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devise in rear compartment heating up
#21

this is where the voltmeter is your friend. and if you have someone that can be inside moving the merge switch it will save you some running back and forth though not necessary.

first of all, with the merge switch in the middle position (off), measure the voltage on both battery cables on the merge switch. meaning on each side. they are big 4/0 red cables. you should have 13v or close on each one. so put one the red lead on one side of the solenoid and the black to ground. and then switch to the other one.

if you have 12-13v on each side, now to check the small wire terminal on the solenoid. put the red lead on the small terminal and the other to ground. you should have no voltage. then have someone move the switch to the up position while you are back at the solenoid. you should hear a loud click as it energizes. and you should have 12v at the small terminal. now move the switch back to the middle or off position. you will likely hear the solenoid click again as it de-energizes. now move the switch to the down position and you should hear the solenoid click as it energizes and you should have 12 volts at the small terminal again.

so with this you are just verifying it is all working ok at the solenoid and it is the starting place to troubleshoot.

others may have a better way, so please pipe in

tom

2002 45'8" Newell Coach 608  Series 60 DDEC4/Allison World 6 Speed HD4000MH

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#22

Excellent way to test the merge switch Tom. The first step of checking the voltage on the red leads to the chassis battery will also show if there is an issue with the chassis batteries, such as a dead shot in one of them as little voltage will show on the meter.

Make sure both battery cutoff switches are turned on before running the test.

Michael Day
1992 Newell 43.5' #281
NewellOwner.com
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#23

(07-02-2018, 08:13 AM)encantotom Wrote:  this is where the voltmeter is your friend.  and if you have someone that can be inside moving the merge switch it will save you some running back and forth though not necessary.  

first of all, with the merge switch in the middle position (off), measure the voltage on both battery cables on the merge switch.  meaning on each side.  they are big 4/0 red cables.  you should have 13v or close on each one.  so put one the red lead on one side of the solenoid and the black to ground.  and then switch to the other one.  

if you have 12-13v on each side, now to check the small wire terminal on the solenoid.  put the red lead on the small terminal and the other to ground.  you should have no voltage.   then have someone move the switch to the up position while you are back at the solenoid.  you should hear a loud click as it energizes.  and you should have 12v at the small terminal.  now move the switch back to the middle or off position.  you will likely hear the solenoid click again as it de-energizes.   now move the switch to the down position and you should hear the solenoid click as it energizes and you should have 12 volts at the small terminal again.  

so with this you are just verifying it is all working ok at the solenoid and it is the starting place to troubleshoot.

others may have a better way, so please pipe in

tom
Tom

Thanks for the good advice, I will try to do that tomorrow when I can have someone working the dash switch

Dario
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#24

(07-02-2018, 08:13 AM)encantotom Wrote:  this is where the voltmeter is your friend.  and if you have someone that can be inside moving the merge switch it will save you some running back and forth though not necessary.  

first of all, with the merge switch in the middle position (off), measure the voltage on both battery cables on the merge switch.  meaning on each side.  they are big 4/0 red cables.  you should have 13v or close on each one.  so put one the red lead on one side of the solenoid and the black to ground.  and then switch to the other one.  

if you have 12-13v on each side, now to check the small wire terminal on the solenoid.  put the red lead on the small terminal and the other to ground.  you should have no voltage.   then have someone move the switch to the up position while you are back at the solenoid.  you should hear a loud click as it energizes.  and you should have 12v at the small terminal.  now move the switch back to the middle or off position.  you will likely hear the solenoid click again as it de-energizes.   now move the switch to the down position and you should hear the solenoid click as it energizes and you should have 12 volts at the small terminal again.  

so with this you are just verifying it is all working ok at the solenoid and it is the starting place to troubleshoot.

others may have a better way, so please pipe in

tom

Well I couldn't wait until tomorrow so I tried doing what you suggested and this is what I discovered. With the merge switch in the middle I only have 12.4v on the chassis cables and nothing on the house battery side our the small terminal. I also do not have any 12 volt working inside the coach. With the merge switch in the up position I have 12.4v at both the chassis and small terminal. Is there a fuse between the house batteries and the solenoid? I will try again tomorrow when I have some help. 
Thanks
Dario
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#25

sorry dario, i dont understand. with the switch in the middle you should have zero volts on the small terminal and 12-13 volts on both big 4/0 lugs, one on each side of the terminal.

also, do you have the house 12v master switch on by the entry door?

i will pm you my phone number. call me in the morning. (remember i am in az)

tom

2002 45'8" Newell Coach 608  Series 60 DDEC4/Allison World 6 Speed HD4000MH

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#26

As I understand Dario, with the solenoid off there is voltage on the chassis side and not on the coach side. If there is voltage at the terminals on the coach batteries themselves, then indeed there is an open in the circuit between the batteries and solenoid, and the house. On my 93 coach there is a cylindrical doodad near the positve battery terminal that could be a fuse, test across it.

If the batteries have voltage past the fuse but not to the solenoid, then the likely culprit is the battery shutoff switch.

If there is no voltage between the coach battery positive and negative terminals then you have dead batteries. In that case the question to be answered is a battery shorted and killing the others or is the charger not working. If the coach is plugged in with the cutoff switch closed the charger should be providing something to the batteries that you could detect if the charger is turned on. The sole exception I can think of is some chargers won't kick on when batteries are completely dead to protect themselves. In that case you may need to temporarily use a portable charger to get things started.

Jon Kabbe
1993 coach 337 with Civic towed
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#27

(07-03-2018, 05:47 AM)77newell Wrote:  As I understand Dario, with the solenoid off there is voltage on the chassis side and not on the coach side. If there is voltage at the terminals on the coach batteries themselves, then indeed there is an open in the circuit between the batteries and solenoid, and the house. On my 93 coach there is a cylindrical doodad near the positve battery terminal that could be a fuse, test across it.

If the batteries have voltage past the fuse but not to the solenoid, then the likely culprit is the battery shutoff switch.

If there is no voltage between the coach battery positive and negative terminals then you have dead batteries. In that case the question to be answered is a battery shorted and killing the others or is the charger not working. If the coach is plugged in with the cutoff switch closed the charger should be providing something to the batteries that you could detect if the charger is turned on. The sole exception I can think of is some chargers won't kick on when batteries are completely dead to protect themselves. In that case you may need to temporarily use a portable charger to get things started.
Thanks Jon, I will be working on it again today

Dario
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#28

After all my troubles trying to figure out what the problem was, turns out it was the two buss fuses at the positive and negative battery leads coming from the inverter/charger. After removing them and reconnecting directly to the top battery, everything began functioning at the solenoid as normal, the 12v lights turned on with the dash switch in the middle position and batteries began to charge up, went from 11.8 to 12.25 in about 12hrs. I was advised to do a load test on all the batteries to see if any have gone bad. Thanks for all of the advice, this has been another learning experience for me and now a better understanding of our coach
Happy 4th of July
Dario
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#29

Be sure to replace the bad fuses.
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