hitachi ducted problems

[Krups]

Right here's a good one for ya,
went to a breakdown to a shop with 4 hitachi ducted units,

outdoor model :- RAS-5HQE5
indoor model :- RPC1-5HEF5

Original problem :- 1 unit down.

first engineer who went to this, managed to take down another unit, so now 2 down..he said that he reckoned he blew a fuse on the pcb of the indoor, which i checked and found he was correct so changed it, but still nothing happening on that unit.
the pcb boards of the 2 that work, show 3 lights, 1 red(always on) indicating that theres power to the board, 1 red flashing indicating that its communicating with the outdoor, and 1 yellow flashing showing its communicating with the controller(all units linked to 1 controller).
Now the pcb of the unit that doesnt work altogher shows no lights ? so any ideas here chaps ?

The problem with the other unit, is that all the lights are flashing correctly on the indoor pcb, but on the outdoor pcb, 1 light is not flashing as per the 2 units that work, that is the light for the contactor ?
so could this be a problem ?
another thing that might help you all, is that on the indoor pcb, each units blue rotary switch is set to 0 ...

any ideas ?

[piston broke]

Yes, try changing the temperature sensors.

PIST

[Jase]

Are these units all splits?
If so,then switch all power off and switch back on;which you have probably done.
Check all dip switch settings and check for loose connections and if the units are all linked via 1 remote controller then as you mentioned, the address settings are incorrect on the RSW pot as they are all set to 0.
Please give more details as to the configurations.

Regards

Jase

[piston broke]

What about the thermistors Jase, remember BH.

PIST

[Krups]

thermistor was already changed on one of the units, but was found today to have a faulty compressor,
the unit with no pcb board action seems to have a problem with the pcb itself, so another engineer who was on the site today was told to change that with a working one to see if thats the prob...
they are all single splits, all dip switches were set correctly aswel...loose connections were checked as was the power reset....
will keep u posted as to the progress..

[Krups]

ok the one unit that should be working that isnt, basically had a transformer fault, so swapped it with the one from the unit with the comp down,
seperated this unit from the other 2 that are working so its now on its own, with its own controller...even rewired a direct interlink to the outdoor unit, fault code came up today as
15, followed by H0 followed by A0....
technical told me its an outdoor thermistor problem, which was changed, but still didnt make any difference to the error code coming up.....
any ideas ??

[Krups]

finally got it sorted, it was an indoor thermistor that reads the outdoor air temp fault code...
but it when i tried daisy chaining it along with the other 2 working units onto 1 controller, it didnt work, came up with error code 15 again, even tho i addressed them correctly..
but when i put it on its own controller it worked...stupid a/c gremlins at work again..


cheers for all ur help...

[chemi-cool]

Hi Krups,

All that fancy electronic is giving more and more problems.
Its like a supid competiyion between manufacturers, who will make it more compicated.

If no inverter involved, Itend to throw it away, add two pressure controls on the out door unit and the most simple room thermostate and Bingo, no more problems.

Where about you come from in Leicester?

Chemi

[stan1488]

exactomundo!! keep it simple to keep it cool, thats why i tell the UK gents to buy airdale, very similar to US equip, good stuff

[frank]

I think you will find that Airedale is now US owned http://www.airedale.com/frames.asp?menu_id=8

Good luck to the new owners, I don't personally rate the equipment.

[piston broke]

so it was the thermistor after all.

PIST

[Krups]

yea it was the damned thermister after all, but a guy who works here like a plonker didnt bother to find out which 1, and as the tech bloke on the fone said, "its an outdoor thermister fault"
he thought he knew what he was doing so changed the outdoor thermister...
then i get 2 it, and nothings working, turns out he knackered the indoor boards little transformer, so had to change that, then the same error code comes up, n he's like no no its not a thermister fault, iv changed it. the tech blokes talkin garbage...
so i fone em up, n they goes its an indoor thermister that reads the outdoor air temp from the ducts...says trace the thermister from the indoor board on the thm5 or something...and change that....bingo...bobs ur uncle..
yea all these stupid little electronically changes, they should just make a standard system that is the same, after all they do the same job as each other neways..

btw @ chemi im from rushey mead in leics... know it ?

[chilly]

Hi Guys,

i have to say I have worked with Hitachi ac for years, I love the stuff, But the tech support these days is a far cry from what it was, I would sugest down load the manual from

http://www.hitachiaircon.com/index.jsp

I think if you had had access to this when you had the problem, you would have diagnosed it yourself.

Tech support let you down here, Not the kit. But then I am biased

[chilly]

Just to recap.

The indoor unit is an econofresh, there fore the indoor unit has three ducts to it, One for outside air , One for return air from the room, One for discharge to ther room (air on)

I suspect the probe that was faulty was the outside air temp probe which would actualy be connceted to the indoor pcb from the indoor outside air duct.

Could be misleading when reading from a manual to be fair to the tech guy.


As far as the leds on a series five.

Three relays together in a row:
Red= comms to remote controler
Amber = comms to outdoor unit
Green = comms to central station

Green on its own= power

The series 7 and 8 are diferent but they always display a fault code on the remote control. Also the outdoor uniot that is part of the faulty systen will display a fault by iluminateingh leds 1,2,3 and 4

From these we can deduce a fault code also.

I love hitachi kit, It diagnoses itself, but if you dont have access to the manuals you cannot diagnose the problem.

[Krups]

yep it was that outside air temp probe which would actualy be conected to the indoor pcb from the indoor outside air duct.
i cant seem2 get the manuals from the site...any chance u can email em ?

thanks4ur help....

[frank]

Got to agree Krupps - no manuals available from the link

[chilly]

Have to agree , sorry guys, looks like a temporary problem with the web site.

Hopefully be online again soon.

There is another but they are in the process of developing it so I dont expect it to be of any use yet, For what its worth

www.swm.co.uk

I have most manuals on my hard drive, unforchinatly the unit you have is an econofresh and is quite rare, And I dont have that manual on file.