cdsuggs Report post Posted August 23, 2017 My discovery of my 2010 Discovery continues. Friday, I went to the garage just to look things over. Upon opening the entry door, the steps didn’t extent. Uh oh! I climb up over the stairs into the motorhome and turn on the overhead lights over the driver’s seat. They work. By the way, I am still plugged into 50-amp shore power. I turn the ignition key on and get no power for about five seconds. Then the power comes on for the dash. I turn the key and the engine starts and runs for about 5 seconds, the shuts down. The next two starts do the same thing. On the 4th start, as soon as the engine starts, I reach down and press/hold the aux start button. The engine remains running. About 30 seconds later the lights flicker and the alternator appears to come up. I let go of the aux switch, and the engines keeps running. Drove down to the battery shop, and the tech said the batteries checked ok. He also said to consider a loose ground. The engine has run every time that I have started it since then, but I don’t know when it will happen again. Has anyone else run across something like this. What would I check And who would I have look at? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
manholt Report post Posted August 23, 2017 Yes, loss ground at the starter switch was my problem. Did the Tech look at and check the terminals to see if they where tight and none corroded? Make sure your getting a good solid and tight ground connection at starter batteries...bare metal contact.. A lot of coaches do not charge start batteries from inverter/converter, charge house batteries only. I suspect yours is set up like mine. Both Fleetwoods! I have a separate trickle charger hooked up to start batteries with a 15A extension cord. There is a Solar panel on my roof, but it's only hooked up to my house batteries (8)! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kaypsmith Report post Posted August 23, 2017 Loose ground or corroded connection will cause this, I would check all of them first. But a loose or corroded hot connection can react the same way. My last encounter was three months ago, turned out to be a loose connection from battery equalizer, (you will not have one of these), to the ecm. Upon getting the coach started, and before it dies, just move the wires at each terminal, sometimes the movement will either cause it to die, or to stay running. This same test on ground connections as well as hot wires can help pinpoint where the problem lies. If it is running and staying running now, this is the perfect time to move the wiring at each terminal and ground point to see if the engine stumbles. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
five Report post Posted August 23, 2017 12 hours ago, manholt said: ...A lot of coaches do not charge start batteries from inverter/converter, charge house batteries only. I suspect yours is set up like mine. Both Fleetwoods! I have a separate trickle charger hooked up to start batteries with a 15A extension cord. There is a Solar panel on my roof, but it's only hooked up to my house batteries (8)!... Carl...The way my batteries are wired, once the charge from the inv/charger reaches 13.3 v, the system allows the charge to go through the house batteries and charge the chassis batteries. As long as the charge rate stays at 13.3 v or higher, it will continue to charge the chassis batteries. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
manholt Report post Posted August 24, 2017 Your a Eagle...I'm a Tradition. TCC found that my solar panel was not hooked up...just a coil of wires! Thank you Allied. Yours is also a 2014 ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
five Report post Posted August 24, 2017 When I first had a problem with my charging system, I call the tech line. The gave me the impression that all ACs were wired like mine. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cdsuggs Report post Posted August 26, 2017 To stick my 2 cents in at the end of the discussion, I don't know if all of the American Coach products are wired the same, but I do know that the 2010 Discovery charges the house batteries first and then looks over at the chassis batteries occasionally to see if they need charging. If the chassis batteries need charging, the transfer relay will then send the charger power to the chassis batteries. That's part of what cost $2000 back in February, due to a previous owner burning up the Battery Control Center when the relay went bad and having the system jury rigged to allow the aux battery button to work. To test it, I plugged in and looked at each set of batteries. The house batteries showed 13.4 volts. The chassis batteries shoed 12.5. After making sure that everything the I could find was turned off, I left and came back with my trusty volt meter about 36 hours later. The house batteries showed 12.9 volts, and the chassis batteries shoed 13.4 volts, indicating to my untrained in all things electrical mind, that the chassis batteries were being charged by the converter. I also have been known to throw my maintainer on the chassis batteries to make sure. Unfortunately, at this time, I still haven't figured out where 99% of the electrical system is, where all of the fuses are, nor how most of the system works. But....I'll probably learn at least one small thing about it in the next few days, when the next glitch, or recurrence of the last one, comes around. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
