96 Bounder blinker / volt meter

[cm2785]

Hey guys,

I recently bought a 1996 Bounder 34j with 11k miles. It’s on a 1997 F53 chassis. While having the Banks setup installed the header guy left the step on all night and drained my chassis battery. When starting it on the aux battery the volt meter would fluctuate back and forth in the middle by a couple needle widths and the tv for the backup camera had interference in it.. after about 30 minutes I could see it wasn’t getting better or charging so I pulled the battery and sure enough the battery tested bad. I bought a brand new Odyssey battery, almost a $300 battery and it worked perfect, everything is working good, charging and the needle is solid.. but it got me thinking... one thing I’ve noticed since I bought it is when I turn the blinkers on, either side every time it clicks the needle on the volt meter drops a needle, then goes back up when it’s off, and so on.. does anyone have any ideas what that could be? I noticed this rig seems to be wired differently from Fleetwood. Meaning, instead of the radio fuse being on the fuse panel under the dash like the chassis came with it’s with the Fleetwood wiring. When you **** the motor off the volt meter goes dead completely, vs staying on in a regular Ford (I believe that’s how they worked). Any help would be appreciated! Thanks again!

[BFlinn181]

When the turn signal lights are drawing power, the voltmeter shows it, so that's normal. It could be a sign of a dirty or weak ground connection, you could remove and clean them to see if it changes.

If the voltmeter stayed on all the time, it would drain the battery. Dash radios are often wired through a dash switch to choose power from the chassis battery and go on and off with the ignition key. The dash switch can switch the radio to the house battery to use when parked without having to have the ignition switch and all the related power drains on. If you don't have that switch, it's not hard to add it.

Using a multimeter, it would be a good idea to test chassis and house batteries volts at rest, plugged into shore power, and when the engine is running. 12.7v is a fully charged battery, 13.4v or more would show it's connected to converter/charger or alternator. If you don't see the batteries connect together when a charging current is present, then either you have a malfunctioning battery isolation circuit or your RV didn't come equipped with this useful function.

[cm2785]

Thanks for the information! We did test the batteries and they do charge when the engine is running or it’s plugged in/on Gen.. just can’t figure out why the needle moves like that for just the blinkers.. like it’s drawing too much power..

[olcarguy]

That's a normal ocurance, lights are on needle drop's, when they shut off needle goes up. Just like that old joke....are my signals working.... Yes....no...yes....no

[astrnmrtom]

An 1157 turn signal bulb will draw a couple amps when lit, this added to whatever the flasher coil draws sure could be enough to move the needle.

[cm2785]

Okay thanks guys!