Community Forums

binderman · 06-20-2020, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by binderman

we live full time in our motorhome. accidently hitting battery disconnect switch going in & out of door is a pain. is there a problem with me bypassing solenoid?

Thanks for all the suggestions. No one has said it would mess up any of my electrical wiring if I disconnect the switch totally and let the wires hang.

Anyone know why I shouldn’t do this?

twinboat · 06-20-2020, 01:31 PM

You can do that, just tape up each one so they don't touch.

YC1 · 06-20-2020, 05:41 PM

Won't hurt anything but how will you activate it when your power goes down etc or something causes the solenoid to drop out?

twinboat · 06-20-2020, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YC1

Won't hurt anything but how will you activate it when your power goes down etc or something causes the solenoid to drop out?

A 2011 MH more then likely has a latching relay. Once they latch, it takes a shot of reverse polarity to un-latch them.

YC1 · 06-21-2020, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twinboat

A 2011 MH more then likely has a latching relay. Once they latch, it takes a shot of reverse polarity to un-latch them.

As did my 2008 but there is a chance it could get reversed in a power up/down situation. Could lead to some confusion.

Strange things happen. There are ghosts inside these walls.

twinboat · 06-21-2020, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YC1

As did my 2008 but there is a chance it could get reversed in a power up/down situation. Could lead to some confusion.

Strange things happen. There are ghosts inside these walls.

I don't believe in ghosts or gremlins.

There is always a reason.

bjbear · 06-21-2020, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by binderman

Thanks for all the suggestions. No one has said it would mess up any of my electrical wiring if I disconnect the switch totally and let the wires hang.

Anyone know why I shouldn’t do this?

Binderman - Bypassing the solenoid will definitely not harm your wiring in any way what so ever. Many, many owners have done this including myself.

I strongly recommend that you actually bypass the solenoid and do not disable the switch. The solenoids have a fairly high failure rate. If you just disable the switch, at some point in the future, your solenoid might fail and then you will have to bypass it anyway. I actually removed my solenoid and just used a jumper of the correct wiring size to replace it.

For those who want to argue for keeping it in service, I would ask how many times have they used the switch for it's intended purpose? If I am living in my coach, I want the 12V house circuits in service. My owners manual says the switch can be used when boondocking to conserve electricity, but I never have found it to be useful as I am quite capable of shutting off my lights when I need to!! My manual also says that it is not suitable for a battery isolation because there are many parasitic loads that the cut-off switch does not control (i.e. the inverter/converter).

Although as twinboat pointed out, it is not "officially" called a salesman's switch, that is what many owners call it because that is really the only purpose it serves. Just google "salesman switch" to see all the discussions on this subject over the years.

binderman · 06-22-2020, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by binderman

Thanks for all the suggestions. No one has said it would mess up any of my electrical wiring if I disconnect the switch totally and let the wires hang.

Anyone know why I shouldn’t do this?

Thanks for the replies, they were very helpful.

Alreadygone · 06-28-2020, 05:10 PM

Hello everyone,
I hope all is well. I have an electrical question, not sure who to ask.
My overseas Inverter is putting out 220V and I need 110/120, so my question is " what is the best way to achieve this? I looked in to step downs, switches etc, there are to many options.
Thank you for any advice.
Jen