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Probably a failure of the charge relay. Our Itasca has two relays, one for the battery boost and the other for coach battery charging. It could be a loose connection too.
The next time you run the camper push the boost switch for a few seconds and see if the the coach batteries are showing a charge.
The relay can be a pain to find and replace. Winnebago puts them under the steps above the batteries.
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2003 Itasca Suncruiser 38G
1998 Jeep Cherokee. Ready Brute Elite tow bar and brake. Tow Mate wireless light bar.
I'm pretty sure you have a BIRD system similar to schematic that consists of a circuit board (PCB #6) and Big Boy relay in rear run bay. When the engine is running and the chassis battery voltage exceeds about 13.5v the relay is energized to bridge the two battery banks. Conversely when you are parked and the chassis batteries are being charged by inverter/charger and their voltage is above 13.5v the relay will energize to also charge the chassis batteries.
Start the engine and see if the relay is energized and troubleshoot from there.
Ob-one, were those battery voltages read with the motor running or with the Sig plugged into shore power? Unplug from shore power and have the motor and generator off and ignition key on and read the house and chassis battery voltages off the Aladdin. Then start the motor and read those two voltages again and tell us what they all are.
Also, before you "moved" the Sig were you plugged into shore power or not?
__________________ Mike Canter "Gunner" USN Retired, Airdale 2004 Monaco Signature 44' Conquest. Detroit 60
When you say "moved the coach" I wonder how long it was running. A couple of minutes for a warmup and move it a bit will not add much battery charge. In addition a really smart controller system will not try to charge the house battery until after the chassis battery has had a few minutes to bulk charge to replace some of the power used to start the engine. Now if it was a half hour running time "nevermind". ;-)
We had a similar problem on our 2004 Windsor, house batteries would discharge while driving. The cause was a bad charging solenoid located in the back passenger side bay. It is suppose to engage and allow the house batteries to be charged by the alternator when the engine running.
Hope this helps.
The coach had been on shore power, everything fine. Made preparations to leave, closed slides and started engine. Engine ran for about 20-minutes while hooking up toad and finishing preparations to move. Made final check of systems before pulling out and found house batteries at 12.5 and chassis batteries at 13.8. Shut down and restarted main engine, no change. Tapped on main power relays in the engine compartment and took a quick look for obvious problems, nothing found and no change in voltages. Needed to get moving so I started the generator. Charger came on and recharged house batteries and we hit the road. Haven't had the time to dig into anything yet.
That is not what I call very low battery voltage. I have added a chart below. The charging is controlled by the Big Boy Relay that is in your Rear Run Box. The biggest one there. Mine and several other Sig owners started to read slightly low voltages so I took mine off and took it apart and cleaned it. Easy job. I wrote an article on it and have included it below. We still need to check voltages with and without the engine running and no shore power and let me know what they are.
__________________ Mike Canter "Gunner" USN Retired, Airdale 2004 Monaco Signature 44' Conquest. Detroit 60
OB-one I had the same problem with my Nav and I replaced the Big-Boy solenoid and all is well. Mine would charge the house and chassis batteries while plugged in, but when unhooked from electricity and the truck running only the chassis batteries charged. I used the auto start on the gen while traveling to keep the house batteries from going too low until I got the solenoid replaced. Randy
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Randy & Kathy-n-Auggie
07 HR Navigator 43PBQ, 525hp Cummins ISX, 17 Ford Supercrew Ecoboost King Ranch 4x4
Moved the coach this evening. Noticed that the house batteries were down at 12.5VDC while the Chassis batteries were at 13.8VDC.
What is the most likely cause of the house batteries not charging from the engine alternator?
When you start the engine all the charging goes into the chassis batteries only, if the house batteries were fairly low it can take a couple of hours of running before the chassis batteries are full, then when full the relay will switch over and charge the house battery pack, I have 8 6v house batteries and once I got them down to just under 12 volts, both chassis and house, it took 3 hours for the house batteries to start charging, and all the batteries are almost new, my question did you run the engine long enough, running the generator will charge the house batteries first thing that may be a better option
The coach had been on shore power, everything fine. Made preparations to leave, closed slides and started engine. Engine ran for about 20-minutes while hooking up toad and finishing preparations to move. Made final check of systems before pulling out and found house batteries at 12.5 and chassis batteries at 13.8. Shut down and restarted main engine, no change. Tapped on main power relays in the engine compartment and took a quick look for obvious problems, nothing found and no change in voltages. Needed to get moving so I started the generator. Charger came on and recharged house batteries and we hit the road. Haven't had the time to dig into anything yet.
If you were on shore power your batteries should have been full charged, age of batteries, charger?, it could be a lot of things going on, best of luck finding the problem
1. disconnect shoreline
2. find large solenoid in battery compartment
3. turn on lots of interior lights
4. Measure voltage on each large terminal, write it down
5. plug into shoreline, take measurements again. both sides should be the same,
not 1/2 volt difference but the same. If not, measure the voltage on the small
terminals. One should be zero, the other should be 13.5 volts
6. If things are working in the previous tests, remove shoreline and start the engine.
Idle about three or four minutes and while it is running do the same
measurements as in 5.
In the first step your charger from shoreline supplies the voltage that should make the solenoid combine both banks. In the second step your alternator should supply the voltage to control the solenoid.
Your generator is the same thing as shoreline with one exception, IF the engine is running and the generator is running the solenoid is NOT activated.
The solenoid in question is a common failure item. I highly recommend changing it out. They can become intermittent and cause all kinds of issues. If I suggested that you change a water filter or oil filter you would not hesitate but suggesting one change and electronic component out as a maintenance item seems foreign to some folks. It would be easy to have someone change spark plugs or points but for some reason changing a solenoid is either scary or just not understood. Starters and starter solenoids wear out, so do other solenoids. Cheap insurance in the world of these monster RV's.
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Certified Senior Electronic Technician, Telecommunications Engineer, Telecommunications repair Service Center Owner, Original owner HR 2008
My Knight has a The Battery Maintainer. The following is from my owners manual.
"The Battery Maintainer (Bi-Directional Isolator Relay Delay) constantly senses voltage of the house and chassis batteries. With engine running, both the house and chassis batteries are charged from the engine alternator. When the motorhome is plugged into shore power or operating from the generator, both the house and chassis batteries are charged from the inverter. If neither battery is being charged, the batteries are fully isolated. The battery maintainer also senses heavy loads on either battery to prevent the wrong battery from being inadvertently discharged."
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2012 Monaco Knight 36 PFT
Towing either a 2019 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland or a car in a 20' enclosed car trailer.
House Batteries Not Charging From Alternator
Linear Mode
