One Heck of a Trip!

[BudtheDiplomat]

Well, after the 12 volt failure, sending my leveler to China by direct route, $1400 worth of electrical repairs including batteries, we were ready to start our trip home.

This morning at Oh-dark-thirty, we buttoned up and pulled around to the Civic Center parking lot to hook up the toad. I wanted to hook up on asphalt rather than on mud and gravel.

Hooked up as usual, nothing out of the ordinary. The GenSet was running because it was 39 degrees outside and my daughters were complaining of the cold.

When I released the brake and put the motorhome in drive, an alarm bell started immediately and the Alladin flashed "ALTERNATOR FAILURE."

I tried turning the engine off and restarting - still "ALTERNATOR FAILURE."

I unhooked the toad, drove forward and the alarm went away, but only for a minute, and returned.

The alarm and written warning went away entirely after I turned off the generator set.

Other than my wife having to follow in the toad, and my passengers being cold, the 8 hour trip home was uneventful and the "ALTERNATOR FAILURE" warning never returned.

The green light on the Echo-Charger is flashing. Do you guys think that the Echo-Charger has gone bad and was causing feedback to the Alladin system causing the ALTERNATOR warning?

It is dark now, and I'm kinda tired. I have taken the Echo-Charger out of my battery system. Tomorrow I'm going to hook up the toad again - hopefully I won't get the FAILURE warning anymore.

Does anybody have any other ideas?

Thanks.

[DennisZ]

Bud
Having the Alt Failure light come on wiht the engine running and either shore power plugged in or the gen set running is very common and is not a failure. You will get the light because the inverter is charging the batteries at a higher rate than the alternator and a higher voltage, so it thinks there is a failure.

Dennis