Hello,
Just checking in to see if this thread is still active. I bought an 09 3400 rwt back in September and I'm having some electrical issues. I'm pretty handy with stuff around RV's. I've owned many over the past 10 years. This issue however, is stumping me. I'm hoping people still check in on this thread and might be able to help me. I contacted an RV repair business and they quoted me about $500 just for the first 2 hours. Outrageous!!
I get notifications on this thread. What is wrong with your unit?
Hello There! Glad to see someone still gets notifications on this thread. I'll explain everything from the beginning to hopefully paint a better picture of what I am dealing with.
Grab your favorite drink and relax. It's gonna be a long read...
Like I said, I purchased the rig back in mid September 2024. I'm fairly certain it sat unused for several years (luckily inside a large warehouse) as the woman who I purchased it from said her husband died 5 years ago. I drove the rig home about 200 miles with no issue, towing my GMC Sierra 1500 on a flatbed trailer.
I must admit I did not do a thorough job of walking through the rig and testing all the systems prior to purchase. I was sorta on a time crunch and had to get back home quickly. Nevertheless, I made the purchase only to later find a couple of problems.
The coach batteries were completely dead. They were four 6V Lifeline AGM Deep Cycle batteries wired in what I believe was series/parallel. These did not include the two "coach" batteries under the passenger seat compartment. I went the cheap route (as the Lifeline batteries were about $500 each) and bought 4 new 12v batteries. I mistakenly wired them the same as the previous 6V batteries which I believe ended up being too much juice. The reason I say this is when I flipped the "ceiling lights" switch on the panel by the door the interior lights flashed on momentarily and immediately went out. I flipped the switch a few more times and nothing happened. I then tried other switches with the same result. For example, I flipped the switch for the "exterior" lights and they flashed on but then went out and nothing happens when I flip the switch now. After I realized my mistake I rewired the four batteries in parallel. The lights still won't work which leads me to believe I must have blown a fuse somewhere. The problem is I don't know where to find the fuse box.
In addition to the lights not turning on, several outlets, including the GFCI in the bathroom have no power (tested with multimeter). The outlets in the exterior storage compartment immediately to the left of the main entrance door do not have power, including the outlet that the Converter plugs into, and which the Xantrex inverter is attached to.
Other outlets do have power, including the GFCI in the kitchen.
Also, the batteries drain rather quickly and I have to plug them in to a charger which is powered by an extension chord from my home.
Additionally, the generator won't fire up. I just ordered an air filter, oil filter, and fuel filter for it. I plan to do a full tune up on it with a coolant flush and hopefully it will start after that. It's probably a good thing it did not fire up as I think the coolant completely evaporated from non use.
I apologize for the long explanation, but if you made it this far, I appreciate your time and would appreciate any suggestions/guidance you can provide. I really like this rig and would love to get it up to full functionality without spending a fortune.
Thanks for reading.
What’s the fuel of your motorhome? Is it diesel or gasoline? What’s the generator doing when you try to crank it up? Does it turn over or does it do nothing?
12v lights…On my rig, There are 12v push button breakers in the main control box where all the slide out switches are. have you tried pushing all of them in to reset them?
There are also in-line blade type fuses in the battery area.
If the generator is getting any power at all, it will blink on the generator led light buttons a certain number of times to tell you what’s wrong. There is also a circuit breaker trip switch outside on the generator itself in the storage cabinet.
also, The generator won’t won’t start if your fuel level is at or below a quarter of a tank.
On my rig, there is 110 V fuse panel below the microwave. Have you checked those 110 v circuit breakers to make sure none of them have tripped?
If you wanna look me up, my name is Steven Theobald and I live in Durango Colorado area.
I think you can find my home phone number and call that number. I don’t think this forum allows me to leave you other phone numbers. This form used to allow for private messages, but I don’t see how to do that any longer
Hi Steve. My name is Jorge. Pleasure, and thank you for being willing to assist. I’m at work now so I’ll send a brief reply. I’ll look your number up later when I get off.
My rig is diesel. When I first tried the generator after I installed the new batteries (wired incorrectly ) I got an error message (29) which was too much current. I tested the battery connection at the generator and got 24v! That’s how I knew if wired the new batteries wrong. After I rewired them and tried to fire up the generator there was a click from the generator and nothing else. I’m going to wait to attempt the generator again after I do a complete tune up on it.
As for the push button fuses/breakers on the control panel, none of them do anything when I try to push them. It’s as if they’re all stuck in the “in” position. There’s zero play when I push them. Are they supposed to be in the “in” or “out” position if working properly?
I tested all the fuses in the battery compartment and they’re all good.
None of the 110 breakers are tripped. Although I tried to test them individually with a multimeter but I don’t know if I did it right.
If you wanna give me a call, I don’t know if this forum allows it, but you can send me a personal message. I think for me to give you contact information. I’d be glad to walk you through what I know plus share the owner’s manuals that I have.
Hey Steve. I figured out the issue with the ceiling and outside lights. It looks like I blew all the bulbs when I wired the batteries at 24V. I ordered all new LED bulbs to replace them.
I’m still waiting to see how the generator performs after I do the tune up on it.
The only other issue I am contending with is the faulty GFCI outlet in the bathroom. I tested it with a multimeter and it’s showing about 8v AC only which leads me to believe there’s a short somewhere along the line. I am in the process of tracing the wire which at the moment has led me to the ceiling between the bathroom and front door.
The bathroom fan isn’t working either but I wonder if that’s related to the outlet issue.
I need to figure out how to access the space in the ceiling to see if that’s where the problem is.
