Finally fixed my charging circuit....

[loranimal]

I've been playing with this off and on for a while now. Charging the house batteries while underway has never worked. Haven't done any long trips in a while so I wasn't in a hurry. So today I got into it.

The IRD relay board needs to sense 13.3 (?) volts from the chassis side to turn on the solenoid in the rear dist panel which connects the battery banks. With the engine running I am not getting 13.3 volts at the IRD board even though chassis batteries are at charging at 14.1 volts. After tracing for a while I found out I am losing about 1 volt going from the front dist panel through the dash and back to the front dist panel. So I took the wire going to the IRD and ran that to operate a relay. I ran a wire from the chassis 12 volt stud in the front dist panel through the contacts of the relay and to the IRD board. Now I get the full charging voltage going to the IRD board. That works good!

I check the EMS panel and I still don't show I am charging the house batteries.

Check the solenoid in the rear dist panel and I have 12 volts at the coil, with the engine running. Like I should. Check the big studs on the solenoid and they are not closing. I took the solenoid apart, had to grind the rivets out, and found one of the studs inside to be green as grass. Not letting it make contact. Everythings else looked fine. Cleaned everything up and put it back together. Works good.

Put it back in the rig and fire her up. It finally works. I don't think it had ever worked right from day one. The solenoid problem also explains why sometimes the battery boost switch would work and sometimes not.

Hope all that made sense.


Labor Day weekend here I come.


Carl

[The Danes Are Coming]

Well done Carl

I really really wish that I had your ability to troubleshoot and repair electrical problems, but I don't - unfortunately. If I had a problem like yours my chance of fixing this my self would be pretty close to 0%.

Maybe you could adopt me for a couple of years and then teach me

[kdk]

I had the same problem with my MH. Did the same as you by taking the relay apart several times. The repair would only last 1 or 2 trips them fail again. I finally called the manufacturer of the relay and was told they had problems with this relay in MH's and recommended replacing it with one that had silver contacts instead of copper. They put me in touch with a local supplier and purchased one for around $45.00 (dealer cost was around $90.00). This one has been in now for 3 yrs. with no further problems. KDK

[Robi.1014]

Hi KDK,
Can you specify the brand-name and part number of the solenoid? Thanks.

[RickO]

Good work Carl! That's some serious detective work that would have probably cost you 8 hours of labor at a dealer.

[William Willard]

Carl -- I was having the same problem on our 07, 42' Camelot -- Tried different things that didn`t work -- Sacs (Ron, MonacoMama`s husband) told me about the 1315-200 solenoid -- He had success with it, so I purchased one last year-- Many miles & 9 months later, it works -- Keeps both battery banks charged when on shore power, & when driving -- Google 1315-200 , & you can read all about it -- Bill Willard

[loranimal]

The solenoids are made by Trombetta.

The model with copper contacts, which is the one I have, is: 114-1211-010

The model with silver contacts is: 114-1211-020

I am going to order the silver one and keep it on board for when/if the current one fails. Found one online at murcal.com for $33.00.


Carl

[OnJa]

Just checked and ordered 2 at $31.00 @ mulcal.com