Just swapped out my old engine batteries with two new ones. I started the rig, the annunciator lights all came on, (and then stayed on), no buzzer sounded, and no gauges at all on the dash. Engine started fine, but absolutely nothing on the gauges. Is there some type of reset procedure for the panel after it's been disconnected for a couple of hours??
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I checked the obvious fuses, at least the ones I thought might have something to do with it, and they were all fine. (I should probably check all 15-20 of them just to make sure).
I'll go back up tomorrow and see if there is a wire that I somehow missed (I zip-tied each group of wires together when I took them off the old battery so that I couldn't screw them up when I put them back on, but there's always the possibility....).
I'm attaching a couple of pics of my dashboard. The annunciator panel looks like this right after I turn the key to the "On" position. After about 30 seconds it looks like the second picture, and continues to look like that after it has been started and is running.
Thanks in advance to anybody who might be able to shed some light on this one.
Your Freightliner dash gauge package is a MMDC, ( Multi Module Data Center , used 2003>2007 )
I hope something in these two pdfs on the system will help .
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99DSDP 3884, Freightliner, XC, CAT 3126B, 300 HP /ALLISON 3060
2000 Caravan toad, Remco & Blue Ox.
Yes, that's definitely my unit. I actually have both of those documents and went through both of them. Lots of good info, but unfortunately no troubleshooting situations actually matched mine. I might try the battery disconnect/re-connect tomorrow, but not too confident about that solving the issue.
In the automotive world there is a small fuse that allows the gauges to work, I think it is labeled inst. or clstr but something to that effect ( I had this problem on one ofmy old vehicle's years ago and my older brother told me that was the issue... he was right... )
Hope this helps
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2003 Fleetwood Storm 30H 8.1 Gas P32 chassis
Ok Randy ; your dash appears to stuck in " Bulb check " mode ; and this could be a low voltage supply issue , as you work on the battery wiring , look very carefully at each wire connector for corrosion , as even a 2 volt drop in voltage supply to an electronic module can create issues.
Are you testing for power at the dash with a digital volt meter or a 12 volt test light ( with incandescent bulb ) ?
Volt meter only requires milli amps to give a reading , where the bulb puts a load on the circuit and can help diagnose a bad connection , by producing a dull light .
A PO of my coach must have had an issue with wires connected to the batteries as all small wires were moved from the batteries to a buss bar to get them away from corrosion due to battery off gassing.
Only two cables from chassis batteries positive post ; one to the starter and one to the buss bar.
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99DSDP 3884, Freightliner, XC, CAT 3126B, 300 HP /ALLISON 3060
2000 Caravan toad, Remco & Blue Ox.
Turns out that I've found the enemy....and the enemy is ME!!! When I reattached all of the negative wires (there are 6 small wires, like you mentioned in your post, that attach to the anode), I missed one! Not sure how I did that, but I did. After re-attaching that one wire, everything is working perfectly. I'm guessing that wire is attached directly to the MMDC, since power was making it to the dash, but the symptoms were indicating there was no connection to the MMDC...turns out there WAS a connection to the MMDC, but the MMDC had no power and was effectively dead.
I actually like the idea of moving all of the small wires, (that are attached to the anode and cathode), over to their own buss bar. I'm not having any corrosion issues at the time, but it would certainly simplify the changing of the batteries, and minimize the opportunity to make the same mistake I did.
Anyway, thanks everybody for your thoughts and ideas!! This forum has saved my butt too many times to count!
There are options for buss bars and power/ground studs and I don't know why coach/chassis builders don't use them . Probably save time on the assembly line and every electrical repair through the life of the RV.
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99DSDP 3884, Freightliner, XC, CAT 3126B, 300 HP /ALLISON 3060
2000 Caravan toad, Remco & Blue Ox.
Linear Mode
