mdanielson55 wrote:
I have a holiday rambler imperial and just developed a intermittent problem. with two house batteries to run the residential refrigerator I get about six ours with them charged. running down the road these batteries run down and the inverter guits running the refer. the next time I take a trip all works fine apparently the alternator charges the two house batteries. then the last time batteries go down while driving?????> is there a automatic switching thang a magiggie??? is ther something that I can check? I don't have a clue thanks mike the chassis batteries are charging by the alternator it is the house batteries that intermittent charge
mdanielson55,
One of the first thing I tell folks who've recently purchased a coach is, to learn that coach. Learn all there is to it. I'm not talking about how to disassemble it, but, just how the SYSTEMS WORK.
Now, knowing just how your battery charging systems work, both with the engine running and, on shore power, gives you a base of knowledge to help analyze when things are not working or, stop working correctly. Now, I have no idea of how a Holiday Rambler Imperial is wired and or, setup for both sets of batteries to be charged, when driving down the road. There are many ways to accomplish that.
There are may on here that think all coaches are built and wired the same. Well, pretty much not so. Winnebago and Itasca do things their way, Fleetwood does it their way, Country Coach, another way and so on and so on and so on.
For instance, on our coach, an '04 Itasca Horizon, 36GD with the C-7 330HP CAT, utilizes a single, heavy duty, dual duty solenoid (some call it a relay) that accomplishes the task of getting the alternators charge, to the house batteries. I say dual duty because, it's the same solenoid that when you push the momentary "Battery Boost" switch on the dash, it triggers that solenoid to engage and, therefore LINKS both chassis batteries and, house batteries, to start the coach, if and when the chassis batteries are too low to turn the big CAT engine over.
But, that solenoid is also wired in such a way that, after the engine starts, it automatically engages so that, the charge from the alternator is passed through it, to charge the house batteries.
Now, is your coach/charging system set up like this, NOT A CLUE. Do you have what's called the BIRD system, not a clue. Do you have a simple "Dual battery solenoid" to handle that system, not a clue.
That is something that you will have to investigate to see just what kind of charging system connections and or, solenoids etc. that are used to keep both sets charged while driving down the road. Once you know what kind of system you have, you'll be able to better analyze what part of it is malfunctioning.
I will say this, having only two house batteries to run a residential fridge is not very common, as far as I know. Most folks on here report using at a minimum of 4 batteries for that purpose but, I don't have one so, I'm really not sure what's required and or, what will work best. Good luck.
Scott
