Switch Function House Battery Bay

[ArgoPilot]

Veterans of the 1993-1996 Spartan 38' chassis, Holiday Rambler Navigator/Endeavor (I believe the two are similar), your ears and brainy bits, please.

Right rear bay behind right rear wheels...from front to back, house batteries slide-out tray, presumably 110v fuse and relay panel, and house AC condensers and fans. Right in front of the fuse/relay panel is a large, spring-loaded high-voltage-type switch. The mechanic who built my new battery cables said it was a shutoff for the house batteries. When I ran my generator for the first time, with the switch 'on', there was no AC input indicated on the Heart Interface panel. When I turned the switch 'off' and fired up the generator, AC input WAS indicated, and AC appliances and outlets worked.

Question: is that a switchover from shore power to generator power, or is it indeed an 'on/off' switch for the house batteries? Also, does this era motorhome come with an auto switchover system or not? 'Cause if it DOES, then something's up in Denmark.

Any info regarding would be awesome. Thanks in advance.

[jumpjg]

ArgoPilot,

I also have a '94 Navigator - I love mine too! I see you have found the "Are you a 93-96 Navigator owner?" thread. Better place for these type of questions.

On my rig the switch is indeed a house battery disconnect. Whenever I walk away from my rig in the storage lot I turn it off (along with the chassis battery disconnect switch in the front L/H bay).

You said...

"I turned the switch 'off' and fired up the generator, AC input WAS indicated, and AC appliances and outlets worked."

Sounds like normal operation to me. Battery banks are 12Vdc. Genset output is 120Vac. With the disconnect switch in the 'off' position you are not sending 12Vdc from the house batteries to the converter/inverter, but the output from the Genset is powering up all ac systems. Note that with the Genset running or when plugged into shore power and the disconnect switch is in the 'off' position, the converter/inverter is not able to re-charge the house batteries.

There is some sort of isolator that disconnects the chassis batteries from the house batteries when not plugged in or running the Genset so the chassis batteries are not drawn down while boondocking. I don't think it is a "bird" per se (https://www.intellitec.com/index.php...rging/The_BIRD), but it does keep the two battery banks isolated.

On my rig the Genset has a belt driven 12Vdc alternator which charges the chassis batteries. And I think the converter/inverter will charge both banks when plugged into shore power.

There is also a momentary 'boost' switch on the dash that will connect the house battery bank to the chassis bank if the chassis batteries go dead while parked. The dash switch controls a big solenoid (perhaps 2) inside the 12 volt panel located in the right rear bay with the house batteries. Those solenoids are known to fail on occasion. Should be able to hear them click/check out with a multimeter when a helper presses the boost switch.

Hope this helps,

[ArgoPilot]

Wait...you have the same genset that I do, right? Onan Quiet Diesel 10k with a 1500cc 3cyl Kubota engine? And it DOESN'T charge your house batteries via the inverter/converter? 'Cause as far as I can tell, mine DOES. Eh...one way or the other, at least the old genset fires up the IMPORTANT things!


Thankfully, I haven't had to use that 'aux start' switch yet. YET.

By the way, howdy! Nice to hear from you again!