Battery Cut Off Switch Failure

[Flagelpater]

My Battery Cut Off Switch just failed OPEN with nobody even near the switch. I think some of you have also had this same failure. Should I replace this switch that I never use or just jumper it?

[abarkl]

Mine failed this past June and I had to jumper across it to get on the road in July. I have the replacement in hand and need to get it installed instead of removing the cables at the battery.
eBay price for a new Perko switch delivered: $29.95.

[Pusherpilot]

Same thing happened to us as happened to abarkl. We were running down the road when everything that ran off the house batts went dead. Trouble shot it that nite and found the House Batt switch open. Did a quicky by-pass and we were OK till we got stopped for a spell then I ordered the new switch and replaced it. I didn't want to leave it by-passed in case I needed to unhook them quickly etc.
Ron

[Flagelpater]

My failure appears to be the Relay. Relay Temp above 105 F. Put a very large copper wire jumper across the relay to parallel it until I can get a new one. Temp is now normal. It seems like the relay was opening due to temp but it worked okay for several hours before I put the jumper in place. KIB LR9806 Relay. I am at Rushmore but will look for a replacement in the morning.

[Diplomat Don]

How's the VMSpc working?

[JDT]

Don, I assume you are talking about the one at the entry door. If it is the one at the entry door I bypassed it 2 years ago and forgot about it. Didn't use it anyway.

[Flagelpater]

Don, The VMSpc is working perfect. Some of the additional readouts I thought would be needed would only be redundant. You probably knew that all the time! Have not tested it on the big grades yet, Yellowstone on Saturday.

From what I have read the Battery Cutoff Switch is only a momentary switch. My problem is a poor connection within the relay.

[boboret]

The KIB LR9806 relay/switch in our '05' Cayman failed a few days ago. Thanks to the information on this forum I knew what to look for. However, I was quite surprised to discover that when using a jumper, power was restored to the coach even though the main house battery disconnect in the battery compartment was in the off position. I don't have a wiring diagram so I could very well be missing something.

Has anyone seen this?

[rwall]

My battery cut off switch keeps popping off, of course in the middle of the night. I think it is the Soleniod. People here talk about bypassing it. But how do you do that. I have a 2006 Holiday Rambler Endeavor.
Thank you

[Our Time]

Remove the large red wires from each side of the relay and connect them together, thus by-passing the relay. Did that to ours 2 years ago and have had no problems since. Turn the chassis battery switch off while you do it because those wires will be hot with 12 volt power.

[g2006camelot]

Don't want to hijack this thread but it is related.

MH was in storage for 2 months -- always use main cut off switches to turn off batteries. Found my chassis batteries dead, even when the main chassis battery cut off switch was "off." so I replaced the batteries. With the main cut off switch in the "off" position, I installed the new batteries, I got sparking when attaching the last cable. Inductive ammeter showed 0.1 amps current.

I thought the main chassis battery switch turned off all power. Any thoughts?
Thanks
Jerry

[KentandJoyce]

Hi Jerry. I had the same problem with my '06 Windsor when I stored it for more than a few weeks. Even though I would turn off both house and chassis main battery switches, my chassis batteries would go dead when I'd return. They did have a draw on them as per the negative battery cable sparking. I called Monaco and they said that "there is still a demand on the chassis batteries even when the switches are in the off position", I can't remember what the explanation is for the draw, sorry. Anyhow, when I store my RV, I now physically remove the cables to the battery terminals. I bought Marine Terminals that go on the battery and use wing nuts to connect the pos/neg cables. I should mention that I bought a single Caterpillar battery for my chassis. I removed the two original batteries that came in the battery compartment/slide out tray and installed eight batteries for my house usage ( We mostly dry camp), therefore I needed to mount my single Cat battery in the engine compartment. Now everything works great as long as I disconnect the chassis battery when I store the rig.
Now if I could respond to RWALL and his problem with the "salesman switch solenoid". Hello RWALL, I also recently had problems with my coach losing house power in the middle of the night and once while my wife was taking a shower 'She was not happy, but it was quite funny') After reading the posts here, I too realized that my solenoid was failing. I also bypassed the solenoid, however, I was concerned that in the event of a major electrical failure, I wouldn't be able to switch off the 'House Batteries'. So, instead of directly coupling the wires from the solenoid together, I bought an in-line Maxi-Fuse holder and installed it in place of the solenoid with a 100 amp fuse. I have used the coach several times without any problems whatsoever. I am pleased with the in-line fuse. Hope this helps.
Kent

[g2006camelot]

Thanks Kent. I called the Monaco tech rep yesterday and he said the same thing. The small draw on the chassis battery is for the transmission and engine electronics. I have purchased a knife blade battery disconnect switch for the chassis batteries.
Jerry

[rwall]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Our Time Remove the large red wires from each side of the relay and connect them together, thus by-passing the relay. Did that to ours 2 years ago and have had no problems since. Turn the chassis battery switch off while you do it because those wires will be hot with 12 volt power.

Thank you, I did this (late late last night) and it seems to be working fine. Glad I found this site.