Community Forums

10 fan · 05-20-2020, 09:48 PM

I posted this in the Newmar owners section a while back, should of posted it here.

After cleaning chassis batteries I hooked up the cables and the horn started honking and wouldn't stop. After a lot of work and research Spartan said the horn is controlled by the SCM (Spartan Control Module). Spartan says you must follow this procedure to disconnect the batteries or you could damage the SCM.
Battery compartment
1, Turn off both disconnects (open)
2, Remove fuse panel cover and remove F10 (Ign. SW. 15amp fuse)
3, Remove negative battery cable, remove positive if needed but not necessary for what's next.

Spartan Control Module Hard Reset
Do 1,2,3 above
In front generator compartment
4, Remove the positive cable (3/4" wrench) from the SCM (mine is below the air horns, gold heat sink fins about 10" X 10"
5, Remove the two wire connections P1 and P2, 5/32" allen on the bottom of P1 and P2, carefully pull straight down.
6, Wait 10 minutes and connect in reverse order.
Check the orange rubber gasket around P1 and P2 when you reinstall.

I wanted to share this because it sounds like something we could do if engine shuts down, power cuts back, sensor causes check engine light or problems. The DEF head failure some have had made me think of this. Unfortunately the hard reset didn't solve my problem so I will be checking the input and output of the SCM and it will probably have to be replaced.
The SCM was bad and Spartan sent me a new one.

AFChap · 05-21-2020, 09:14 AM

I have noticed when I change chassis batteries, disconnecting only the negative terminal results in the horn honking. Beyond that, I have had no problems with the issue. I have swapped out batteries several times over 17 years of ownership.

Ray,IN · 05-24-2020, 10:02 PM

I've never experienced that when working on batteries_yet. Thanks for the information.

10 fan · 05-26-2020, 08:04 AM

I disconnected them two other times and had no problem, the third time damaged it. First call to Newmar and Spartan I was told to open both disconnects first. Second call to Spartan was the same thing. The third call I was told you have to follow the above procedure. I don't think most tech's ever heard of it.

Jason181 · 06-02-2020, 05:37 PM

I disconnected the battery cables to clean and test the batteries. Reconnected the cables thinking all went well. Later that evening when I started the coach I noticed that I had no tail lights or clearance lights. All the fuses seem to be good. Headlight are working. After reading this post, I'm wondering if I need to disconnect the SCM.

10 fan · 06-08-2020, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason181

I disconnected the battery cables to clean and test the batteries. Reconnected the cables thinking all went well. Later that evening when I started the coach I noticed that I had no tail lights or clearance lights. All the fuses seem to be good. Headlight are working. After reading this post, I'm wondering if I need to disconnect the SCM.

Try doing the hard reset of the SCM. Maybe it will help. All of the lights are controlled by the SCM.