Cruising south from Hampton Beach, NH. on fathers day we suddenly lost power on I-495 and coasted to the shoulder. A quick check revealed a fire in the stainless steel box containing all the 12v wiring. I soon discovered my extinguisher, mounted in the engine bay, was useless due to the plastic handle becoming brittle from prolonged exposure to heat. It immediately broke in my hand. My wife gave me the one from inside and I extinguished it, only to flare up again. I cut off the kill switch (eng. compartment) to cut the source from the batteries. With my extinguisher exhausted a State Trooper saw the flames and stopped with a large ABC dry chemical unit and saved the day. Now for why it happened. We had dry camped at the state park over the weekend, using the front and rear A/C units alternately. Having all new Lifeline batteries, all was well. We proceeded to head south and I figured the batteries would re-charge from the engine alternator (320 amp Delco) but no one ever told me I should start the generator to "separate" the load. With all current blazing through the isolator, it melted down and went up in flames, taking all nearby wire insulation with it causing everything to short together. Had we not lost power we would never have known we had a fire in the rear.
Ended up replacing the entire rear board (2 sided) with all new components and a new (huge) isolator, so large (fins) that it needed to be mounted under the coach. Newell was super helpful in fabricating the new board and helping the electrician install the old harnesses. Incredibly enough, none of the coach wiring was affected outside of that box and the coach is running again, all systems go. I hope someone out there that does not know you need to run the generator after dry camping learns from this and is spared the grief. Side note, if any of you big guys ever need to be towed, make sure they send a tri axle wrecker. The huge 2 axle unit's front wheels came right off the ground when they lifted me. Cost thus far, approx. 15K.
Ray & Donna coach 596 triple slide 2001 bath and half. We love it.
