Fridge LED goes ON when running Faucet?

tilstad

My fridge LED comes on when I turn on the faucet with tank water. What is up with that? I have read what I could find about LED panel issues, and although some state they have this behavior, it's not really clear if it's supposed to work like this, or there's something wrong. Either way, I did not find any fix for it.

I have the panel out and was about to attempt solder in a new blue led, and perhaps some of the other parts I got from the Gowesty "Led Panel fix" kit. Now I wonder if I should try to address this issue, or just leave it.

The panel on the -85 works fine otherwise, as far as I can tell. Fridge LED comes on when running on propane, on 110 volts fridge led comes on with the fan. Not sure if that's right, but have read that it does that on others too. 12 Volt I have not tried as the van is currently not running. - If running on propane and fridge LED is lit, when turning on the faucet, the LED shines brighter.

Water tank and battery LED's work fine.

There is a diode and resistor one can add from the "fix kit", but it does not really state what issue it solves, only that it "hinders reverse voltage". The pad where it's supposed to be soldered on to, is a bit iffy. There seems to be 2 connections to 2 feet of one of the IC's, but I'm not sure that's a bad solder or if it's supposed to be like this.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Here's Gowesty's explanation on how to solder the diode and resistor to the pcb, but based on their picture, I can't tell if mine has excessive solder or not.

crazyvwvanman · Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 12:08 pm Post subject:

If the flame led comes on with the fan it is a malfunction.

If the flame led comes on with the faucet pump it is a malfunction.

If the flame led comes on when the fridge is running on 12v it is a malfunction.

Some people like their malfunctions. Some people even think their malfunctions are how it is supposed to work.

Behind the kitchen cabinet is place where the kitchen DC wiring grounds to the van body. NOT the low grounding point for the 110v wiring big green wire, but the one closer to the sink where the black DC harness grounds. Find and clean that ground connection. See if it helps.

Mark

tilstad · Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 12:14 pm Post subject:

Or perhaps add a temporary ground to say the drain tube? Can this ground you refer to be reached without pulling fridge?

EDIT: Normally I'm not a fan of blue LED's, but this one is GREAT! Well worth the upgrade! Now one can see within 1-2 seconds that the fridge has lit on propane, while previously, I would try to light and relight over and over while it had been running the whole time. It took a long time until the LED was bright enough to see it before, with this no need to look for the actual flame, which I can't see in daytime anyhow.

I tried to add a ground with a jumper cable to the door striker and a couple of different parts of the fridge, pipes and drain. Didn't solve the issue of the faucet turning on the fridge LED though.

I wonder if perhaps crossed wiring to the faucet could cause it?

Where exactly is this ground you're referring to screwed to the body? I see 2 black wires, both going out behind the panel at the back of the cabinet under the sink.

MarkWard · Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 1:17 pm Post subject:

So you added the blue led and now you have this symptom? I believe they are directional. Did you check that when you soldered it in? LED I believe is short for light emitting diode. Diodes are electrical one way check valves.
_________________
☮️

tilstad · Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 1:18 pm Post subject:

No, I had this symptom before I added the blue LED. And now I still have it after. I just thought I'd try address both things while I have it out.

The LED itself works fine, nothing wrong with the soldering or the polarity, been soldering for some 30 years. If I could locate a schematic of the panel, perhaps I could figure it out.

MarkWard · Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 1:49 pm Post subject:

crazyvwvanman Mark know's his way around these vehicles and the different versions of panels. I don't know that you need a schematic of the circuit board to figure this out. The faucet I believe completes the power leg of the pump when turned on. I think the kitchen display and the sink pump share the same power source, the smaller of the two fuses on the B pillar. I bet you could add an external diode in the pump power supply circuit or add a new power supply circuit independent of the kitchen display and your problem would be solved.

Mark suggested the grounds, because more often than not, odd acting circuits are more often traced back to poor grounds. The Bentley should give you the ground location. I don't have my manual in front of me to look it up. If you want to add a ground, why not identify the lead that grounds the panel in the connector and add a temporary ground. Did not mean to imply you could not solder, but sometimes fixing one thing accidentally introduces a problem. Good luck.
_________________
☮️

crazyvwvanman · Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 2:16 pm Post subject:

The issue is that there are several kitchen related ground wires that all join to the chassis at the same point behind the kitchen. Westfalia probably should have grounded the led panel separately to keep electrical noise on the common ground point from affecting the sensitive amplifier circuit of the led panel. Soldered to the led board is a black wire that should be the ground wire for the panel. I would try cutting that wire and extending the panel end of the wire over to one of the angle bracket screws at the inside forward corner of the under sink area. There is small metal angle bracket there that holds the kitchen unit against the same pillar that the driver seat belt reel is attached to.

Mark

tilstad · Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 10:03 pm Post subject:

tilstad · Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 12:52 pm Post subject:

I found some schematics, I'll have a go with a multimeter and see if I can figure something out.

It's for an -88, not -85 as mine, but it might be pretty similar.
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

tilstad · Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 9:02 am Post subject:

I soldered on a diode and resistor on the green power wire going to the board, as per instructions in the fix kit, but no change in behavior, still the same.

tilstad · Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2014 8:10 pm Post subject:

I soldered in a new op-amp chip for the water/fridge led side of the panel, still the same behavior. Rolling Eyes

crazyvwvanman · Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2014 8:54 pm Post subject:

Did you try cutting the black wire near the led panel and extending only the panel end of it to a clean ground point on the van chassis?

Mark

tilstad · Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2014 11:43 pm Post subject:

Yes, I did that earlier, as posted above, it gave the opposite result; Fridge Led ON all the time, then Off when using faucet.

crazyvwvanman · Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 2:29 am Post subject:

And then what did you do about it? The flame led amp is a voltage detector. Where is that voltage coming from if the thermocouple isn't being heated by a flame? How would giving it a cleaner ground make it constantly turn on when it shouldn't? What is different about the 2 grounds?

Mark

tilstad · Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 9:16 am Post subject:

Honestly, I'd like to know the answers to that too. Currently, I do not understand why it behaves this way.

What I did after that was to reconnect the original ground, since with it, atleast the led would light correctly when the fridge was running on propane.

I guess I will have to pull the fridge and look over the connections/wiring, if there has been any splicing going on or something. I need to put in a new fridge fan anyways.


Hello! Log in or Register \| Help \| Donate \| Buy Shirts	See all banner ads \| Advertise on TheSamba.com

	Forum Index -> Vanagon	All times are Mountain Standard Time/Pacific Daylight Savings Time
Page 1 of 1