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Old 05-14-2022, 12:13 PM   #1
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Hot wire to relay burnt going to water heater.

2011 Jayflight. Electric on water quit. Lp works fine. Did some digging around found this. No breakers trip or fuses blown. Still have power to lighted control switch. Still have power on hot going to relay. Switch had been off since last used last year. Even with switch in off position still have juice to hot side to tank.
Any thoughts on this?
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Old 05-14-2022, 12:48 PM   #2
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There are 2 sides to this equation - the 12 volt primary and the 120 volt secondary. It appears that you melted the wire from the relay to the heating element which is on the 120 volt side. The heating element may be bad which caused the wire to melt. I would replace the heating element, wire, and relay.

You mentioned that 12 volts is still getting to the relay even when the switch is off. Odds are the switch is bad, which is easily checked with a volt meter. If the switch is bad and kept constant voltage on the relay, the heating element could have been destroyed if there was no water in the tank. I would replace the switch.
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Old 05-14-2022, 05:04 PM   #3
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Thanks for the reply. I think your last part of it might be the problem. My battery was still connected through winter storage. I'm think somehow the switch failed. Activated the element. Do I have to get the whole control box? Its part of the control panel. Or just the switch. Haven't tried taking it apart yet.
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Old 05-14-2022, 08:33 PM   #4
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The switch is replaceable. It is smaller than normal rocker switches from a parts store, but here's one source for the exact one.

https://pdxrvwholesale.com/products/...witch-swokled1
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Old 05-14-2022, 09:09 PM   #5
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Hopefully the control board is OK. Had the 12 volt wire been the melted one then there would be concern. I have a different water heater but can say that the board only controls the 12 volt items. It will energize the relay which controls the 120 volts.
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Old 06-17-2022, 02:40 AM   #6
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There are 2 sides to this equation - the 12 volt primary and the 120 volt secondary. It appears that you melted the wire from the relay to the heating element which is on the 120 volt side. The heating element may be bad which caused the wire to melt. I would replace the heating element, wire, and relay.

You mentioned that 12 volts is still getting to the relay even when the switch is off. Odds are the switch is bad, which is easily checked with a volt meter. If the switch is bad and kept constant voltage on the relay, the heating element could have been destroyed if there was no water in the tank. I would replace the switch.

got around to changing to changing the relay, switch and wire. Before dissembling the element I wrote how the wires are placed. Same with switch. Can't get it to work. I get power to the relay. The hot and neutral wires before the whole assembly. On the switch no light. I accidentally put the wrong wire on the switch and popped a fuse so something is going there. I also took a picture of the switch before removing wires and know that's right. I flipped the switch around after thinking it was upside down. I even swapped switches with pump. On the relay with switch on, I get nothing touching the terminals with my tester. I tried old relay nothing. I did buy a new relay and trying this again tomorrow.
The way its wired is one wire from power ,hot, is connected to one side of element. The neutral goes to relay and then to element. One yellow I'm assuming 12v goes to relay and assuming green is ground goes to relay. I swapped those two thinking maybe relay is made differently but it's the exact same.....at a loss now
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Old 06-17-2022, 10:10 AM   #7
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OK, first things first. The switch needs to be working before continuing on. A lighted switch will have 3 terminals instead of 2 for normal switches that aren't lit. The 3rd wire is a ground so the light will work. If you put the ground wire on the incorrect terminal you will blow the fuse.

Look at the markings on the switch. One terminal will be labeled ground. Figure out which wire is ground and connect it there. To figure out which wire is ground can be done with a volt meter. First measure all 3 wires and see which one has a constant 12 volts on it. That is the power feed. You can label it if you want but move it aside for now.

Now set you meter to measure resistance and set it to the lowest measurement. Touch one meter lead to a metal surface of your rig which hopefully will be at ground potential. A furnace case, fridge chassis or whatever you can find. Touch your other lead to each of the remaining 2 wires one at a time. The wire with the lowest reading will be ground wire.

Another way to verify the ground wire would be to set your meter to measure voltage and touch one lead to the wire that measures 12 volts and then touch the other lead to the remaining 2 wires one at a time. The highest reading will show you the ground wire. The problem here is that you may get a false reading because the wire feeding the relay will read a ground potential through the relay itself. If you disconnect the 12 volt wire feed at the relay you can eliminate the false reading.

OK, once you find the ground and 12 volt wires you are almost there. Connect the ground wire to the switch. You have a 50-50 chance of connecting the remaining 2 wires correctly to the switch. If you get it wrong the only problem will be the switch will always be lit instead of just lighting when you flip it.

With the ground connected to the correct terminal on the switch, touch the 12 volt supply wire to each remaining terminal. One connection will make the switch light come on and the other won't until you flip the switch on. For this test the switch needs to be in the off position. Connect the 12 volt feed wire to the terminal that doesn't make the switch light up. Connect the remaining wire to the last terminal and you should be good to go.

Hopefully this long description will make sense.
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