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Old 04-17-2015, 10:03 PM   #15
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Thanks folks,

Alright,

So I spent 2 hours on the damn thing today and could not find a single disconnect switch or breaker anywhere. I lifted up the bed entirely and have free access to the converter from all sides. NOTHING. No reset button or fuse or anything.

Opened the hood and followed the wires everywhere. No solenoid box or anything. The area is so tight, I can't imagine Thor (Four Winds) having placed anything like that underneath the engine. Even then, the wires are pretty much in clear sight and I can't see anything that goes through a solenoid or a box.

The switch that connects the coach battery to the chassis battery works just fine. In fact, that's what I had to use to start the RV today.

Removed the coach battery and tested it. It's fine. 12.5 Volts. Followed the giant wrapped wires from the coach battery all the way to where it enters the coach right underneath the bed. No solenoid or breaker switch.

I can't for the life of me figure out what the hell is going on. So damn frustrated by this.

Opened the converter cover. It's extremely dirty. I don't think it's charging the coach battery when I'm on AC because the voltage on the coach battery remains the same even when I'm plugged in. That means the converter is not charging right?

I have the Parallax 7345 converter. What an ugly thing. Am I wrong to think that it's bust? Is there a way to make sure?

btw, as I said, it's very dirty. Could dirt cause this?

Thanks again.
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Old 04-18-2015, 05:57 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Synthetic View Post
Thanks folks,

Alright,

So I spent 2 hours on the damn thing today and could not find a single disconnect switch or breaker anywhere. I lifted up the bed entirely and have free access to the converter from all sides. NOTHING. No reset button or fuse or anything.

Opened the hood and followed the wires everywhere. No solenoid box or anything. The area is so tight, I can't imagine Thor (Four Winds) having placed anything like that underneath the engine. Even then, the wires are pretty much in clear sight and I can't see anything that goes through a solenoid or a box.

The switch that connects the coach battery to the chassis battery works just fine. In fact, that's what I had to use to start the RV today.

Removed the coach battery and tested it. It's fine. 12.5 Volts. Followed the giant wrapped wires from the coach battery all the way to where it enters the coach right underneath the bed. No solenoid or breaker switch.

I can't for the life of me figure out what the hell is going on. So damn frustrated by this.

Opened the converter cover. It's extremely dirty. I don't think it's charging the coach battery when I'm on AC because the voltage on the coach battery remains the same even when I'm plugged in. That means the converter is not charging right?

I have the Parallax 7345 converter. What an ugly thing. Am I wrong to think that it's bust? Is there a way to make sure?

btw, as I said, it's very dirty. Could dirt cause this?

Thanks again.
If you Google "troubleshooting Parallax 7345 converter" you may find an answer.
Mel
'96 Safari
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Old 04-18-2015, 07:04 AM   #17
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Are you sure everything in the coach works when on AC power? And are you sure the coach battery is being charged? I just went through this and discovered everything doesn't work while on AC power. I'm trying to remember what didn't run... the fan on the stove hood, for one... In the attached photo you can see the white wire that's screwed onto the circuit board. That's your ground. The heavy red wire above it is the lead to the battery (+). The heavy blue wire is the 12V to MOST, not all, of the coach 12V circuits. See the 3 blue fuses next to the red wire? Those get 12V from the red wire circuit. The fuses left of that get 12V from the blue circuit.

Disconnect your AC power. Put your voltmeter across the ground wire and red wire. There should be 12V. Measure the voltage across the ground to the blue wire. Again, there should be 12V. I suspect you don't have 12V on the red wire. If you don't have 12V on the red wire, you'll never get 12V on the blue wire and you're not charging the coach battery. Now plug in your AC and remeasure the voltage on the red and blue wires. You should have 12V on both. On mine, I had 12V on blue and 0V on red.

My problem turned out to be one of the two 12V wires on the battery was attached to the ground (-) side of the battery, causing 0V on the red wire.
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Old 04-18-2015, 07:14 AM   #18
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BTW, a replacement 9100 converter from Progressive Industries (probably the best out there) shouldn't cost $300. You can get a 60 amp for $200 on Amazon, and a 45 amp for $168. Likely even cheaper if you search.
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Old 04-18-2015, 10:49 PM   #19
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Alright,

Spent the whole day on it again.

New findings:

- Converter is fine
- Found the 40 amp breaker. Removed it from the circuit to eliminate it as a possible cause
- Connected a separate battery directly to the converter and woooh! Everything works.
- I get little to no voltage from the positive-wire that comes from the coach battery into the 40-amp breaker. I get 12.5V at the battery heads.

Strange to me:

There is a red wire coming from seemingly nowhere that carries 18.2 volts no matter when the RV is on or off or when the coach battery is connected or not?!! Where are those 18 Volts coming from on this seemingly useless wire?!! I have a small solar panel (5 watts I think) on the roof for battery maintenance. Is this where those 18 volts are coming from? I have no way of following the wire without creating a huge mess.

At this point I started focusing on the coach battery connections. I cleaned them thoroughly with WD40 and a metal brush. Confirmed 12+ voltage for up to 2 feet away from the battery, but after that it all gets mashed into a bunch of wires that are very hard to follow underneath.

Unless someone is about to reveal something new to me, I'm convinced there's a disconnect or broken wire somewhere underneath the RV. The exact spot is very hard to diagnose as these are thick wires all covered up and taped.

Any suggestions? Could the problem be something other than wiring?
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