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Old 05-16-2018, 07:54 PM   #1
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2008 Alpine electrical problem(Help immediately please)

My coach is dead in my driveway. I moved it and washed it two days ago and today nothing. My panel above the passenger seat says 110 is coming in. But no inverter. I've reset the panel in the utilities bay several times. Flipped the breaker off and on several times for the inverter, still nothing. Plugged it into a separate 7000 watt generator I have just to get 50 amp service and still nothing. Chassis batt's are dead but the house batt's show some juice. Still, no lights inside the coach. Fridge works, Microwave works, tv has power.... I'm at a loss and I'm due to leave Friday morning for a very important work trip for two weeks. I can't get into my bay drawers to pack even since they are hydraulic. HELP PLEASE.......
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Old 05-16-2018, 08:07 PM   #2
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So you are getting 110 to the coach (fridge works, microwave works, tv has power). But you do not know if you have power to both legs of the 110. Regardless of that, is your charger enabled? What inverter/charger do you have? How do you know the house batteries show power? If your chassis batteries are dead you will not have power to your Vansco units (affecting the charging). You need to get an external charger on the chassis batteries so we can start determining the root cause of the problems. The root cause may be that you do not have 110 volts to both legs of the shore power.
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Old 05-16-2018, 08:20 PM   #3
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RS2000 says charger on (green light) I'm plugged into 110volts with a dog bone
Sorry I'm on my wifes computer now so it shows up as a different person...
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Old 05-16-2018, 08:22 PM   #4
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do I need a 24 volt charger on the chassis batt's? I only have one for 12Volts
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Old 05-16-2018, 08:28 PM   #5
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So your issue could be the dog bone, we will have to see. Get a new one and see if that helps.

You need a 12 volt charger for your chassis batteries.
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Old 05-16-2018, 08:32 PM   #6
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I'll get a new dog bone. Until then do I connect the 12 volt charger to only one of the batteries? I assumed the cummins was 24 volt..
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Old 05-16-2018, 09:01 PM   #7
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Your chassis starting system is 12V.
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Old 05-16-2018, 09:12 PM   #8
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The 12 volt batteries are in parallel, so you have double the amperage but still only 12 volts. You will be charging both batteries at the same time. Once those batteries are charged you will be able to see the power and other lights on the Vansco. Leave the charger on the batteries for 24 hours so they get fully charged. Once you remove the charger flip the chassis battery cut off switch, wait 30 seconds then flip it back on. That will reset the Vansco. After that you will have to look at the way the RS2000 in set up, mainly that the charger function in enabled.
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Old 05-16-2018, 09:51 PM   #9
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Thanks so far folks. Ran to the local Tractor supply store. Only one open this late that had a dog bone to fit. Connected it and all the lights came back on the Vansco unit. That's a start in the right direction. Interior lights back on. We'll see how we look in the morning for starting batt's. Fingers crossed. Unbelievable a simple adapter could knock me out like that. One of the blades of the old dog bone was black and clearly burned. Had no idea...
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Old 05-16-2018, 11:11 PM   #10
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The lights came back on because you now have full power to your coach. The “dog bone” takes the power from one 30 amp circuit and connects it to both 50 amp legs of your coach power cable. This diagram shows how you get power to your coach. Click image for larger version

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You should also check the plug on your shore power cord, the blades should not be discolored. If they are you can disconnect the coach from ALL power sources, then clean the blades with steel wool.
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Old 05-17-2018, 09:08 AM   #11
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I let the coach sit all night on the 110v plug. It always charged it up enough the next day. This morning it's the same thing... Dead. I have it on my big battery charger now. I don't understand what's happened.
I'm going to try and get enough of a charge to get it started and at least close up the slides and go from there. I suppose today I'll try and find someone that does emergency house calls.
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Old 05-17-2018, 09:13 AM   #12
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Way to go DrDave . In less than 2 hours you have this guys power back and lowerd his stress level a bunch I'm sure. Thanks for all the help you provide on the forum. (do you do house calls?)

Oh no. Looks like my post came a little late and the power went off again. Sorry I don't have anything to add to help.
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Old 05-17-2018, 10:14 AM   #13
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OK so the coach started and runs. So now what? How do I know that the same thing won't happen when I'm on my trip and plugged into shore power? I don't have 30 or 50 amp service here at out house so I only have 110 to rely on. And maybe that's the problem. How does a layman with no electrical troubleshooting background go about looking into this? Not likely I'll be getting any calls from local repair companies due to the time of year when everyone needs them..
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Old 05-17-2018, 10:16 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bking View Post
I let the coach sit all night on the 110v plug. It always charged it up enough the next day. This morning it's the same thing... Dead. I have it on my big battery charger now. I don't understand what's happened.
I'm going to try and get enough of a charge to get it started and at least close up the slides and go from there. I suppose today I'll try and find someone that does emergency house calls.


Look at the new dog bone, are the contacts burned, discolored, etc. I am thinking the 30 amp plug you are using may be the issue, not the dog bone. The dog bone should NOT be hot nor the connectors at either end, be discolored (it is brand new). If the 30 amp plug you are using has corrosion or a loose connection it could burn up the dog bone as it passes current.

You have multiple connection that could be causing the issues.

1) the 30 amp plug on the wall. Bad connections to the wires or to whatever is plugged into it.

2) the dog bone. You just got a new one so that is most likely the symptom, not causing the problem.

3) your power cord. Are the plug blades clean and free of corrosion?

When AC flows wherever it meets resistance you will have heat. Without being there to see/feel the heat it is hard to determine the root cause. My opinion is that you have a corrosion problem some where in the 3 areas above. Placing a new dog bone in the mix last night decreased the resistance, but did not completely fix it. By replacing the dog bone (when you did that you detached the connections and effectively scraped them clean) you reduced the resistance in the line enough to allow things to operate, but as the heat built up the problem came back.

It sounds like you may have an Apex with Silverleaf, if so, and it is working, can you tell me what voltage it is seeing? If you do not have Silverleaf you could turn on the ignition, once the Actia has gone through its boot sequence (when it shows your mileage in the upper right hand corner it will show what voltage it is getting from the chassis batteries. What is that voltage and does it change over time (like 1 - 2 hours)?

Tracking this down may take some time, be patient, we will get it.

Dave
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