09-06-2012, 11:55 AM
You all know the sound - when the starter grunts and then the solenoid chatters. Most occasions it is time to get a new battery for the car/truck.
Well, when you have 6 fully charged 8D batteries in parallel - what's a guy to do?
Fortunately for me this kind of thing is right down my narrow area of expertise, but I wanted to pass along the solution for my particular situation.
I first wanted to determine where the voltage was being lost on its way from the house batteries to the generator starter. Chances are always good it is on one or the other legs of the DC circuit. Using my voltmeter and a long wire back to the house batteries I quickly determined my voltage loss ( over 6 volts while trying to crank ) was on the negative side of the circuit. Just for grins I also measured the drop on the positive side and it was less than 2 volts - just fine. I then started moving the location of the long wire downstream of each place that might be the problem. First to the other side of the shunt - same result. Then to the downstream side of the coach battery switch - yes it's on the negative side of the batteries - no joy there either. Then to the chassis point in the battery compartment and same readings. So, all was well back there.
Now Newell could not do what most vehicle manufactures do to get power to a starter - they use the structure of the vehicle and just bolt the starter to the motor and connect the motor to the frame with a flexible braided strap. But in my Newell, the generator is on rollers and cannot be bolted to the frame of the coach. So, Newell ran a black flexible cable between the generator's block and connected that cable to the floor just beside the generator's rails. Well, that is what it looks like from above. Actually the floor of the generator enclosure is not really a good conductor with its thin aluminum plate and underlying plywood. Looking further one finds there is a bolt that penetrates clear through the floor and on through the frame of the coach. There is a nut that pulls that bolt tight to the frame, and then the cable, and then another nut to hold the cable tight. So the real connection that must carry all the starter current is right up front totally unprotected on the bottom of the coach. It is exposed to whatever you drive through. When I looked under there that bolt and connection looked none too good. I have attached a picture of the bolt.
I took it all apart and cleaned things up the best I could using a wire brush on the end of an electric drill. I added a washer to expand the area of electrical contact and put it all back together. Problem solved, at least for a while. Generator starts up easily now. Hope this helps someone in the future.
Well, when you have 6 fully charged 8D batteries in parallel - what's a guy to do?
Fortunately for me this kind of thing is right down my narrow area of expertise, but I wanted to pass along the solution for my particular situation.
I first wanted to determine where the voltage was being lost on its way from the house batteries to the generator starter. Chances are always good it is on one or the other legs of the DC circuit. Using my voltmeter and a long wire back to the house batteries I quickly determined my voltage loss ( over 6 volts while trying to crank ) was on the negative side of the circuit. Just for grins I also measured the drop on the positive side and it was less than 2 volts - just fine. I then started moving the location of the long wire downstream of each place that might be the problem. First to the other side of the shunt - same result. Then to the downstream side of the coach battery switch - yes it's on the negative side of the batteries - no joy there either. Then to the chassis point in the battery compartment and same readings. So, all was well back there.
Now Newell could not do what most vehicle manufactures do to get power to a starter - they use the structure of the vehicle and just bolt the starter to the motor and connect the motor to the frame with a flexible braided strap. But in my Newell, the generator is on rollers and cannot be bolted to the frame of the coach. So, Newell ran a black flexible cable between the generator's block and connected that cable to the floor just beside the generator's rails. Well, that is what it looks like from above. Actually the floor of the generator enclosure is not really a good conductor with its thin aluminum plate and underlying plywood. Looking further one finds there is a bolt that penetrates clear through the floor and on through the frame of the coach. There is a nut that pulls that bolt tight to the frame, and then the cable, and then another nut to hold the cable tight. So the real connection that must carry all the starter current is right up front totally unprotected on the bottom of the coach. It is exposed to whatever you drive through. When I looked under there that bolt and connection looked none too good. I have attached a picture of the bolt.
I took it all apart and cleaned things up the best I could using a wire brush on the end of an electric drill. I added a washer to expand the area of electrical contact and put it all back together. Problem solved, at least for a while. Generator starts up easily now. Hope this helps someone in the future.
Russ White
2016 Winnebago Vista LX 30T
#530 ( Sold )
1999 45' Double Slide - Factory upgrade 2004
