Community Forums

Mule Skinner · 08-22-2016, 06:26 PM

Electrical problem,
Picked up the MH from the yard, seemed like the battery’s were low when starting. Did start.
Drove 250 mi. Parked, leveled, plugged into shore power. Went inside, looked at the Vansco panel and had a light show going. Lights bouncing from AC in to Level of charge. Blinking in a circle (back and forth).
First thought and what I did was, turn off house main switch, turn off main power switch in battery compartment and unplugged from shore power. Waited a few minutes, turned on main power switch, then house main power switch but not connect to shore power.
Still had light show going. Plugged into shore power.
Everything was working, so, I waited for my son to arrive. We unplugged shore power, turned off the house power and main power switch. Still had power inside, 12 volts and the inverter powered up. All while the switches were off.
Shut everything down including shore power. Disconnected the ground cable at the battery. That killed all power. Waited a few minutes, reattached the ground cable. Checked inside and had power with out turning on the main power switch.
The light show did stop after disconnecting the battery ground and reattaching and from then on everything looked normal.
We questioned that the main power switch is bad. When I turn off the main switch the door step retracts. I also hear something click, like maybe the transfer switch? But, there is still power after turning off both house and main power switches.
Ideas?

Old Scout · 08-22-2016, 06:53 PM

Not sure about all the Vansco-related symptoms but a number of chassis and house circuits are powered directly from the bats and are not effected by the main 12v cut-off switches--the inverter is the most obvious circuit not controlled by the cut-off switch.

Mule Skinner · 08-22-2016, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Scout

Not sure about all the Vansco-related symptoms but a number of chassis and house circuits are powered directly from the bats and are not effected by the main 12v cut-off switches--the inverter is the most obvious circuit not controlled by the cut-off switch.

Old Scout, I know it is different that your 2003. 2004 was the first year of this system. That was one of the reasons I waited to find the right 2004.
The Vansco system acts like a fuse box for most items. When ever there is a problem with windshield wipers for example, main power off, wait a few minutes, power switch back on and that will reboot the Vansco system. Solves most goofy problems. But now with power switch off, the Vansco still has power and it should not. Otherwise it will not reboot.

Old Scout · 08-23-2016, 06:58 AM

Agree--several of my friends have Vansco systems--seen/heard enough from them to appreciate your issue. Pretty simple bat cut-off switches on 05 and earlier Alpines but guess they can still fail--a volt meter will verify this. Guess you could continue manually disconnecting the cables pending switch replacement.....

Jeeper64060 · 10-04-2016, 05:47 AM

That main power is a simple switch not Vansco controlled. You can access the back of it from underneath. Maybe try pulling a cable off one terminal? My step does not move when I turn mine off.

LVRVLUVR · 10-04-2016, 08:01 AM

could it be that some one wired in something after market and went to the battery.... and hooked to something on the vansco side? so now with the swhich off.. it feeds back...when I looked at that complex set up I decided no changing anything... my son wire cars and is a fab guy... he wanted to put the halo lights in my alpine.... ah no thanks... I'm just getting the same replacement that just plug in

DrDaveMA · 10-04-2016, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mule Skinner

Old Scout, I know it is different that your 2003. 2004 was the first year of this system. That was one of the reasons I waited to find the right 2004.
The Vansco system acts like a fuse box for most items. When ever there is a problem with windshield wipers for example, main power off, wait a few minutes, power switch back on and that will reboot the Vansco system. Solves most goofy problems. But now with power switch off, the Vansco still has power and it should not. Otherwise it will not reboot.

I would take a volt meter and verify that the cut off switches are in fact operating properly (disconnecting the batteries). I would also make sure your battery bank cross connect switch is working (trombetta relay is not shorted in the cross connect position).

Gene A · 10-07-2016, 02:36 PM

We just had the same issue on our 2004 Alpine, where the house power was switched off and the electrical still worked in the coach (12v lights, etc.). We replaced the low-voltage disconnect (Sure Power Interconnect Controller Part #: 3104), located in the back of the battery compartment. We are still experiencing other issues, but that fixed the house power problem. We purchased it from All Battery Sales and Service. (Sure Power 12V Interconnect/Controller (300 Amp) - Part#: 3104). I hope this helps.

Mike & Mike · 10-21-2016, 07:11 PM

Hi Dan,

The first thing I thought after reading that you "went back inside and had a light show going" was that you were looking at the panel for the Inverter, up in the overhead cupboard just in front of the refrigerator. We have had many "light shows" going with that panel. All I do is go to the Inverter (in the bedroom behind the wood panel at the foot of the bed) and pull the little RJ11 cord (looks like a telephone cord plug/jack) out of the Inverter. I wait about 10 seconds and plug it back in and everything is ok. One of those RJ cords goes to the panel, the other goes to the battery to monitor for high temperature at the battery connection.

If you are indeed talking about the Vansco, I have no idea what might be going on. I've always got the panel in front of the passenger seat velcroed in place so never look at those lights.

PS: We recently moved to Salinas!

Cheers!

Mule Skinner · 10-22-2016, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike & Mike

Hi Dan,

The first thing I thought after reading that you "went back inside and had a light show going" was that you were looking at the panel for the Inverter, up in the overhead cupboard just in front of the refrigerator. We have had many "light shows" going with that panel. All I do is go to the Inverter (in the bedroom behind the wood panel at the foot of the bed) and pull the little RJ11 cord (looks like a telephone cord plug/jack) out of the Inverter. I wait about 10 seconds and plug it back in and everything is ok. One of those RJ cords goes to the panel, the other goes to the battery to monitor for high temperature at the battery connection.

If you are indeed talking about the Vansco, I have no idea what might be going on. I've always got the panel in front of the passenger seat velcroed in place so never look at those lights.

PS: We recently moved to Salinas!

Cheers!

Thanks Mike
Welcome to northern California.
The lights bounce from ac in to battery full to 12,12.5 and 13 volt lights (all three at the same time ).
I've been removing the power cable at the battery for now.
I'm the original owner and there has been no repairs or modification to the electrical system.
I guess I have been lucky up to this point.