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oly1946's avatar
oly1946
Explorer
Oct 13, 2013

alternater light

I have a Monaco Camelot 40ft motorhome the alternater light will not
go out, I have put new one on the light still stays on also new batterys
  • Prism, I am trying to not go deep on the OP's issue. And it appears Doug is not either. As for folks running their generator, Yes but in many cases there is a shut off of the combining of the batteries so the generator will not show an "over voltage" issue to the alternator circuit.

    The shoreline charging system is not "disabled" on the engine battery feed and can cause the alternator alarm.

    Alternators are one of the simplest systems on an RV. Good connections and tight belts and they usually work or don't. A volt meter on the output lead will tell the story in seconds.

    As suggested, I too have had brand new ones inop. However doing as suggested may save a lot of knuckles and back pain.
  • YC 1 wrote:
    Doug is trying to tell you something in his post.

    IF plugged into shoreline and the engine is running this is a common/normal event.

    Under certain circumstances the generator can cause the same symptoms.

    Even strong solar panels can cause the system to alarm but is much more rare.

    In any case the first thing is to put a voltmeter across the batteries to see what the voltage is running.


    I read the OP post and do not think this is or was his problem at all
    people run their gen sets while driving down the highway all the time.
    Iam about 100% sure the OP ment alt lite on while driving down the road and certainly not while sitting there pluged into shore power
    My take on things anyhow
  • dougrainer wrote:
    oly1946 wrote:
    no the alternater is not showing a charge,the mechanic says it is in the starter relay what and where is the relay you are talking about


    The Starter relay?????? Find another mechanic. It is NOT the starter relay. 2 things only. 1. The Alternator is bad or the Voltage Regulator. 2. Some Alternators have the voltage regulator built in. Not sure about Monaco Roadmaster Chassis which is which. Doug

    Yes could very well be a bad/defective New alternater for sure
  • oly1946 wrote:
    no the alternater is not showing a charge,the mechanic says it is in the starter relay what and where is the relay you are talking about


    The Starter relay?????? Find another mechanic. It is NOT the starter relay. 2 things only. 1. The Alternator is bad or the Voltage Regulator. 2. Some Alternators have the voltage regulator built in. Not sure about Monaco Roadmaster Chassis which is which. Doug
  • Doug is trying to tell you something in his post.

    IF plugged into shoreline and the engine is running this is a common/normal event.

    Under certain circumstances the generator can cause the same symptoms.

    Even strong solar panels can cause the system to alarm but is much more rare.

    In any case the first thing is to put a voltmeter across the batteries to see what the voltage is running.
  • oly1946 wrote:
    no the alternater is not showing a charge,the mechanic says it is in the starter relay what and where is the relay you are talking about


    U will almost need a wiring diagram because the alternater is set up to charge chassis batterys and your house batterys.If I was there I could figure it out but those systems are very complicated and who knows where the relays etc are.I doubt it is in the starter rely from my view
  • no the alternater is not showing a charge,the mechanic says it is in the starter relay what and where is the relay you are talking about
  • Is this plugged into shore power and just running the engine or is this in transit? If in transit, do you have the Genset ON? What year Monaco? Doug
  • oly1946 wrote:
    I have a Monaco Camelot 40ft motorhome the alternater light will not
    go out, I have put new one on the light still stays on also new batterys


    what does the voltmeter read at the batterys, engine running at around 1K RPM? if Voltage is around 14-15 volts then u have short in the lite wire to dash from alt.If voltage is only like 12 ish then its not charging and you will have bad relay or broken connection somewhere