lloydwells

Still running on 30A shore power. I am considering it fixed! Thanks again everyone! Safe travels! Lloyd

UPDATE: New fuse installed. Voltage at 12+ on both sides of new fuse. Voltage at 12+ at the BCC on both the chassis and house battery inputs. All power is back on in coach. I ran on the generator for about 15 minutes without losing power, and now I'm on 30A shore power with no problems so far. :))) (All without even having to start the engine!) So, thanks to everyone's input we were able to track this down, and it ended up being a fairly simple solution and a cheap part (not including my labor fees of course! LOL) I'm attaching some photos here of the old and new fuses, the location on the fuse(s) in the battery compartment, and the block with the new fuse installed. In hopes that if someone else has this problem, this info will help them out. I need all the good karma I can get! Thanks again to everyone who posted. ALL of your information was helpful, and contributed to helping me fix this problem. Safe travels!!! Lloyd

I guess I misstated... not 1 ohm, but the meter never moved from the big "1" that it starts on. Also, getting 12.5 on the battery side, and 1.9 on the out side, pretty much told me the fuse was bad. Just got a new one and going to replace it now. Will update soon!

Think I may have found it. Tested 12v power at BCC... got 12.5 or so from chassis battery side, and only 1.9 from house batteries. So I went back to house batteries. There are two 200A fuses inside the battery compartment. When tested, one had 12+ volts on both sides of the fuse, the other had 12+ on the battery side, but only 1.9 on the "out" side. I removed the fuse and tested resistance to 1 ohm... bad fuse. So I am off to get a fuse, and I will update when it's installed. Thanks again!

Just to clarify, the generator running does not solve the issue. Only the coach engine running keeps everything running. If I shut the engine off, and the genset is running, it will die shortly afterwards as well. So, both the genset and shore power react the same way. (As do the house batteries when the coach is running with no shore power OR generator running) Yes, just tested this and the steps work even when nothing else will. Like I mentioned before, once the power goes, the only way I can get it to come back on is to start the engine. I did do one additional test just now. Since I couple folks have mentioned the "auxiliary start switch" in regard to starting the generator, I tried that this morning. Once the power goes off, I cannot start the generator (in fact nothing on that panel, fans, lights etc, work). BUT this morning, I held the "auxiliary start switch" and was able to start the generator WITHOUT first starting the coach engine. Does that mean anything? Also, there is a 12v disconnect switch (near the inverter), I think what you were referring to as the "salesman switch". This switch is in the "on" position

Additional info: Yes, I DO have an auxiliary start switch (we got little or no "orientation" when we bought this coach, and it's been a trial by fire for the last couple years. But now that the starting battery is new, I don't know if trying to start the gen with that, would tell us anything, would it? And my inverter seems to work as advertised. It powers the TV's and a couple specific outlets. Of course once I turn the engine off it all dies, so I don't have much time to check everything. lol

I'm a little confused here... I think the solenoid you mentioned is actually inside my BCC unit (rv custom products gas f73-1020). Should there also be an external solenoid? The one inside the BCC unit is the one that makes an audible "clunk", both when the power comes back on after starting the engine, AND when it goes off after the engine is turned off. I've listened to it with the cover off the BCC, and that's definitely where the sound is coming from. Also, what is the "switch" you mention above? I don't have an auxiliary start switch (that I know of) if that is what you mean. Here are my readings: I definitely think you are on to something with the lack of 12v power thing. I just have to track down the culprit! Thanks again for all of the help (and thanks in advance for the continued help!)

Will definitely check all grounds tomorrow. Thanks kaypsmith!

Hi Rich, Thanks for your reply! Not sure how to test the inverter, but the green light is on (blinking slowly) on the unit as it usually is. And the "switch" inside the coach says "AC in" and "float". Is there a way to test the inverter?(Sorry, kind of a newbie here) Something I neglected to mention in my first post is that the issue happens even when just running off the house batteries (no gen or shore power) Everything stays on indefinitely as long as the engine is running, but after the engine is shut off everything goes. In some additional troubleshooting this afternoon, it seemed like the more things I turn on in the coach, the quicker the power shuts off. I tried once with only the LED porch light on, and it didn't shut off for 15 minutes (this was on 30A). I also tried once with several lights and one A/C unit on, and it only stayed 3-4 minutes (also on 30a). As for readings: Chassis battery 12.46 (engine off), 14.18 (engine on), 14.15 (gen on), 14.15 (SP on) House batteries 6.40 each - 12.77 together (engine off & engine on), 6.60 each - 13.25 both (gen on), 6.60 each - 13.23 both (SP on) Thanks for the help! Lloyd

Hopefully I can explain my problem correctly, as it has me kind of perplexed! LOL! First, over the last several days I have had a couple occasions where I would go to start the engine on the coach, and there was no power (no lights, nothing). I could however, start the generator. With the generator running, I could then start the engine normally. Yesterday however, this stopped working. I tried to start the engine and it turned over once and that was it. After that I could not even start the generator. So, I checked my starting battery and noticed the indicator "eye" was red. I took it that meant it was a dead battery. I purchased and replaced the starting battery, and the coach started easily. Problem solved, right? So, I thought. I drove home (this was all happening on a trip of course!) and parked the coach in the shed, shut off the engine and plugged in to the 30amp shorepower. Everything came on as expected, but after 5 minutes or so all the power went off. I checked the breaker in my home, and it was not tripped. I could not get any power to come back on in the coach (not even battery power), and the generator would not start. Since I had the ignition problem previously, I figured I would see if I could start the coach, and it started with no problems. Surprisingly, about 10 seconds after the engine was running the power came back on in the coach. I was also able to start the generator again. Then I began troubleshooting: I unplugged the coach from shorepower, started the generator (with the coach engine running) and everything worked as expected. Then I turned off the ignition, the generator ran for about 10-15 seconds then shut down. All power was off. Not even anything from the house batteries. Then I did the same test with shore power connected. Same results, everything was fine as long as the engine was running (15-20 minutes at least) but as soon as I turn off the ignition, boom... no power. Notes: I do hear a "clunk" from the battery control center, right after starting the engine (at the same time the power comes back on). I also hear the same "clunk" when everything dies after turning off the ignition. Could the problem be in my BCC? Any tips on troubleshooting, or anyone that has had a similar issue? Thanks in advance for any help!