a polarity test with the positive lead to a fuse output terminal and the negative to the negative lug?

Ron

On mine the incoming power goes to the upper terminal of the fan switch and is then jumpered to the upper terminal of the light switch for the fan, same as yours. I put the red meter lead to the upper terminal of the fan switch and the black lead into a plug ground and got " - 0.00" on the meter.

I'm going to pull the fan itself and reverse the wires and see if that reverses the motor.

The response I got from Escape via e-mail was "maybe I'd done work on the hood and reversed the wires". I haven't done work on the hood but they seem to think that the wires could be reversed so I have nothing to loose. The visit to the mother in law is postponed until tomorrow so I won't be able to talk to Reace until then. Hopefully reversing the wires will work and I won't have to bug Reace.

The wires from the batteries are connected to the convertor in the correct polarity and all three of my 12 volt outlets show correct polarity.

Thanks for your help Ron.

Barry

[Ron in BC]

With the meter hooked up that way and reading " - 0.00 volts" do you get "- 12.** volts" when you turn the switch on?

Ron

[barry]

Hi Ron

So I pulled the fan and pulled the loose wiring down. The black power wire comes in and connects to the top terminal of the light switch which is jumpered to the top terminal of the fan switch. The black wire comes back out of the bottom terminal of the fan switch and goes to the fan. The white neutral wire comes out of the fan and is connected via a marrette to two other white wires.

Red meter probe connected to the top fan switch terminal and the black meter probe connected to the white wire at the marrette connection reads "- 14.63"

Black meter probe connected to the top fan switch terminal and the red meter probe connected to the white wire at the marrette connection reads "14.63" My solar panel is showing 14.7 volts as it's bulk charge at the moment.

Barry

[Ron in BC]

Well that pretty much takes the fan out of the problem. But those findings are a real puzzle. I can't imagine how the white ground wire could be positive.

Too bad there's no schematic. There are undoubtedly other items using that circuit. Also, it would be nice to know what fuse controls the fan and check it for polarity although, for the life of me, I can't see how this situation could exist without a short circuit occurring.

Ron

[barry]

Hi Ron

Pulled the whole hood fan now and think I have found the problem.

At the invertor red wire is used for positive and black for negative which is normal practice. I have a red (positive) and a black (negative) wire coming out of the upper cabinet, from the invertor, for the hood fan power. Above the hood body, out of view, the red wire (positive) is connected to the white wire coming from the hood and the black wire is connected to the black wire coming the hood so now white is positive and black is negative.

When I first looked at the wires after taking off the electrical cover on the hood I'm thinking 14/2 loomex where black is positive and white is neutral. The fan motor has a black and white wire coming out of it so I'm assuming the black on the motor is positive and the white negative. The black incoming wire has been connected to the black fan wire and the white incoming wire has been connected to the white fan wire. But, ........ the white wire coming from the top of the range hood is connected to the red wire from the invertor so it's positive.

So, power is going directly to the motor via the red wire connected to the white motor wire and then the black (negative) is switched on the way out.

Polarity is correct coming from the invertor but when the red wire is joined to a white wire which is hidden from view then the assumption was made that black was positive and white negative and that's why I got a reverse polarity reading from my meter.

I believe that if I connect the red wire from the invertor to the black wire from the hood and the black wire from the invertor to the white from the hood then I should be in business with the fan running anticlockwise as it should.

Am I right in my assumption?

Thanks,

Barry

[Ron in BC]

I think so but I'm confused as to how it could have changed from working OK to running reversed.

At any rate it looks like you've got it figured out. Let us know how the test goes.

Ron

[barry]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

I think so but I'm confused as to how it could have changed from working OK to running reversed.
Ron

Yes, this is the thing that I can't understand either!!

Barry

[dfandrews]

Looks like, when I pick up my trailer, I'll have to test and mark all of the wiring. (So, later, when I forget about this thread, I can still debug problems.)

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by dfandrews

Looks like, when I pick up my trailer, I'll have to test and mark all of the wiring. (So, later, when I forget about this thread, I can still debug problems.)

That's why a schematic would be so nice to have. Scamp provides one, I wish ETI did also.

Ron

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

That's why a schematic would be so nice to have. Scamp provides one, I wish ETI did also.

Perhaps if Escape wiring were as trivial as that in a Scamp, ETI would.

The Scamp diagram that I have often seen posted is a rough schematic; I don't think it would help troubleshoot very many problems. It also shows a total of one porch light and two interior lights. Really - that's all the lighting?

[Ron in BC]

[QUOTE=Brian B-P;109951]Perhaps if Escape wiring were as trivial as that in a Scamp, ETI would.

/QUOTE]

Seems like that's more of a reason to have a schemtic available for those trouble shooting in the field. Although there's nothing on my Escape that my Scamp didn't have.

Ron

[Brian B-P]

Seems like that's more of a reason to have a schemtic available for those trouble shooting in the field. Although there's nothing on my Escape that my Scamp didn't have.

I might not be looking at the diagram that Scamp provides, but the one I've seen - http://scamp.n0kfb.org/Manual/electrical.jpg - shows no power roof vent, no 12V power sockets, only two 12V interior lights, and not even a brake breakaway switch. It doesn't include a hood fan. It provides no information about how the AC panel is wired, and suggests that there are no switches for the water pump, furnace, or water heater... a water heater doesn't even appear on the schematic. Fortunately, it does explain the location of the often-problematic hidden mystery fuse!

If you want something equivalent for an Escape, just use the Scamp diagram - except that the yellow auxiliary wire doesn't go to the tail lamps and those two master fuses are not the same. It won't help with all the stuff not on the diagram, but it will be as useful to an Escape owner as the Scamp original is to a Scamp owner.

Of course, there might be a much better diagram supplied by Eveland's that I haven't seen.

[Ron in BC]

Well maybe I just like schematics more than the average person. But I do believe that there should be one for Escape trailers and service personnel.

There are a lot of hidden junctions, as this thread indicates, and with a schematic trouble shooting would have been easier.

Ron

[gbaglo]

Electricity is evil and schematics are Satan .

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Electricity is evil and schematics are Satan .

Hi: gbaglo... I only know that electricity travels by wire and schematics are its road map. Problem with maps is the shortest route may not always be the best!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[gbaglo]

There was a reason I got kicked out of shop class in high school. Got an A in art though.