Trane TAM7 DIP switch settings

giantsean

Hi All,

Messing around w/ my TAM7 (actually AAM7) and trying to understand real word results. It is setup with a slide in hydronic coil and the RS-485 hydro control board. I have W1-W3 jumpered for max fan, but I would like to slow it down a bit to find the heating sweet spot (highest supply temp possible)

Here is what I know from manuals:

- there are three dip switches on the hydro board. If W's are not jumpered, changing these around seem to change fan speed (putting all on = max fan) - this setting corresponds with an external hydro coil box so maybe it needs the extra oomph
- There is a dip switch bank called S-2. Setting these will adjust CFM/ton (both heating and cooling)
- There is also a separate dip switch bank which sets outdoor unit size and states a multiplier formula

Now questions:

- I have tried messing with all of these as well as the jumpering W1-W3. I have an el-cheapo anemometer, but when setting CFM/ton higher, I can't sense any real difference in wind speed. Is this setting more a volume thing than velocity?
- Will setting the OD unit multiplier affect the fan for total CFM? I only have a 2t outdoor unit. If I set it for 3t will it be fooled into blowing harder? I can't believe a max 800cfm fan can be told to put out 1000cfm somehow.
- Are either of these settings affected by OTHER inputs... like maybe the hydro board or W1-W3 jumpers overrides them all? Or is it CFM/Ton x OD multiplier x W setting? Very confusing.
- Either way, I am getting way less than the manual listed output temps for the fan speeds. I know that it's a product of GPM's, water temp, ideal conditions, etc, but how far off should I be? In some cases the manual says 130F and I'm getting 105F supply air. This is a DAT reading in a plenum maybe 10-12 inches downstream of the coil.

Sorry for the confusing questions but the manual does a poor job of explaining the effects of the settings, and there are just too damned many options!

Thx for any help!

-
(not for a TAM7, but same idea on the multiplier)

giantsean

So I continued to play around with different combinations tonight. One thing I found consistently was that making changes on the RS-485 hydro heat control board and W1-W3 jumpering had notable effects (more CFM's at my test register) while messing with the mainboard DIP switches had little to no effect.

I am starting to believe that the TAM7 simply ignores the other settings if there is an HHC board installed. Kind of stinks because it limits the fan to three stages. Maybe the others have an effect for cooling, but probably not the best time of year to test :P

SuperTech

I would suggest burning it with fire. I've found every one of those plastic disasters very problematic and a pain to work on.
Who wants an AHU designed to leak air anyway?

ChrisJ

> @SuperTech said:
> I would suggest burning it with fire. I've found every one of those plastic disasters very problematic and a pain to work on.
> Who wants an AHU designed to leak air anyway?

And here I am wishing I bought a TAM7 instead of the AVPTC I went with.

What problems have you had with the TAM series?

giantsean

It is pretty laughable how much air it spits out... so much that it actually has a sign on it to tell you that this is normal :P The good side is that it is very tunable... now I just have to figure out how the **** to tune it.

ratio

Spits out where? Down the chute, where you'd expect air to come out at, or out of all the seams & joints of the box?

SuperTech

They leak air from all around the plastic blower door. The location of the circuit boards is ridiculous and the low voltage wiring always looks like crap because you have to be able to slide the board out to see the stupid blinking led error codes....yeah exactly what I want to do in a 130 degree attic. Piss poor engineering in my opinion. They are a pain to set up, most of them end up covered in silver tape because the homeowners don't like the air leakage. I've had a few EEV malfunction and need replacement. A real pain to troubleshoot in a hot attic. I absolutely hate them. I can troubleshoot any other unit before I'm soaked with sweat, these damn things always have me reading the manual while sweating profusely.

@ChrisJ you are better off with your Goodman, condensate problem and all.

ChrisJ

> @SuperTech said:
> They leak air from all around the plastic blower door. The location of the circuit boards is ridiculous and the low voltage wiring always looks like crap because you have to be able to slide the board out to see the stupid blinking led error codes....yeah exactly what I want to do in a 130 degree attic. Piss poor engineering in my opinion. They are a pain to set up, most of them end up covered in silver tape because the homeowners don't like the air leakage. I've had a few EEV malfunction and need replacement. A real pain to troubleshoot in a hot attic. I absolutely hate them. I can troubleshoot any other unit before I'm soaked with sweat, these damn things always have me reading the manual while sweating profusely.
>
> @ChrisJ you are better off with your Goodman, condensate problem and all.

That's hard to believe.... But I'll take your word on it.
Hopefully that condensate issue is a thing of the past.

SuperTech

@ChrisJ Hopefully you solved the problem. My company ran into the same thing on one install. I'm not sure what the solution was.

I never thought I'd say it but I prefer the Goodman over the Trane. Actually I prefer anything over the Plastic Disaster. When troubleshooting in a hot attic the last thing I want to see is some overly complicated POS.

giantsean

And the best part is they cost twice as much lol. Anyways... any of you fella know whether this hydro control board takes precedence over the mainboard, or how to set the DIPS properly? It's like a really bad mystery.

SuperTech

@giantsean I'm sorry but unfortunately I can't do anything with those units without reading install instructions a few times. Good luck with it! I would have just gone with a variable speed First Co air handler, takes less than five minutes to set up.

Tinman

I've installed TAM 7, 8, and 9s. I don't claim to be an expert on them but I didn't have any problems either. Maybe I got lucky?

Tinman

@giantsean - I think Trane could answer that last question the best. Have you reached out to them?

giantsean

Steve... I am just an end user so not sure how much they can help me. Do you know of a way to contact them directly? I have actually had some luck w/ Navien pretending to be my hack installers to get Level 2 tech advice, but I am not sure if Trane has a tech line - last time I tried (years ago) they directed me back to a dealer.