tilldee Report post Posted March 31, 2014 We picked up our "new to us" motor-home last week and have been busy cleaning and loading. My question is, when you plug into electric, do you have to engage the "battery disconnect" before it will convert to electric? We have been camping a lot of years in a travel trailer and when we plugged in to electric, the converter automatically came on. It appears with the motor home we must disconnect the batteries first. Guess what we are asking is; what is the correct procedure when pulling into a campsite? Or any place we want to run just the electric. We are sure glad us 'newbies' have someplace to turn to for the answers we need. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wolfe10 Report post Posted March 31, 2014 Tilldee, The battery disconnect switch is for your 12 VDC system. It should remain on anytime you are using the coach. Shore power is 120 VAC and runs your large appliances such as roof air, house-style outlets, refrigerator (which can run on propane or 120 VAC), etc. The converter, battery charger or inverter/charger uses shore power to charge the batteries. When you get to a CG, check that voltage and polarity of the outlet are correct. Then turn off the CG breaker. Plug in the coach shore power cord and then turn on the CG breaker. Check voltage when you turn on high draw appliances such as roof A/C's, as many older CG's have small gauge wire and voltage can drop below safe levels (108 VAC is as low as you want to run most appliances). I suggest a digital voltmeter that plugs into a house type outlet in your coach. Makes checking nothing more than glancing at the meter. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kaypsmith Report post Posted March 31, 2014 The rv style refrigerator will not work if the house batteries are disconnected because the control board is 12 volt, nor most lighting, as they are also 12 volt. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tilldee Report post Posted March 31, 2014 So should both disconnects, coach and chassis, always be on? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BillAdams Report post Posted March 31, 2014 All disconnects should be on (not disconnected) at all times when you are using the coach. Your inverter / charger or 12V converter should be charging both sets of batteries. Some older coaches like mine only charge the house battery so if I am going to sit still for more than a week then I do disconnect the engine battery to ensure I don't have issue when we are ready to go. As Brett suggests above, you can learn a lot with a digital voltage meter. Check each battery bank voltage when you are not connected to shore power. Plug in and check the voltages again. If they batteries are being charged they should head up to 13+V. If not, you need to find out why. You can also try turning the disconnect on and off and seeing if you can find the actual solenoid to see if there are issues with that unit. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tilldee Report post Posted March 31, 2014 Thanks to you all for the great information. Like I said before, it's very good to be able to post a question and you know you're going to get very knowledgeable answers from folks who have been there and still doing it. Thanks again, and please get used to me asking a lot of questions. But I first try and locate a topic that may already have my answers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
john_harris Report post Posted March 31, 2014 We were all "first timers" at one point. I don't think you will find a more willing group to share information and experiences. Welcome!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
