No power in house when off shore power. Batteries good.

wbezemek · 12-30-2011, 04:05 PM

06 Itasca. Replaced a couple of house batteries that had gone dry after purchase of unit. After a month in storage had no house power. And generator would not start. Drove to set up location. Check of batteries shows that they are good. Does this mean my switch solenoid is dead. It does click when I turn the Aux Battery switch on and off. How do I test it?

Dave78Chief · 12-30-2011, 04:45 PM

To check the battery disconnect solinoid, with both generator and shore power disconnected, use a voltmeter to verify battery voltage is present on both sides of the relay with the relay ON.

For a 2004 Suncruiser 38J:
Chassis Electrical Box Physical arrangement: http://www.winnebagoind.com/diagram/...ire_146761.pdf

12 Volt wiring (see pdf page 12): http://www.winnebagoind.com/diagram/...ire_153788.pdf

Dave

Dogpatch · 12-30-2011, 08:00 PM

Silly question, but did you check your main power switch by the entry?
I learned the hard way about this one myself. I bumped mine off while sweeping the steps.

wbezemek · 12-30-2011, 08:30 PM

Dave78Chief; Yup. I figured out that thing that looks like a fuse at the back of the battery deck is operated by the solenoid. Only voltage on the non-battery side of it when it is turned on.
dogpatch: And the switch by the stairs is labeled aux power. I assume that's the one you by "Main Power Switch". So I need to turn that one on when I want 12v service (non generator) when off shore power.
Just bought this unit in March 2011. Still getting used to the oddities. The manual doesn't seem very clear regards the operation of the Aux Power switch. Oh, I have all 12V items working when on shore power.

garym114 · 12-30-2011, 08:43 PM

Time to get a multimeter and track down your problem.

Dave78Chief · 12-30-2011, 10:22 PM

Just making sure we are talking about the same thing:

You said

Quote:

Dave78Chief; Yup. I figured out that thing that looks like a fuse at the back of the battery deck is operated by the solenoid. Only voltage on the non-battery side of it when it is turned on.

Looks like a fuse? The battery disconnect solinoid (controlled by aux battery switch at step stairwell) that the battery cables connect to looks like the picture on pdf page 3 of http://www.winnebagoind.com/diagram/...ire_146761.pdf. The solinoid on the left side is the chassis battery to coach battery cross connect relay. The larger solinoid on the right is the coach battery disconnect relay. Battery voltage should always be on the battery cable side of the battery disconnect solinoid. Battery voltage will only be on the other side of the solinoid is if the solinooid is ON. To see that, any charging voltage (solar, shore power, and generator) must be OFF.

These solinoids are behind the Chassis/Coach breaker panel (pdf page 2 of that drawing) and may not be easy to get to.

Dave

Dogpatch · 12-31-2011, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wbezemek

Dave78Chief; Yup. I figured out that thing that looks like a fuse at the back of the battery deck is operated by the solenoid. Only voltage on the non-battery side of it when it is turned on.
dogpatch: And the switch by the stairs is labeled aux power. I assume that's the one you by "Main Power Switch". So I need to turn that one on when I want 12v service (non generator) when off shore power.
Just bought this unit in March 2011. Still getting used to the oddities. The manual doesn't seem very clear regards the operation of the Aux Power switch. Oh, I have all 12V items working when on shore power.

wbezemek: I should have read down to the bottom of your post before commenting! LOL. Sorry, I'm only 2 years into my first RV. Still learning. Great forum for this though. A lot of helpful people more knowledgeable than myself!

wbezemek · 12-31-2011, 10:27 AM

Thanks Dave. That will help. I was trying to avoid pulling the circuit breaker panel that let's me get to the solenoids. I have the diagram you refered too. I just don't see the item I'm refering too. It's on the back of the battery box. All the red wires go from the batteries to the post on it's right side. The left side has a red going off somewhere behind the battery box. No power on the left side until i turn the aux switch on. I'm going to reset the breakers first and go after the buried solenoids with a volt meter if that doesn't work.

Dave78Chief · 12-31-2011, 04:00 PM

Not sure if this will help but is always god information to have:

TOC for 2006 Sungruiser 38J Wiring Diagrams: Table of Contents

Chassis wiring diagram: http://www.winnebagoind.com/diagram/...ire_153784.pdf
The chassis diagram will at least confirm some of the cable arrangement your are seeing.

Dave

wbezemek · 01-03-2012, 12:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave78Chief

Not sure if this will help but is always god information to have:

TOC for 2006 Sungruiser 38J Wiring Diagrams: Table of Contents

Chassis wiring diagram: http://www.winnebagoind.com/diagram/...ire_153784.pdf
The chassis diagram will at least confirm some of the cable arrangement your are seeing.

Dave

Thanks Dave. Your help was great. The small gauge wire leaving the house + terminal heading into a bundle had a blown inline 20A fuse. I replaced it and now have house power. Still haven't id'd it in the diagrams or traced it, my suspicion is it goes to the power control panel. Thanks again.

Dave78Chief · 01-03-2012, 04:40 PM

If you can take a picture of the area and point out the wire you are talking about I might be able to track it down for you.

BTW - Winnebago usually labels their wiring so you can identify the circuit that it belongs too. Was there any markings on the wire that has the fuse?

These are 120VAC marking descriptions but demonstrate how they mark the wires:
http://www.winnebagoind.com/resource...20Part%201.pdf

http://www.winnebagoind.com/resource...20Part%202.pdf

Dave

bluepill · 01-03-2012, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave78Chief

If you can take a picture of the area and point out the wire you are talking about I might be able to track it down for you.

Dave

That would be helpful to me also, just in case.

Poorly labeled fuse boxes and hidden in-line fuses really tick me off. Hopefully there is a special Hell for the lazy folks that design them.

wbezemek · 01-04-2012, 04:13 PM

I'll get this posted in a couple of weeks. Back in the work world now and the RV is stored about 60 miles away. I also plan to use a signal generator wire tracing tool to try to identify where the extra wire goes. The picture of the battery bay in the owner's manual is similar, but not accurate to mark up and be useful to you.

Dave78Chief · 01-04-2012, 08:16 PM

After some thought I think I know what this fuse is for even though it is not shown in the diagrams. You said there was no power to the coach when the fuse blew. The only thing I can think of that would have that effect (at least associated with a fuse as small as 20 amps anyway) is a fuse used to supply power to the Battery Disconnect Switch. The Battery Disconnect Relay is shown on bottom right of pdf page 12 on http://www.winnebagoind.com/diagram/...ire_153788.pdf. Power to the switch is provided by circuit "LJ" from the relay. It goes through the connector then to the Battery Disconnect switch (bottom right of pdf page 7). Control power is wrapped back to the relay on circuits "LG" and "LH" (polarity is reversed to operate the relay). If you look at pdf page 12, you can also see the Battery Disconnect Relay must ON in order to start the generator.

Dave