Charging while driving

[Bukiman]

I have an 04 Ford E 450 V 10 Gulf Stream that does not charge the house battery while driving, where do I start

[mikf]

It has been a long time ago, But on my 1996 Fleetwood Jamboree class C I started at the relay under the hood and found the hot side with the key on and started unwrapping the the wire loom towards the house battery. About 6 inches in I found a diode that was blown. Went to Radio Shack bought a new one and problem solved. The wire that energized the relay was tapped in to a wire under the dash that was only hot with the key on. That was a lot older then your unit, but beings they are both class c yours may be similar. Good luck.

[twinboat]

Start by finding the solenoid that handles charging and boost or aux start.

Push the boost switch on and off and listen for it. Most times they clunk but don't connect internally.

That solenoid goes bad on lots of MHs.

Replace with a contiounus duty type. Standard ones burn out fast.

My solenoid was on the firewall above the master cylinder. I had a 2000 Gulfstar class C.

[TeJay]

Any electrical issue begins with TESTING!! You don't have to be driving to test things but you should IMHO always start with these steps.

1. Engine off and not connected to shore power. Measure engine and house battery voltage. These should be 12.3 to 12.6 or so Volts. If they are closer to 12.0 or below those battery's are needing charged. If any of those batteries are not charged connect a separate charger and charge them until they are holding a charge. If after 12 or more hours of charging any of them are still in the low 12 volt range remove that battery and have it load tested to see if it will accept and hold a charge.

2. Once you are sure all battery's will accept/hold a charge again repeat steps in 1 above to determine the state of charge of each battery. Now plug into shore power and again measure the voltages. You need to determine if your converter is working to charge what batteries. If the voltages are the same then the converter is not charging your house battery's.

3. Obviously if the converter is not charging house battery's that needs to be fixed. I'm not an expert on converters. When we are connected to shore power I can hear the fan on the converter running to keep things cool. I'm guessing the 120 volts SP is converted to 12 volts DC to power all 12 volt devices in the RV as well as charging the house batteries. Some converters are not set up to charge the engine battery when plugged into to SP. That is easily fixed with a $45 device called a TRICK-L-CHARGE. Even our 2014 unit had to have that device to keep the engine battery charged.
check for tripped circuit breakers on the converter.

4. You can now start the engine and measure the voltages at all the batteries to determine if the engine alternater is sending voltage to charge the engine and house battery's. If your engine battery is not being charged by the engine alternator you now know your issue. Your alternator is not working. If your converter is not charging the house battery's while the engine is running again the converter is not working.

I realize I've gone over several steps but this much I've learned about automotive and RV electrical issues. Always begin at the beginning and never skip a step. I did exactly that last fall. My battery's were showing decent static charge. Several times while the unit was still on SP the engine would not crank. The engine battery was only 2 years old so I decided it was OK. That was my mistake. As soon as I tried to crank the engine the voltage went to below 12 volts. So I charged it and it cranked. Drove 30 miles and got a low voltage reading on the dash. The engine battery just failed and would not hold a charge. I should have know better but got lazy and made an asumption the engine battery was OK which bit me in the butt!!. Replaced the battery and all is fine!! Had to eat some humble pie as well.

[THenne1713]

Normally TWO solenoids connect engine/ house, one an EMERGENCY BOOST/ START, (toggle/ rocker switch control); the other House CHARGE, (controlled by IGN=ON). I verified on my Class-C Ford the other day, IGN controlled solenoid = drivers firewall, Boost = under step. Some solenoids have fuses mounted on them?

[twinboat]

Originally Posted by TeJay

If your converter is not charging the house battery's while the engine is running again the converter is not working.

.

The converter has nothing to do with charging the house battery, while the engine is running.

What's called an " Isolation solenoid " connects the chassis battery to the house battery, when the alternator is charging the chassis battery. Its an automatic jumper cable that parallels the batteries.

Some by turning on the key and others thru a voltage sensing controller.

[twinboat]

Originally Posted by THenne1713

Normally TWO solenoids connect engine/ house, one an EMERGENCY BOOST/ START, (toggle/ rocker switch control); the other House CHARGE, (controlled by IGN=ON). I verified on my Class-C Ford the other day, IGN controlled solenoid = drivers firewall, Boost = under step. Some solenoids have fuses mounted on them?

Its not normal for there to be 2 solenoids between the batteries.

In most MHs only one is used for both functions.

I also had a 2000 class C with seperate solenoids, one for charging on the firewall and a second for Aux battery, under the step, with a switch near the door.
When I bought it, they were both bad.

[THenne1713]

Originally Posted by twinboat

Its not normal for there to be 2 solenoids between the batteries.

In most MHs only one is used for both functions.

I also had a 2000 class C with separate solenoids, one for charging on the firewall and a second for Aux battery, under the step, with a switch near the door.
When I bought it, they were both bad.

So TWINBOAT, did look in my file and (2001+ later Gulfstream) I see 1-solenoid (aside from slightly lower cost)? Personally, I LIKE the two :-)

[twinboat]

Originally Posted by THenne1713

So TWINBOAT, did look in my file and (2001+ later Gulfstream) I see 1-solenoid (aside from slightly lower cost)? Personally, I LIKE the two :-)

The cost saving was in the solenoid and the boost battery cable running next to the charge battery cable. Both were the same gauge.

[Bukiman]

Sounds like a job for a professional

[twinboat]

Originally Posted by Bukiman

Sounds like a job for a professional

If your not comfortable around 12 volt battery cables, with enough energy to weld something, you may want to let a pro fix it.