CA Traveler
The Western States
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Ro646a wrote:rvrepairnut,
I thought that the Auxiliary start switch was specfically designed to allow you to start the engine using the house batteries when the chassis battery is dead. Now I'm really confused. It may also be intended to give the house batteries an extra boost when they are low. It could be powered from either battery bank.
Also again boosting the starting battery when it's to low to start the engine is one thing. Having a setup that will deal with a dead chassis battery (as in discharged but good) is another.
And having a chassis battery failure at a CG with power is the best as the converter also helps with the starting.
2009 Holiday Rambler 42 Scepter with ISL 400 Cummins
2004 Honda CR-V
Bob
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MNtundraRet
Bloomington, MN
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Another method that might help starting the engine with the emergency button from house-batteries, is to start the generator which runs off the house-batteries first. This would raise the voltage in the dc circuit from 12.6 or less volts (batteries alone) to 13.8 to 14.4 volts (multistage-charger) from 120v ac powering the converter/charger.
The increased voltage would help in starting the engine with emergency start button. Note! If that solenoid is indeed powered ONLY by the chassis-battery, and the battery is less than 10.5 volts dc, even a good solenoid will not function.
At this point I would plug in my Schumacher portable Speed-Charger, with 40amp multi-stage charging and a 120 amp engine-starting boost charge, into my outside 120v AC plug and connect it to my chassis starting battery and fire up the engine.
If you happen to have a pair of jumper cables you may be able to bypass the solenoid by using one of them in an emergency. One of the others here could explain how.
* This post was
edited 03/28/12 09:41am by MNtundraRet *
Mark & Jan "Old age & treachery win over youth & enthusiasm"
2003 Fleetwood Jamboree 29
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RLS7201
Some Where
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rvrepairnut wrote:RLS7201 wrote:rvrepairnut wrote:one thing to note is IF your chassis battery is stone dead then your aux start system will not work.
That may be the case with brands other than Fleetwood. The RV Custom Products E start system uses 2 diodes to ensure there is voltage available from either battery bank. All RVs are NOT created equal.
Richard
your not understanding.The aux switch feeds house battery power to the other battery.If it is stone dead(chassis battery) the aux system will not work.
same as if u take jumper cables and try to jump start a car whos battery is stone dead you will not start it till u let the other vehicle charge through the cables for awhile
what has been suggested in the past is to tape closed the aux start button and wait 10-15 minutes and it will then sometimes work ok
really depends on how dead the chassis starting battery is
OH! I am understanding. On the OP's Fleetwood product the E start WILL work from either battery bank. Obviously you have no understanding of the Battery Control Center that Fleetwood uses.
Richard
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rvrepairnut
bc
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RLS7201 wrote:rvrepairnut wrote:one thing to note is IF your chassis battery is stone dead then your aux start system will not work.
That may be the case with brands other than Fleetwood. The RV Custom Products E start system uses 2 diodes to ensure there is voltage available from either battery bank. All RVs are NOT created equal.
Richard
your not understanding.The aux switch feeds house battery power to the other battery.If it is stone dead(chassis battery) the aux system will not work.
same as if u take jumper cables and try to jump start a car whos battery is stone dead you will not start it till u let the other vehicle charge through the cables for awhile
what has been suggested in the past is to tape closed the aux start button and wait 10-15 minutes and it will then sometimes work ok
really depends on how dead the chassis starting battery is
* This post was
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edited 03/28/12 01:14pm by an administrator/moderator *
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hammer01
Saint Amant, la.
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I must agree also, i just got 2004 pace arrow back from the shop with similar issues. My problem was the solenoid failed and it was not charging any of my batteries.
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Retiredblade
Western, Pa
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When I had my Bounder Gasser, I had a low chassis battery, pressed the jumper button and engine started fine.
Now I have a pusher, and the latest no start was when I was going to leave Florida to come home. Went to start and the dash lights would all go dim and no start. Got my volt/ohm meter and measured the chassis battery volts, 8 volts. Battery booster did nothing and I found out why when I got home, solenoid shot and the battery booster switch isn't even connected! Someone messed with it before I got it, fixing it now.
Never the less, I got my buddy who has a Ford diesel pickup and he jumped my chassis batteries and the old Cummins started up. Even if I fix the booster, I am going to carry jumper cables to manually jump the chassis batteries from my house batteries. I need to replace my chassis batteries anyway.
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CA Traveler
The Western States
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Retiredblade wrote:When I had my Bounder Gasser, I had a low chassis battery, pressed the jumper button and engine started fine.
Now I have a pusher, and the latest no start was when I was going to leave Florida to come home. Went to start and the dash lights would all go dim and no start. Got my volt/ohm meter and measured the chassis battery volts, 8 volts. Battery booster did nothing and I found out why when I got home, solenoid shot and the battery booster switch isn't even connected! Someone messed with it before I got it, fixing it now.
Never the less, I got my buddy who has a Ford diesel pickup and he jumped my chassis batteries and the old Cummins started up. Even if I fix the booster, I am going to carry jumper cables to manually jump the chassis batteries from my house batteries. I need to replace my chassis batteries anyway. My 04 Endeavor HR did not charge the chassis battery from shore power and I added a $25 2 stage charger to correct. I also installed a DC voltmeter with a switch to check either bank.
The current rig has a bidirectional BIRD so whichever bank is being charged the other will also be maintained. This time I was interested in knowing more about the house batteries and installed a Trimetric 2025 RV. This unit displays the voltage of both battery banks which is also helpful to make sure that both banks are charged.
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CA Traveler
The Western States
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My experience with the Intellitec brand of solenoids is that they are very poor quality. In my 04 both the battery cutoff solenoid and the charging solenoid failed. Both were replaced and both failed again. Then I used different brands and had no further trouble.
And the Intellitec bypass solenoid on the current rig has failed.
My temporary solutions: For the battery cutoff solenoid (a latching type design) I connected the two heavy battery wires together on one post untill I could get a replacement.
When traveling one day/night/day w/o shore power and the charging solenoid had failed I used a long test lead with clips to jumper the 2 banks. This allowed the house batteries to obtain a small charge from the chassis batteries while we were driving.
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fourmat
NJ
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clean and tighten all battery cables first that is a good place to start
2009 Challenger
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Ro646a
New Boston, MI
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UPDATE:
I tried to recharge my chassis battery and it was completely dead. So I took it to have it checked and it checked bad, so they gave me a new battery at no charge, since it was only 6 months old. While I was out, I picked up a new Aux start relay.
When I installed the new battery, everything started working. So I checked the emergency start relay with a jumper to the battery and it worked. Then I went inside and hit the aux start switch and I could hear the relay clicking. A few minutes later I hit the switch, but I could no longer hear the relay clicking, so few minutes after that, I tried it and I could hear the relay clicking again. Any thoughts on this?
Right now everything appears to be working correctly. The sky was overcast, but it appears that I was getting about .5 amps from the solar charger. I then connected shore power and the charge increased to 5 amps. Does this sound normal?
FURTHER UPDATE:
I realize now that when the shore power cord is plugged in the aux. start relay engages and that is why it appeared that the switch was intermittently working/not working after I installed the new battery.
right now, everything appears to be working correctly. My only concern now is what could have caused the chassis battery to go bad, and why the aux. start would not function at that time.
Thanks for all the support.
Roland
* This post was
edited 04/01/12 07:38am by Ro646a *
2001 Fleetwood Southwind 35R on 2000 Ford F53 Chassis
V10 310HP
Roadmaster Sterling All terrain tow bar
Ready Brake
2002 Chevy Tracker V6 4x4 SUV
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