Last night my refrigerator and water pump went out. Went underneath to the inverter breaker box. No switched breakers. Unplugged the 30 amp plug from inverter and plugged it into AC outlet. My wife says something went POP and a piezo alarm started screaming. Unplugged from AC and went back to inverter. Refrigerator and water pump came back on line, but piezo still screaming, now going on 14 hours. Spent three hours on the phone to the Newell emergency guys, tried a bunch of stuff, but no results. Found that by throwing a breaker in the rear box that covers the "game table" and slide outlets. the piezo cut out. Unfortunately, it also shut off the refrigerator again Ice cream already melted. So switched it back on to keep refrigerator running. Cannot locate the piezo so I can rip its little guts out, sound is too generalized. So I have two problems. The noise maker is powered by AC through the rear breaker box and can't be shut off without shutting off the frig. Even if I could shut it off, it leaves the problem of what the alarm is for. Don't want to drive with an uncorrected or at least un-understood problem Ran all the usual scenarios with two guys from newell: no antennas up, no alarm on steps, not connected to batteries engine or house.
If I hightail it to Miami, I'll arrive with a screaming alarm on Thursday night and get to listen to it all weekend. This is really hard on the nerves. Any help appreciated.
Sorry about the alarm Paul and Jane. If you had a coach with propane, I would say check under the couch to reset the propane detector, but you don't. Do you have a smoke or CO2 detector that could be going off? Mine are not AC powered so they are not affected by turning off a breaker. However, I don't know if the newer coaches have smoke or CO2 detectors with backup AC power like my house is.
Since you say the noise stops when you turn off the breaker for the side outlets, including the refrigerator it is obviously powered by 120 volts. Some refrigerators have an alarm in them but usually it is not a very loud noise. My inverter has an alarm on the remote panel but it chirps rather than screams. If you could get to the plug for the refrigerator, you could use a heavy duty appliance extension cord to temporary run it to another outlet but I doubt you have access to the refrigerator plug itself.
Can't think of anything that would have an alarm that would be 120 volt powered other than the inverter and the refrigerator. Might try ear plugs or sticking toilet paper in your ears and check out the refrigerator and inverter panel as potential alarm sources as it should get louder as you get closer to the source.
What type of fridge is it?
My fridge has some LEDs on the top inside, one of them labelled "Temp alarm". Went off on me once and it was impossible to locate. I think I finally noticed the LED flashing underneath it. There's a non-obvious touch buttton where "Temp alarm" is written to stop it.
No propane, not smoke or Carbon Monoxide. Fridge is too old to have any bells and whistles. I was wrong about the alarm ac circuit and fridge. Fridge works when alarm breaker opened. Just cuts off all outlets on the front slide. Somebody wanted something alarmed and hard wired it to AC to deal with it. Newell researching blueprints. Now the question is just what was so important that it needed that kind of alarm? No alarm on inverter panel Thanks for the suggestions. Alarm now off so I don't have to listen to it, but not knowing why there was one in the first place is a little spooky. There was something electronic that was protected and when it popped,, there was the smell you get when electronics go south.
Newell put and alarm in early 1990's coaches but it is hooked to the electric horns outside and is 12 volt operated so it is definitely NOT a piercing sound. It is not uncommon for owners to make "special" modifications but that is a weird one.
We may have a similar issue. Service guy was trying to figure out the 12/24 system and thought some wiring was wrong so switched them. Didm't help the 12 volt system but now we have the alarm in the dash going off when key turned on. Similar to levelling alarm sound. Frustrating for sure. Mark
Thanks to all who made suggestions. The problem was simple. No Newell, all McCullough. I had a surge protected outlet strip behind a chair. When I plugged into AC, it must have blown. Only found out when I pulled the strip off the dead circuit and plugged it into a live one for the additional plugs. Now I need to spend some time grovelling to Mike and the guys at Newell for my grouchiness. Don't know how to apologize enough
Did you find what specifically was alarming due to the blow power strip?
Good to hear Paul. But the most important question is did you save the ice cream?