Community Forums

wcope213 · 03-02-2021, 08:33 PM

Because of Covid, we haven't used our rv for about a year. We did go to the storage place and start it about once a month at least. It started and ran about two weeks ago when we had the tires rotated. Yesterday, we went to start it and it did nothing. Checked the chassis battery and it was very low so we had it charged. We cleaned the connectors and they are on correctly. Also changed the battery shut off switch (it had been acting up) Nothing is working, no click, no nothing. Also no house power either. We are going to check fuses/breaker tomorrow along with GFCI. Anything else we are missing? This comes at the worst time - we are moving and need to get our Rex to where we are moving so we can live in it until we find the land we want. We have a 2003 Rexair triple slide.

Skip426 · 03-04-2021, 07:51 AM

Ok , your problems are with 12 volt systems , both chassis and coach so any GFCI or 120 volt circuit breakers will have nothing to do with the issue.

Do you have multi meter or a 12 volt test light ?

Your battery positive cables will probably have a master fuse or 12 volt circuit breaker within 3 feet of the battery positive terminals , those need to be located and tested for power through to the rest of the chassis/coach.
Most look like the photos below . Black tab is a reset on the second unit. Pictures do not correctly indicate size , top one is the size of the palm of your hand , bottom the size of your thumb from the knuckle to nail .

Unplanned Tourist · 03-04-2021, 08:08 AM

Remove and clean the ground cables. All it takes is a bad connection somewhere to shut you down.

wcope213 · 03-04-2021, 02:16 PM

Just wanted to thank those who responded. After hours of tracing where wires go, and finding things we never knew were there, we finally found that the solenoid was bad. The one fuse (smaller one) we found was to the left of the steering column and never did find the bigger one, but thanks to your great photos we knew what we were looking for. We also rechecked and cleaned the cables. In finding those though, we found the solenoid and found our solution. But between the owners manual and the power train manual, they could have made things just a LITTLE clearer. And a wiring diagram and part locator would have helped too. Makes me want to get out the labeler and label any part I find so we know what it is in the future! Anyway, thanks very much for your help.

Skip426 · 03-04-2021, 06:54 PM

Glad you found your issue and are mobile .

BTW: In ten years of owning my coach , I've found fuses in 10 locations ; 4 chassis and 6 Newmar , and I'm not 100% sure I've found them all .

Take notes !

GunninGopher · 03-21-2021, 06:37 PM

Aren't those both breakers? The bottom one I would have pegged as an auto-reset breaker.

I've used the top kind on a few situations. I like that it doubles as a cutoff switch. I did get a "foreign" made one recently that tripped at about 1/2 its rated capacity, so I won't go cheap on those any more.

I'm glad the OP got it sorted out on the cheap. My old motorhome sat for a couple of years and I couldn't get any power to the instrument cluster, starter or anything on the chassis system. I ran through wiring diagrams running backwards testing for voltage trying to figure out where I was getting power. Nothing except on the battery terminals themselves. I finally tried from the B + to ground on the chassis and realized that was where I had the problem. I had made sure the cable connections were good already. It ended up being the ground cable itself that was extremely resistant internally. It looked great on the terminals and wire, but it must have gotten pretty rotten inside.

I felt great that it was such a simple problem. These electrical issues can be a real pain, and there are miles of wires and hundreds of components in these RV's. For me, being handy with electrical systems is just part of ownership requirements for an older one.

AnotherMike · 03-21-2021, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GunninGopher

Aren't those both breakers? The bottom one I would have pegged as an auto-reset breaker.

There are auto-reset ones that look identical but don't have a reset button. And I've seen both red and black reset buttons (don't know the difference). And I've seen one that had the button on the side opposite the connections... you'd never know it was there unless you felt the back side.

Mike