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TT_Vert · 08-24-2021, 04:45 PM

On occasion I cannot remote start the genset from inside the RV. When this occurs If I have my wife hold down the start button and i turn on/off the main/aux switches (Unsure which it is) a bunch of times it'll start. The stop side of the rocker always works. I've taken my meter to the switch and it's fine but also given my wife just holds it down while I toggle the aux/main a few times tells me it's not that switch anyway. The exterior switch also always starts/stops w/o issue. These switches are operating the main/aux solenoids as designed (It's not a stuck solenoid) it's something being reset or tripped when I flip them on/off enough times. I'm going to try to find the diagrams again as I think I saw them somewhere but has anyone else run into this? Does the BCC have anything to do w/ this circuit or does it go right from the switch to the genset? Anyone have any wiring diagrams handy? Do these operate on the premise of sending ground to a relay to start/stop? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Dave

THenne1713 · 08-24-2021, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TT_Vert

On occasion I cannot remote start the genset from inside the RV. When this occurs If I have my wife hold down the start button and i turn on/off the main/aux switches (Unsure which it is) a bunch of times it'll start. The stop side of the rocker always works. I've taken my meter to the switch and it's fine but also given my wife just holds it down while I toggle the aux/main a few times tells me it's not that switch anyway. The exterior switch also always starts/stops w/o issue. These switches are operating the main/aux solenoids as designed (It's not a stuck solenoid) it's something being reset or tripped when I flip them on/off enough times. I'm going to try to find the diagrams again as I think I saw them somewhere but has anyone else run into this? Does the BCC have anything to do w/ this circuit or does it go right from the switch to the genset? Anyone have any wiring diagrams handy? Do these operate on the premise of sending ground to a relay to start/stop? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Dave

FIRST OUT in/on GEN. itself, pull apart/ INSPECT the visible multi-wire plugs going to the GEN? CK for corrosion, damage, etc, 2) BCC Is BATTERY CONTROL CENTER/ BATTERY CHARGE CONTROL, more has to do with engine alternator charging COACH BATTERIES while traveling. 3) CHECK for wirng harness damage/ fraying/ rodent chewed damage, etc 4) The CIRCUIT BOARD usually has (soldered on/ plug-in) little cube relays (4-wire or 5-wire) will small, potentially delicate relay contacts, which can go bad....(requiring circuit board repair/ replacement) but corrosion of connections/ wires at the board can also be suspect causes? IF your rig has an AGS (Auto GEN START), that wiring MIGHT also come into play? LUCK; HOPE this helps?

TT_Vert · 08-25-2021, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by THenne1713

FIRST OUT in/on GEN. itself, pull apart/ INSPECT the visible multi-wire plugs going to the GEN? CK for corrosion, damage, etc, 2) BCC Is BATTERY CONTROL CENTER/ BATTERY CHARGE CONTROL, more has to do with engine alternator charging COACH BATTERIES while traveling. 3) CHECK for wirng harness damage/ fraying/ rodent chewed damage, etc 4) The CIRCUIT BOARD usually has (soldered on/ plug-in) little cube relays (4-wire or 5-wire) will small, potentially delicate relay contacts, which can go bad....(requiring circuit board repair/ replacement) but corrosion of connections/ wires at the board can also be suspect causes? IF your rig has an AGS (Auto GEN START), that wiring MIGHT also come into play? LUCK; HOPE this helps?

Thanks. I will check the PCB as I know others have had issues. The only thing out of that that would make any logical sense in my case is a relay perhaps being stuck. Power cycling a few times may free it up. Prior to writing this I did check the connector into the PCB that is part of the remote start and everything was fine (Only 3 wires are populated on that inline 6 or 7 pin plug).

I cannot see it being an issue w/ any other connection/corrosion as if i flip the main/aux enough while wifey holds the gen start in RV it'll start. Nothing is moving or being wiggled/touched which leads me to believe it's not a corrosion/loose wire issue. IN fact the RV hasn't moved since last time I used the remote start function a week ago so it's not like NVH would have caused this). I do not have auto start.

Dave

TT_Vert · 08-25-2021, 08:17 PM

So i started going through the diags I have. It seems that the remote start run switch just grounds the K1 and K3 relay same as the on genset switch. Given the genset switch always seems to work it's got to be the wiring between the two I think as both use the same relays and circuitry from what I can tell. What doesn't make sense to me is WHY turning the aux/main switches on enough times gets the switch to start it fine. Next time if fails I'm going to find out what wire it is on plug P2 that is grounded when switch is depressed to start and just ground it. if it works then I know my issue is between the switch and P2. It "could" be a dodgy trace on P2 to the genset switch but the fact I can toggle aux/main a bunch and get it to work makes me feel that isn't the case.

Any opinions?
Dave

TT_Vert · 08-26-2021, 01:36 PM

So I went through everything today. Took out the control board and checked continuity of all traces and fully understood the wiring. In reality if the remote start does not work it's either the wiring from switch to the board or the plug/traces between the plug and the onboard start/run switch. Both use all the same electrical components to start the genset. So if it starts at the genset switch it should start at the remote switch unless there is an issue w/ the wiring between the two as that appears to be all there is.

With that said i checked all connections at genset control board and they looked like new w/ no corrosion. I still did clean them all and put quite a bit of dielectric grease in there to prevent any corrosion. I then followed the wires up to the front and found they go into a connector near the firewall which was completely wrapped in electrical tape. I have to assume they did this since the connector was not a weatherpack or other weather tight type of connector (WHY???). Somehow moisture did get in there and start to corrode things. At this point I thought I found my issue. De-pinned each one and cleaned it and reassembled w/ lots of dielectric grease. Went to start thinking this was the problem but NOPE!! I go to that plug at firewall and jumper red/brown to simulate start (on both sides of the connector just to make sure I didn't have some odd intermittent plug connection) and it starts. Checked continuity of each wire through that plug, it's good. This pretty much tells me the switch has to be the issue but I really cannot see how/why. I've never seen an intermittent switch like this nor one that'd just start working if i flipped the aux/main a bunch of times. Perhaps it's just causing enough of an arc to fuse the contacts together enough, I don't know. Of course right now the switch is working so i cannot jumper the switch at that plug to see if it starts. if it does then i know for a fact it's the switch but until if starts acting up again I cannot do that.

Dave

THenne1713 · 09-04-2021, 09:42 PM

Thought is that remote switch itself going sketchy?

TT_Vert · 09-05-2021, 12:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by THenne1713

Thought is that remote switch itself going sketchy?

The switch checked out fine upon disassembly. It was quite a confusing diag on this one. It would work for a while, then stop, if i were to toggle main/aux a few times while wifey held genstart in cab it'd eventually work. Disassembled switch even though it tested fine w/ meter and it looked brand new so I knew it was not the switch at this point. When I would go to the plug I pictured above and jumpered it would always start which led me (errantly) to believe the issue was between that plug and the switch so I started to look into that wiring.

After more testing when it was not working again today I removed and jumpered the ground to the start wire at the switch and started playing around. I started with the wiggle test under dash and got nothing, there was no plug between the switch and engine compartment and I saw little to no way a wire would get damaged under the dash. Went back to my suspect plug under hood (I showed earlier in this post) and on chassis side of that plug I jumpered ground to start and it started w/ my meter probes. WTF?? That tells me the problem is between that plug and the switch. I then went back in and double checked under dash again, followed loom and discovered there were maybe 3' of wire between that plug and the switch and it was fine. I then took my pliers to each wire in the suspect plug and started pushing the plug together and wires towards the opposite contact and sure enough the gen cranked. Tried to de-pin that start wire from chassis side of plug and it broke. Bingo! Corrosion caused the terminal to basically break in half. So what was happening (And throwing me off) was when I were to jumper w/ my meter probes I was actually pressing that broken terminal together enough to ground the start wire which is what threw me for a loop. That explains why it started sometimes and not others from cabin gen start and I have to speculate that when cycling main/aux switches while wifey held the gen start switch just caused an arc after enough times to allow enough continuity to ground the start side.

Fleetwood used a non-weatherproof connector here and it would have probably been ok had they not covered the entire connector with electrical tape as water entered and could never get out quick enough to not cause corrosion. I'm going to cut that plug out tomorrow and wire in a weatherpack and never have another issue. So many corroded wires on this RV have caused me headaches thus far.

TT_Vert · 09-06-2021, 11:56 AM

Okie dokie, I think i can close this chapter. Cut the old plug out and installed a weatherpack 4 pin I had from my old factory five I wired. Three of the wires had corrosion on the exterior copper. Best I could do is take an exacto and scrap it off where I had exposed copper for crimping on the new terminals. I don't know how far into the wire the corrosion goes but if I have issues down the road I'll keep in mind that there was some corrosion. Fortunately it did not go down to the core of the strands so I don't see it being much of an issue in the future. The good news is, if this thing is ever submerged in 6' of water, this connector will probably stay dry/corrosion free. The rest of the coach wiring will probably melt. Not sure why they did not use weather tight connections on many of these coach connections.