Trombetta Relay, Bird system, visited again

[YC1]

The emergency start/Trombetta Relay/chassis batteries not charging issue gets a lot of questions here.

I just responded to a user about his issue. What I want to bring up here and engage discussion about is weather folks think the relay is installed upside down which causes water intrusion and the green gunk/bad contact issue. I have years of experience with relays and think I may have an ah ha moment that might help a lot of us with this issue.

So here is my comment to the problem the person was having.

I don't know if you have any sort of bird for your model but I can address the Trombetta relay issue with a lot of exeperience as an rver and as a Certified ET that works on 12 volt electrical systems every day. Look in you battery compartment and you should see a large solenoid that has two large terminals and two small ones. There might be a usable label still on it. Take a picture and post it here or e-mail me. I can get you through this in about two voltage measurements. Maybe three if necessary. Carefully touch, do not grab, the solenoid after you have been plugged in to shoreline for several hours. It should be hot to the touch. Uncomfortable hot so be careful. If it is then it is energized. Now using a voltmeter measure the voltage on each large terminal. If you see any difference at all the solenoid is sick.

That said my 08 had a sick one from the start. As a curious ET and wanting to learn every detail of my coach I found the relay was a problem right away. I took mine apart and it was green and gooey inside. With a replacement in hand I took the old one apart and rebuilt it. This is extremely easy to do and requires two wires to be unsoldered inside and four rivets to be drilled out.

Now after finding my relay once again failing this week I decided to take some drastic measures and then it occurred to me. How many relays in my career of 35 year have I seen mounted upside down. I have found many filled with water.

So I got to thinking about this issue and really think this relay is being installed upside down. With the terminals up, the tremendous amount of heat the thing creates and then it cools in the evenings or after shutting shoreline etc off and it could easily suck air along the terminal edges. That air contains moisture. There is no way with the solenoid mounted with the terminals up that the moisture could escape.

So, long story short. I overhauled my solenoid once again and mounted it with the large terminals down. I would bet a very good steak dinner and lots of beer that this solenoid will last for many years now. This just might be an ah ha moment for all of us that have this relay configuration.
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07 H3 Hummer Toad
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