Community Forums

pontgr · 04-30-2015, 10:32 PM

Hi everyone out there! My wife and I need help. We have a 1992 thor Pinnacle 305Q that does nothing when you turn the key on. No noise at all no gages no power in the cab. No battery power to the house either. My son in law thought it might be a problem with the smart solenoid so we replaced it, still nothing. So I thought maybe the ignition switch, and replaced it and nothing. My son in law check the batteries and the fuses and couldn't find anything wrong. We are stumped. It worked fine when we parked it last summer but now if we plug in the house to a land line the house electric works except the fridge but Like I said no battery juice to the cab or the house. Any ideas???

Tony Lee · 04-30-2015, 10:56 PM

If it has been sitting without power for several months the house batteries and starter batteries may be so discharged that nothing works.

Rather than following the experts' technique of replacing parts at random until they stumble on the solution, I would use a multimeter and start at the start - by checking the battery voltage of both start and house batteries. Unless the voltage is above say 10V (for a 12V battery) they must be considered dead flat. In that case you could try hooking an external battery charger up to each battery in turn to see if they will accept and hold a charge.

RV Wizard · 05-01-2015, 03:21 AM

Test battery voltage when a load is applied. On chassis battery have someone try to start the coach while you are checking battery voltage. On the house, try turning on the house disconnect and lights on inside coach while checking house battery voltage.

ChasA · 05-01-2015, 07:57 AM

Did someone disconnect the ground cables for storing the coach last year? First check all connections on the batteries.

pontgr · 05-01-2015, 11:21 AM

All batteries test out at full charge and the ground is reconnected to the cab and rv batteries. Still no power. We will try testing the batteries when a load is applied. Thanks for your help!

aviator37 · 05-01-2015, 05:46 PM

You guys have got to learn how to use a multimeter. This throwing parts at something hoping something will fix it is crazyness. Simple troubleshooting is something every RV'er should learn. It will save your ass.

D Lindy · 05-01-2015, 05:58 PM

OK it might sound stupid but did some one turn off the master battery disconnect switch for both the chassis and house batteries?

rv9apilot · 05-01-2015, 06:01 PM

AMEN aviator37 . I don't go anywhere without my volt meter. It is so easy to trouble shoot problems when you have one.

Johndale · 05-01-2015, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aviator37

You guys have got to learn how to use a multimeter. This throwing parts at something hoping something will fix it is crazyness. Simple troubleshooting is something every RV'er should learn. It will save your ass.

I hate to say this but I must. A multimeter is great for testing things but it will lie to you on a battery. You have got to put a load meter on batteries. A multimeter does not. With out a load on the battery it will lie to you.

Sent from my iPhone using iRV2 - RV Forum

pontgr · 05-01-2015, 06:39 PM

Yep, it was the lying battery alright! Put the battery thru a reconditioning cycle and it fired right up!! Thanks for the advice, we will get a multimeter right away and remember to test with a load on the battery so it doesn't lie to us!! Thank you for all your help!!

Deny · 05-01-2015, 07:41 PM

Good Job! You worked through your problems, successfully.

R2Home · 05-02-2015, 09:08 AM

Most 'normal' batteries will only take being completely discharged a few times. How old are your batteries? Those in our coaches take a lot of abuse and do need to be replaced from time to time.
OP, glad to here that it was something simple this time and that you learned a little more about your MH. Even though we have had MH's for several years, I am always learning something new every time I take it out of storage.