Battery Charging issue

[MoonLyght]

Hi Everyone!

Hope y'll are staying warm and dry with the crazy weather

I still have some questions re my battery charging. What I've discovered / kind of fixed so far is:
-pulled the "house battery" out completely... Nothing changed... Cables not even connected and battery was shot
-"emergency" battery is what's powering the house when not on shore power
-isolator was bad...just got that replaced
-finally found where the voltage regulator was located... Changed that

For the first time, the main battery stay charged over night, but does on the 4th attempt to start it, this morning.

She's hard to start and drains the Nauru fast ... The picture shows two solenoids... Can't find anything as to why, but I'm pretty sure they 're okay as she starts with a quick jump now... Any ideas? Thank you

[Skip426]

OK ; without being hands on , this is like doing dentistry over the phone.

Here's your picture with questions. and some possibles .

Is the wiring in the red oval burnt off ?
Does the cable with the yellow arrow come from the chassis batteries?
Does the cable with the white arrow go to the starter ?
Does the cable with the blue arrow come from the alternator?
Best guess without being there is ;These are the possibilities
Relay ( solenoid ) in white oval is the starter relay
The one with yellow is the boost relay , to interconnect the battery banks ( house and chassis to start the engine, provided the house batteries have power.

[MoonLyght]

Originally Posted by Skip426

OK ; without being hands on , this is like doing dentistry over the phone.

Here's your picture with questions. and some possibles .

Is the wiring in the red oval burnt off ?
Does the cable with the yellow arrow come from the chassis batteries?
Does the cable with the white arrow go to the starter ?
Does the cable with the blue arrow come from the alternator?
Best guess without being there is ;These are the possibilities
Relay ( solenoid ) in white oval is the starter relay
The one with yellow is the boost relay , to interconnect the battery banks ( house and chassis to start the engine, provided the house batteries have power.

Hi, Skip...

Yes, that one was burned... Fixed that re fusible link. Took a bit to find what would work. Crossed up the cables when connecting the battery (no judging )

As for the other questions, I'll have to get under there tomorrow and let you know re dark.

[Skip426]

I'll add another ( green arrow ) this wire makes no sense if the white oval is the starter relay .

JMHO: disconnect it from the dual battery isolator and tape it off , because if it's in the wrong place it could well be the cause of some of your problems.

[MoonLyght]

Originally Posted by Skip426

I'll add another ( green arrow ) this wire makes no sense if the white oval is the starter relay .

JMHO: disconnect it from the dual battery isolator and tape it off , because if it's in the wrong place it could well be the cause of some of your problems.

Cool beans, this gives me a lot to track down tomorrow Thank you!!!

[MoonLyght]

Originally Posted by MoonLyght

Cool beans, this gives me a lot to track down tomorrow Thank you!!!

Okay...

Yellow arrow is positive cable

Green arrow is actually a double wire... One of which is a fusible link.
One is red and one is black and red..
. The black one connects to the solenoid and isolator, and the b/r connecting back to the solenoid and joining another fusible link over to the auxiliary battery.

More to come

[MoonLyght]

Originally Posted by MoonLyght

Okay...

Yellow arrow is positive cable

Green arrow is actually a double wire... One of which is a fusible link.
One is red and one is black and red..
. The black one connects to the solenoid and isolator, and the b/r connecting back to the solenoid and joining another fusible link over to the auxiliary battery.

More to come

And then we just found this... Not plugged in... Underneath the auxiliary.... And I get that is a trickle charger... But what should it be charging and how??? It's not plugged in... And only one of the connectors was hooked into it....

[MoonLyght]

Originally Posted by MoonLyght

And then we just found this... Not plugged in... Underneath the auxiliary.... And I get that is a trickle charger... But what should it be charging and how??? It's not plugged in... And only one of the connectors was hooked into it....

And the green arrow is joined by a 3rd somewhere in the cabling and the splits out and connects to this little white box on the other side wall...

[Skip426]

Boy you're having fun; ; trying to clean up 30+ years of someone messing with the wiring.

I'll read over what you've posted and see if I have more questions or can provide any ideas.

[Sbrownstein]

Yellow circle...was...the battery isolation relay. Coil hasn't been connected for a long time so that is why somebody replaced it with a battery isolation diode block, which it appears you have replaced with a new one. Since there is no isolation relay, there is no boost start and the diode block allows the house and engine to charge from the alternator when running and prevents discharge when not. However, one of the leads on the diode block is pretty light for being rated at 70 amps.

So...the lower relay does nothing anymore and the heavy duty lead from the left to the other "relay" does nothing either, since the isolation relay never closes. what worries me is what happened to the other lead from the old isolation relay?

Is there a battery control center (black box) somewhere that originally powered the isolation relay?

The rightmost relay is controlled by two sources, one is the alternator and it will stay energized as long as the alternator (engine) is running.


One thing is sure...this is a mess and somebody started modifying rather than replacing.

[YC1]

Those rusty connections are an absolute disaster.

Twelve volts has very little push and trying to get through that kind of mess is asking for problems.

Those connections should be cleaned up one by one with the batteries and shoreline disconnected of course.

Before you start doing so use a voltmeter to check every connection you can see on the pictures. Then with the pictures printed write those readings down on the pictures.

Now if anything changes after doing the cleanup you will have a before picture with good information.

This is eating an elephant one bite at a time so go slow. The nice thing is when you are done you will have a greater understanding of the system.

The added charger was probably someones fix for a problem they were not able to diagnose or perhaps just a charger for an engine battery bank that does not get charged when plugged into shoreline.

[TQ60]

You need to take lots of photos.

Get masking tape and later each wire at each connection then take clear photos and print them...4 copies .

As YC1 indicates, measure voltage at every connection with unit off and unplugged from shore power, plugged in to shore power and with engine running both on and off shore power.

Be sure to measure and record the voltages on the small posts on the selenoids.

Now you can determine by voltages on the solenoid controls which ones should be working when.

Next is more difficult...

Drawing out of the wiring so you can figure out what it is now...

[MoonLyght]

Originally Posted by Sbrownstein

Yellow circle...was...the battery isolation relay. Coil hasn't been connected for a long time so that is why somebody replaced it with a battery isolation diode block, which it appears you have replaced with a new one. Since there is no isolation relay, there is no boost start and the diode block allows the house and engine to charge from the alternator when running and prevents discharge when not. However, one of the leads on the diode block is pretty light for being rated at 70 amps.

So...the lower relay does nothing anymore and the heavy duty lead from the left to the other "relay" does nothing either, since the isolation relay never closes. what worries me is what happened to the other lead from the old isolation relay?

Is there a battery control center (black box) somewhere that originally powered the isolation relay?

The rightmost relay is controlled by two sources, one is the alternator and it will stay energized as long as the alternator (engine) is running.


One thing is sure...this is a mess and somebody started modifying rather than replacing.

Hi Scott...

No black box anywhere that I've found yet. Going to tear into the dog house this weekend... As several have suggested, I'll also be cleaning everything. Waiting on a couple of books re chassis and RV specific to get her.

As to yellow circle... Would the coil have been connected to the solenoid??? And is the isolator relay the same as a battery isolator or something different?

[MoonLyght]

Originally Posted by YC1

Those rusty connections are an absolute disaster.

Twelve volts has very little push and trying to get through that kind of mess is asking for problems.

Those connections should be cleaned up one by one with the batteries and shoreline disconnected of course.

Before you start doing so use a voltmeter to check every connection you can see on the pictures. Then with the pictures printed write those readings down on the pictures.

Now if anything changes after doing the cleanup you will have a before picture with good information.

This is eating an elephant one bite at a time so go slow. The nice thing is when you are done you will have a greater understanding of the system.

The added charger was probably someones fix for a problem they were not able to diagnose or perhaps just a charger for an engine battery bank that does not get charged when plugged into shoreline.

Got it! My task Methuen now and the weekend is cleaning and labeling..
As much as I hate jigsaw puzzles. I do like treasure hunts