Voltage Drop while driving

[clyon51]

Are you running the generator when this happens?

[Monacoach]

Originally Posted by clyon51

Are you running the generator when this happens?

I experienced a drop in voltage and all the alarms came on so I finished the trip using the generator in place of the alternator. Got home and discovered the problem was a bad battery cable connection.

Remove and tighten all battery connections. Couldn't hurt.

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by skypilot_1

After engine start, the intake air heater should not be on if working normally. If intake temp above 60'f it should not come on during starting as well. just sayn

Cummins grid heater normal operation explained, scroll down to grid heaters continuedhttps://blog.genosgarage.com/wordpress1/2015/02/ram-turbo-diesel-cold-weather-tips/:
Second reference:https://www.klmperformance.com/produ...ater-grid.html

[skypilot_1]

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

Cummins grid heater normal operation explained, scroll down to grid heaters continuedhttps://blog.genosgarage.com/wordpress1/2015/02/ram-turbo-diesel-cold-weather-tips/:
Second reference:https://www.klmperformance.com/produ...ater-grid.html

OP stated "while driving" the voltage started at 13.4v and slowly dropped to 12.8v during each day’s travel. Should not be the intake grid heater as it drops out at 60 degrees OAT or 15 mph. If things working as advertised. Looks like he found a intermittent connection was causing his problem. By the way he has the Cummins ISL400 engine, as I do. Im not up on Ram pickups much.

[SloPoke]

I want to thank everyone who responded to my question. I will try to give everyone more information and answer some of your questions. First, what I normally saw before the voltage drop, was between 13.6vdc to 13.8vdc. The house batteries are four 6-volt AGMs that I installed Aug 2017. The connections on all the batteries are clean and tight. Haven’t checked the spring tension idler, but the belt is only 2 years old and feels tight. When the voltage first dropped, I did run the generator every day we traveled.
At the Diesel repair shop on the second trip to it, the tech told me about the grid heater starting at start up when it gets cold. Also, he had checked at all the 12vdc connections in the engine bay and they all had the appropriate voltage and could not find a cause. They then called both Country Coach and Silverleaf to get the schematics of the wiring. The tech thinks the problem is in the wiring of the gauges. I now have the schematics and will slowly go through it till I hopefully find the problem.
Thank you for all the references and information.

[Dav L]

The voltage is going to fluctuate depending on the state of charge of the batteries. And that changes while driving and the ignition / fuel system is drawing down the batteries.

sounds normal to me.