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Monkyswrench · 11-05-2024, 03:30 PM

I'm working on a 2004 Travel Supreme 45ft behemoth. The owner said he crossed polarity, and let some of the "magical" smoke out of the wires. Supposedly, he and friend got the fuses and such replaced, but then had a crank no start issue. I got called in to look at it then. From the get-go, the poor ignition switch wires looked to have been poked and prodded to nothing. Flipped the power on, at the disconnect, and all the guage warning lights started to blink, the speedo said "no speedo" and the shift panel did not wake up. At this point, I went to the battery shelf, an saw some creativity. The pack of grounds were screwed to the 12v pos! Black, white red wires, mixed and on different terminals. I'm hoping the get it running again. What I'm looking for is a picture of the batteries. I don't want to do the same thing they did. I've scoured the web, but not the most common thing to find I would guess.

SafariBen · 11-06-2024, 09:11 PM

Not much help, but it sounds like you're newish to RVs. Beware, RV "house" wiring is commonly done with black as HOT and white as NEGATIVE/ground, this may be limited to the 12v circuits off the house battery, but it could involve some of the wires you're looking at. Obviously WHITE is not used in typical chassis wiring.

Another hint is the transmission and engine controllers may be mounted by the house manufacturer, and use wire extensions following HOUSE custom, black/white. No power to the engine or trans controller, no crank, no start.

Monkyswrench · 11-07-2024, 08:15 PM

Thank you Safari Ben. In some of the pics I did find online, there were some larger gauge (maybe 4g?) white wires running to the negative side of the chassis batteries. Yes, that seemed very odd to me. I just got home from replacing leaf springs on a trailer 130 miles away, and will be messing with this coach 200 miles south of here in the morning.

I am packing some long test leads. and going to try and figure out what goes where before I start hooking things up. I'm thinking it should be down to just that. The heavy gauge blacks and whites I need to track down...

Stay tuned, it will be either an epic success, or an epic failure

Monkyswrench · 12-05-2024, 12:32 AM

Well, it's been a bit, and I apologize. That morning I made my trek south to Tucson. I started out tracking wires down, and figuring out what was where...and a whole lot wasn't where it was supposed to be. Got it fired up, the gauges and shifter working. Woohoo! It was not charging though, but the scan tool said mechanically she was sound. The owner was going to have his buddy swap an alternator on it, but some things were in need of help.

Last Wednesday, the owner calls me up, lighting issues, slides and levelers won't work. This coach had the rear cap replaced in this fiasco, and some lighting changes. Well, just tonight, his friend drove the coach to my house and dropped it off. He wants me to get it squared away...

Stay tuned, this is bound to get interesting.

SafariBen · 12-05-2024, 08:11 AM

I won't swap an alternator without testing the voltage on the terminals first. Not all of the terminals are important, but more than just the big one, unless the big one is 14V.

Monkyswrench · 12-05-2024, 03:23 PM

Somehow, miraculously, it made the drive up here last night. The driver called halfway, running out of daylight, and said it had no headlights! About 8pm, it comes lumbering down the road with headlights on. Apparently they came on, but he hadn't noticed where or when. Parked it in my driveway for the night, it being so big and me unfamiliar with it figured it best to wait to park it by the shop in daylight.

Tried to start it about 8, cranked over and clicked, batteries low. Jumped it and let it run while I prepped a spot for it, but still seems as though not charging. Have it on a charger now, will need to fire it up and put a meter on it.

One of it's many other issues, no accessory power. Just checked the switch, and it is supplying power, but no radio, and the slides need an accessory 12v feed as well as some others. Fun, fun!

mckellyb · 12-11-2024, 10:11 AM

TBH, the OEM HID low-beams on my '06 are barely better than a Mag-Lite from 1993.

Replace the bulbs, and maybe the power supplies, and you're going to need to aim them.