Community Forums

gmpartsvet · 06-24-2016, 09:19 PM

We have a 2013 Ventana 3634 purchased new. Twice the dash has rebooted going down the interstate losing all gauges and power. Whenever I start the coach even when the chassis batteries read above 12.8 volts and it is warm out, the voltage drops from 13+ volts down to 10.8-11.0 for about ten seconds then back up causing a low voltage message on the dash. It does this cycle about 6 times in the first two minutes it's running then goes to 13+ volts and stays there. Freightliner says the chassis batteries pass a load test and are fine but if the voltage dropped too low while driving it would cause the dash to reboot. They noticed the porch light was on and that was probably what caused the battery to drain? I showed them the porch light was on the house batteries and they looked puzzled like they didn't know the coach even had house batteries.

I did some testing myself as I feel I can solve many of these problems as well as some techs. There is a fuse panel in the front compartment under the driver. I've determined it is fed by the chassis batteries. There are three feeds: ground, J10 labeled cust batt pow, and J9 labeled cust acc power. With chassis batteries disconnected there is 12.8 volts at the batteries, 0 at J9 and 0 at J10 when dark out or as high as 19 volts sunny so I figure the solar panel is feeding into the J10 circuit somewhere. I took these readings right before dark: Chassis batt 12.8, J10 and J9 0 volts. Then I connected the chassis batteries and J10 read 11.2 volts, J9 0, and 12.8 at the batteries. Measure again and J10 jumped to 12.8, then back to 11.2, then up, down, etc. I started the coach and get 13.7 at batteries, 13.7 at J10 which drops to 11.2 and back up again, and 13.7 at J9. The fuses are all well-labelled but when I pull the fuse for acc power recep, I still get 11.2 at the receptacle on the dash. I am concerned that the other circuits fed by J10 are occasionally running on low voltage and could be damaged.

Who's responsibility is this fuse panel? I requested an electrical schematic from Newmar but all they said they had was a totally useless 2-page document showing where some harnesses ran in the coach as all their other manuals, documents, and parts diagrams are. At this point we have 12,000 miles on our 3-year old coach, taken about 14 trips resulting in 7 trips to freightliner and 4 to Newmar. We're looking at Tiffin and Entegra but would like to give whoever's responsible for the problem a chance to fix it first.

Sorry for the extensive post; it is not a rant. I only wanted to explain the problem and hopefully some of you knowledgeable posters I have been following for years can lend some advice.

David D. · 06-25-2016, 08:36 AM

This is not a new issue our 2014 Ventana did that 5 times while cruising and all times I was on cruise control. No one had an answer, at least ever time it booty back up. I know one person that his did not reboot and was told by Freightliner to remove 2 fuses in the front compartment and it would reset. Other than losing gauge power temporary nothing else seem to be effected but, it is a scaring feeling while driving. Good luck.

"007" · 06-26-2016, 09:28 PM

You need to check your battery ground cable to the chassis frame both for house and chassis. A loose connection at some location is opening because of road vibrations on frame or battery terminals.
Over time things can loosen up and also get corrosion in poor connections and possibly salty road conditions.
Here are a couple of links from QT's # 3. --- # 1 --- # 2

Lug_Nut · 06-27-2016, 11:24 AM

The heavy draw in the early stages after starting a cold engine is usually the starting aid, in your case a heated intake grid. This draw is substantial but not necessarily to the degree you are speaking of. Could be a starting aid relay issue.

Peter

dennis45 · 06-27-2016, 11:44 AM

Interesting thread, I just read a story about a lawsuit here in Canada by a couple with a new Volvo Highway truck that lost power in the same way you describe.
They had it happen a few times but always in daylight and were able to recover. In one instance however, they lost power on the trans Canada highway at night in a snowstorm. The truck went out of control and jackknifed.
Long story short, they were not physically injured but did suffer from the emotional stress of the accident, of which I won't bore you with.
The court found Volvo at fault by leaving one of the main power terminals loose and the problem was not corrected during repeated visits to an authorized Volvo dealer. The settlement was for something in the range of $4.9 million.

YC1 · 06-27-2016, 03:19 PM

Very interesting about the solar panel producing that kind of voltage.

If the solar panel was connected directly to the batteries there is no way the voltage would get that high. What this tells me is you have a resistive connection somewhere. It could be very near the battery.

Run a wire from your battery negative to your front panel and connect your meter ground to it. Any kind of wire is ok. If you don't have something then take an ordinary extension cord and plug into an outlet. Then use the ground lead for your meter ground.

At his point check to see if there is any voltage on the ground posts inside that panel up front.

Monaco had a few issues with "chassis splices" a long time ago but I have only heard of a couple.

As for the voltage going low right after a start up I agree that it is probably the grid heater. They take a huge amount of current.

As a quick test, the next time you start the coach, press and hold the aux start button to combine both battery banks. This should help hold the voltage higher.

It can be a real physical pain to trace the wiring in these things but you can buy a $20 signal tracer on Amazon and then disconnect your battery positive leads and chase the wires with the signals. Anywhere you find a connection, test to see if they are tight. Then take them apart to clean and reconnect. Grounds are especially fun to chase and cause tons of problems.

gmpartsvet · 06-28-2016, 07:54 PM

Thanks all for the suggestions. I'll have some time in a couple weeks to check connections as I believe that is the problem. I sure wish I could get hold of an electrical schematic though.

dennis45 · 06-28-2016, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmpartsvet

Thanks all for the suggestions. I'll have some time in a couple weeks to check connections as I believe that is the problem. I sure wish I could get hold of an electrical schematic though.

Assume you have a Frieghtliner chassis. Have you tried calling them? I have gotten every electrical and air system drawing from Spartan for my old coach. I'm sure FL would be happy to email drawings with a S/N of the chassis.

Kiawah · 07-01-2016, 07:55 AM

If you are on a Freightliner chassis, you can get online access to your vin number chassis info. You have to get a free ID specific to your VIN which takes a couple days, but once you have the ID you can log in at any time.

I had gone to the freightliner 101 class at the plant in Gaffney SC, and they gave out the instructions there as to how to apply. Call the freightliner help desk, they should be able to get you the sign up process.