Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
RV Trip Planning Discussions

Go Back   iRV2 Forums > THE OWNER'S CORNER FORUMS > National RV Owner's Forum
Click Here to Login
Join iRV2 Today

Mission Statement: Supporting thoughtful exchange of knowledge, values and experience among RV enthusiasts.
Reply
  This discussion is proudly sponsored by:
Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on iRV2
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 09-25-2017, 09:25 AM   #1
Senior Member
 
BOOZE TRAVEL's Avatar
 
National RV Owners Club
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Madison, In.
Posts: 449
Emergency start switch

Yesterday took our 2002 7370 LTC with a Spartan chassis to an event. When we got there discovered we had only 5v coming from house batteries. This is probably because we have been working on it over the past couple of weeks with out running it or plugging it in.
When I pushed the battery crossover switch I still couldn't crank the Generator to charge the house batteries. I ran the Cat for a while and gained some voltage but to slow for my taste. I would think this switch should cross over to start generator and the engine if the chassis batts were dead.
It was not a really big deal but depending what the situation was it could be a big deal.
I didn't load in the jump pac since it was only about a 15mi trip for a few hours but will probably buy a short set of cables so I can manually cross over if I need to.
My real question is if this switch is functioning at all. I have had a large twin engine boat for 20 years and the emergency start switch connects all of the battery banks together. If I can start either engine or generator I am good to go with the boat I can have everything running immediately after starting any engine on it.
Where are you supposed to plug in the rig? I just unplugged the converter/charger in the right rear bay and plugged it in to an extension cord this morning.
BOOZE TRAVEL is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 RV Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

iRV2.com RV Community - Are you about to start a new improvement on your RV or need some help with some maintenance? Do you need advice on what products to buy? Or maybe you can give others some advice? No matter where you fit in you'll find that iRV2 is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with other RV owners, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create an RV blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 09-25-2017, 10:20 AM   #2
Senior Member
 
Sbrownstein's Avatar
 
Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,799
Well, you also put a couple of dead batteries in parallel with your good one. That will tend to pull things down fairly quickly. 5 Volts? Do you really mean 5 volts. That is beyond dead.
__________________
Scott Brownstein
Palm Island, Florida
2015 Georgetown 335DS
Sbrownstein is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2017, 10:30 AM   #3
Member
 
n2587n's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 71
The switch that you are pushing does not connect any battery's , it turns on a relay or solenoid that connects the battery's , the power feed to that push switch comes from the truck battery's . you can add a 3 way switch to power the push switch from ether the camper battery or the truck battery . then you can make it any way you want
n2587n is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2017, 10:36 AM   #4
Senior Member
 
Sbrownstein's Avatar
 
Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,799
That is a though. It might not have had enough voltage to pull in the solenoid. My old BCC fired it from both banks, but there is no telling how it works on this unit.
__________________
Scott Brownstein
Palm Island, Florida
2015 Georgetown 335DS
Sbrownstein is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2017, 10:48 AM   #5
Senior Member
 
BOOZE TRAVEL's Avatar
 
National RV Owners Club
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Madison, In.
Posts: 449
Yes 5v! I didn't notice while working on it all day changing fluids, doing some new flooring while wife was removing and painting cabinet hinges. It has been so sunny here we didn't need lighting inside. I should have known because the co detector would beep occasionally and in the boat that means one of the house banks is getting really low. The batteries are all good, house has 4 6v that are 2yrs old and have worked exceptionally well,
We are new to the coach thing (never even had a tent), but have been in large boats since I was thirty. You would think they would be set up about the same but that is not the case! I am one of the go to guys around the marina for mechanical problems but this thing is another ball game as far as how systems work.
BOOZE TRAVEL is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2017, 10:59 AM   #6
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 2,091
The relay on mine is wired from the house batteries for emergency start . It was designed to start the engine if the chassis batteries failed. It is also energized when the engine is running to charge the house batteries. With dead house batteries, there is not enough voltage to energize the relay if the button is pressed. With the engine running , you should be able to start the generator . The setup should work just like in your boat.
__________________
1993 Tiffin Allegro Bay 32'
Soppy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2017, 11:23 AM   #7
Senior Member
 
BOOZE TRAVEL's Avatar
 
National RV Owners Club
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Madison, In.
Posts: 449
Soppy, that is what I would have thought too. I will have to run down the switch wiring and see if something is unhooked or not functioning correctly.
We bought this coach about 5 wks ago and it is in great shape. We have done a couple of 200 mi weekend trips without a issue besides my lack of knowledge!
Each time we use it there is some dumb little thing that I have to figure out just like the first season with the big boat!
These small excursions are certainly getting me ahead of the curve for the first long trip in a couple of weeks.
BOOZE TRAVEL is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2017, 11:32 AM   #8
Senior Member
 
Sbrownstein's Avatar
 
Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,799
Booze Travel, if you are used to boats, like me, most of this stuff is automatic on RVs, no flipping breakers and turning on constavolts, just plug it in and it works...until it doesn't. If you don't already have one, I highly recommend installing a Trimetric or something like it. At a glance you can see if you are charging and what your SOC is, no matter if from the engine alternator, the generator and converter, or shore power and the converter.

That way you can detect if something is wrong before it causes you a headache.
__________________
Scott Brownstein
Palm Island, Florida
2015 Georgetown 335DS
Sbrownstein is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2017, 02:40 PM   #9
Senior Member
 
BOOZE TRAVEL's Avatar
 
National RV Owners Club
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Madison, In.
Posts: 449
Just did a quick read on the Trimetric. Looks like a good product. This would seem to be very useful especially since it will tell you when the batteries were last fully charged.
Still don't get why the emergency switch didn't cross banks over though.

Thanks, Sbrownstein!
BOOZE TRAVEL is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2017, 02:55 PM   #10
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 35,317
Your boost solenoid is also your charging solenoid. When the engine is running it connects the 2 battery banks together, either by having the key or by a voltage sensing control.

Whichever way, it's hooked to your engine battery, not the dead house batteries, so it will still work.

If the solenoid is working, the batteries should have charged, at least a bit, while driving it to your destination.

The boost solenoids go bad often. Hold the boost switch and see if you have equal voltage on both big terminals of it. If not, and you hear it clunk, it's bad. Bang it with a hammer a few times and turn it on and off a few times and it may start working, until next time.
twinboat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2017, 02:57 PM   #11
Senior Member
 
Sbrownstein's Avatar
 
Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,799
From the schematics that I looked at, in a coach from the early 2000's, at least the BCC that I had could fire the isolation relay based on a voltage threshold from either bank ( 13.3 or greater, but the aux start switch only comes from the house bank. While this seems a little short sighted, its original purpose was to help start the engine when the chassis battery was low and if the house was low...what would be the point! Another poster had almost the same problem in that if the coach battery was disconnected via the trombetta relay and it was very low, there was no way to even fire the trombetta to get the house batteries charging from any source. Sort of a catch 22!
__________________
Scott Brownstein
Palm Island, Florida
2015 Georgetown 335DS
Sbrownstein is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2017, 07:54 PM   #12
Senior Member
 
Charlie 5320's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 698
Could be a bad BCC control board. My custom products BCC has a bad capacitor so the boost switch and the comparison circuit doesn't work. I would charge the batteries from a separate charger and see if the boost switch works. If it doesn't you will need to trouble shoot the isolation solenoid to see if it is bad or the board. Beings your batteries don't charge from the alternator, it's probably either the solenoid or the board. Can't buy just the board either, so I added a couple circuits to get my system working. I just can't get the chassis battery to charge while plugged in. I'm going to add a battery tender this fall when it goes to storage.
__________________
1996 Challenger 313

2003 Dolphin 5320 sold
Charlie 5320 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-26-2017, 08:36 AM   #13
Senior Member
 
BOOZE TRAVEL's Avatar
 
National RV Owners Club
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Madison, In.
Posts: 449
When I got home last night it was charged up and good to go from the intelli charger/converter. I think I am just going to put a set of short jump cables in it so if this happens again I can just jump form chassis batteries to house batteries to start the generator. This normally wouldn't be a issue except boon docking which I will only be doing that occasionally.
Do most of you just plug the charger into an extension cord while stored or is there a separate plug there somewhere that I am supposed to use? There is a switch on the dash for the block heater but I haven't found a plug for that either. I always left my diesel truck plugged in during cold weather but if the heater runs off of batteries it would surely drain them pretty quickly.
BOOZE TRAVEL is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-26-2017, 08:55 AM   #14
Senior Member
 
4x4van's Avatar
 
Winnebago Owners Club
Workhorse Chassis Owner
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: SoCal
Posts: 1,510
Rather than carry jumper cables, all you really need is a short (6") section of 12AWG wire with an alligator clip on each end. Clip one end to the trigger terminal on the boost solenoid/relay, clip the other end on the side of the relay/solenoid that is attached to the good battery. That will trigger the solenoid/relay (regardless of which battery bank is low) and connect the two banks together.

That same wire configuration would also allow you to charge both battery banks while plugged in to shore power. Another option would be to simply clip the wire onto each side of the relay/solenoid while plugged in to allow charging of both banks without triggering the relay.
__________________
You don't stop playing because you grow old...You grow old because you stop playing!
2004 Itasca M30W
'20 Can Am X3 X RS Turbo RR, '85 ATC250R, '12 Husky TE310
4x4van is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
switch



Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
F53 would not start using emergency start Unicorn Driver Damon 24 08-04-2017 08:04 AM
Emergency Start Switch HarrysRV Newmar Owner's Forum 8 09-21-2012 06:00 AM
can not switch to house batterys for emergency start oldfe Vintage RV's 2 08-08-2011 02:43 PM
Emergency Start Switch alby49er Newmar Owner's Forum 1 09-29-2009 08:55 PM

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 09:19 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.