Community Forums

bpotter · 04-20-2016, 07:14 PM

Jeff,
no mine is a little more involved.

distaff · 04-21-2016, 07:30 AM

Byron,

I don't see the BIRD in that picture. I do see an Intellitec board on the left, perhaps that is it without the plastic cover.

Mine is in the rear run box inside the engine compartment, but my box looks a lot different. My BigBoy is mounted pointing up, on the top of the box, with the BIRD tucked into the corner beside it.

Regarding the solar, good catch. I wired mine into both the coach and chassis because Monaco only wired it to the coach and let the BIRD/BigBoy system engage to charge the chassis side. I didn't like that because the chassis side would not charge with the disconnect switch thrown, so I wired the solar controller to both. There should be a fuse in line with the wiring to battery, and I pull the fuse when working on the electrical systems, as well as cutting off the batteries with the disconnect switch.

bpotter · 04-22-2016, 04:06 PM

when I opened up the old big boy, it is surprising any power was working at all.

Steve Ownby · 04-22-2016, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by distaff

Byron,

I don't see the BIRD in that picture. I do see an Intellitec board on the left, perhaps that is it without the plastic cover.

Mine is in the rear run box inside the engine compartment, but my box looks a lot different. My BigBoy is mounted pointing up, on the top of the box, with the BIRD tucked into the corner beside it.

Regarding the solar, good catch. I wired mine into both the coach and chassis because Monaco only wired it to the coach and let the BIRD/BigBoy system engage to charge the chassis side. I didn't like that because the chassis side would not charge with the disconnect switch thrown, so I wired the solar controller to both. There should be a fuse in line with the wiring to battery, and I pull the fuse when working on the electrical systems, as well as cutting off the batteries with the disconnect switch.

In the pic, the BIRD board is on the far right of the box. It's the board with the 2 little yellow buttons on the left edge of the board.

I have to say, that is a seriously nasty BigBoy internals.

Steve Ownby · 04-22-2016, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by distaff

Byron,

I don't see the BIRD in that picture. I do see an Intellitec board on the left, perhaps that is it without the plastic cover.

Mine is in the rear run box inside the engine compartment, but my box looks a lot different. My BigBoy is mounted pointing up, on the top of the box, with the BIRD tucked into the corner beside it.

Regarding the solar, good catch. I wired mine into both the coach and chassis because Monaco only wired it to the coach and let the BIRD/BigBoy system engage to charge the chassis side. I didn't like that because the chassis side would not charge with the disconnect switch thrown, so I wired the solar controller to both. There should be a fuse in line with the wiring to battery, and I pull the fuse when working on the electrical systems, as well as cutting off the batteries with the disconnect switch.

In the pic, the BIRD board is on the far right of the box. It's the board with the 2 little yellow buttons on the left edge of the board.

I have to say, that is a seriously nasty BigBoy internals.

bpotter · 04-22-2016, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Ownby

In the pic, the BIRD board is on the far right of the box. It's the board with the 2 little yellow buttons on the left edge of the board.

I have to say, that is a seriously nasty BigBoy internals.

Thanks Steve, If things quit that board will be the next suspect replacement. So far so good though with the charging now.

distaff · 04-22-2016, 10:32 PM

Good catch, Steve. That is nothing like the one I have, maybe because I've got a plastic cover on mine. It is also not wired in a similar way, and mine has no buttons. It may be a different system. The service manual I posted is the part I have.

It is worth noting that I've had several problems with my system and it has never been the BIRD system. My BigBoy was dirty (nothing as bad as Byron's), a secondary relay that combined the Boost switch and the BIRD outputs to the BigBoy (a $5 part) was bad, and a bad temperature sensor causing the inverter to put out such a low voltage on float charging that it would never trigger the BIRD system so my chassis batteries would die from the drains.

Add to that the condition of the batteries themselves, and the state of the connections, and you can have some fun with charging systems.

Steve Ownby · 04-23-2016, 07:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bpotter

Thanks Steve, If things quit that board will be the next suspect replacement. So far so good though with the charging now.

I notice from the pic of your rear run box that the two solenoids to the right of the Big Boy and to the left of the circuit board still appear to be in OEM configuration. Those two (look like old starter solenoids) are controlled by the "salesman" switch close to the door. If you don't use that switch, you might consider jumpering the big lugs and disconnecting and taping off the small wires. These solenoids are high failure points and if you don't use the function, taking them out of the circuit will save you some future grief. As I understand it, one of these sends 12 VDC to the front run bay and the other to the domestic 12 VDC fuse box usually somewhere in the rear of the coach.

If you want to troubleshoot the BIRD circuit board, call Monaco Tech support while standing at the rear with the box open with a VOM in hand & they will be happy to walk you through it. The circuit board changed at some point over the years it was used and a second ground wire was added, but the tech support guys will know what you have.