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Fatbear5 · 09-02-2014, 03:33 PM

I tried starting my 1995 Coachman 35' Santara this morning only to find it was dead. The engine starts with the Emergency Start button on the dash but not with the normal ignition switch.

I'm leaning towards a failed Chassis Solenoid or a failed switch to that solenoid. When I use the Coach switch in the first pic, I hear the customary click of the solenoid activating the Coach circuits, however when I use the corresponding Chassis switch, I hear nothing. The battery is good, the connections are solid, the fuses are good, and the engine starts with the Emergency Start Button, which is why I'm thinking solenoid or switch.

Is there something else I am overlooking?

Is one component more likely to fail than the other? I'm thinking of swapping the Coach and Chassis solenoids to see what happens... any other suggestions?

I don't know if the Emergency Start button activates the Chassis solenoid or bypasses it. I was alone this morning and the solenoid is too far away from the Emerged start button for me to hear it one way or the other

subford · 09-02-2014, 03:38 PM

There are two maintain solenoids in the battery compartment. On the one closes to the chassis battery there are two fuses stuck down on each side. Wiggle the fuses in their holders and then the button for the chassis battery should work. Mine does this ever once in a while.

You can see the fuses in the photo below:

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Fatbear5 · 09-02-2014, 10:34 PM

Yes, that looks like my setup. I checked the fuses this morning which is why I'm thinking that it is more likely the solenoid itself that might be bad (or still maybe the switch) I'll double check them again though tomorrow and made sure they're tight in their holders.

If I have to replace the solenoid, I don't know what to replace it with. It looks like the markings are pretty much worn off which is going to make it very difficult to find a replacement on line... I don't want to go to the local dealer. (It's actually the other solenoid that's bad but I don't have a pic of it)

Any thoughts?

Skip426 · 09-02-2014, 11:06 PM

The relay is listed with a Newmar P/N 52989.
I'll get the Intellitec P/N off mine tomorrow and post it .
There is a wiring diagram in this pdf. that may help identify or trace your circuits.

subford · 09-03-2014, 04:26 AM

You can buy one here:
http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/c...FQto7AodgXgAcA

Maybe these diagrams will help:

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Fatbear5 · 09-04-2014, 04:10 PM

Thanks Guys I rechecked the battery connections and the fuses and they were good so I'm still leaning towards a failed relay being my problem. I've removed mine and found that is an Intellitec 01-00055-900 16494 ACE BD RELAY. I found this one on eBay and it LOOKS like mine but I'm not certain. I wrote to Intellitec but I haven't heard back from them:
Intellitec Battery Disconnect Relay 01 00055 000 | eBay

Also, I'm not certain that the relay has actually failed... it could be the switch. How can I test my old relay? Positive from battery to RED/ORANGE contact, Negative from battery to LOAD contact then touch the two brown/gray and white/purple contacts together and listen for a click?

Finally, for as long as I've had the coach, the Chassis switch inside the door has been up-side-down (see my first posting). Today I noticed that the purple wire is attached to the BROWN/GRAY contact and vica versa. I'm guessing that would be the reason for the reversal of the switch. Does that sound correct?

subford · 09-04-2014, 05:35 PM

The PDF attached is the Troubleshooting guide for the system.

Fatbear5 · 09-04-2014, 08:05 PM

Thanks you subford for the PDF. I didn't have that so I'm going to print up a hard copy and keep it in the coach. I'm sure that the wiring diagrams are useful too but I don't really read them very well. I just talk a lot of notes and label everything.

Putting in the replacement relay shouldn't be a problem but I'm still not certain that the one that I found on eBay (see earlier post) is the same as what I have. Any thoughts?

Unfortunately neither the PDF nor the diagram tell me how to test my old relay and I would like to know if it works because I'd like to keep it as a backup. Will my proposed method (earlier post) be able to tell me if the relay works or is there another way to do it.

Thanks/Jeff

subford · 09-05-2014, 06:08 AM

Yes it looks like the one on ebay will work and also the one I posted above in a link to PPL will also work. I would rather work with PPL than ebay if I have a choice.

No your method will not work to test the relay.
The red & the orange wires are just power supply to the panel. They get their power from the left fuse on the relay and the other side of the fuse goes to the POS (+) post of the battery.

The right fuses supply the power to the LED's and have on part in the operation other than to lite the LED to tell you if the relay is made or not. They get their power from the system side of the relay.

The coil in the relay is a push/pull type for the maintain relay. When power is applied to one of its terminals and ground to the other the coil it will move the relay on one direction. If you reverse the power (NEG & POS) to the relay the coil it will pull in the opposite direction.
In other words when you put POS (+) on the S terminal and NEG (-) on the I terminal the relay will open the main battery terminals. If you put NEG (-) on the S terminal and POS (+) on the I terminal the relay will close the main battery terminals of the relay.

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