Chassis battery disconnect failed while driving

Sitting on side of road with exact issue. 2007 Hurricane, chassis battery disconnect shut off while driving killed all power; steering, brakes, etc luckily was intermittent, so we were able to get to side of road

BluesLover wrote:
Date.Traveling- Wow, thanks for doing all that diagnostic testing. Do you think the design is flawed?

Not sure what is happening. We have pretty much identical chassis. The chassis comes from Ford fully operational and the coach builder will add the BCC during house construction. Not really sure what happened. I would expect the alternator to have kept you going down the road. I'm not even sure if you would get a caution or warning light (forgot to check) since usually the failure is the other way around. Alternator failure and the battery running the show, but I've been wrong before.

Design flaw is a bit of much considering the entire Thor F53 chassis based product line are probably identical in DC power layout. Might be a onetime installation problem that was missed by QA. Can't say for sure one way or another.

You would have to look at the wiring diagram for your coach to see where the disconnect is located in relation to the alternator feed, feed to ignition-controlled breakers, etc. Not sure there is a "one answer fits all".

If you have the least concern about it, remove any solenoid-controlled disconnect and install a simple marine ON-OFF switch. Most are rated for 360 amps continuous and are just a little over $20. Totally mechanical and designed for the harsh marine environment.

bsimonds- I truly thought the disconnect only disconnected the battery. Evidently that wasn't the case.

Date.Traveling- Wow, thanks for doing all that diagnostic testing. Do you think the design is flawed? And no, the Aux Start switch didn't help. I tried it the next day after reading some of the postings here while waiting for the shop to open.

ArchHoagland- Ford F53 V-10 chassis

What chassis?

Since I also have a Hurricane in my drive way want to test the problem out. Started the engine and hit the disconnect. Nothing. Acted just like the coach battery disconnect when I'm plugged in. Battery is disconnected but the converter is powering everything but in this case the alternator is doing the work. I also disconnect the positive cable(s) from the battery and still nothing changed. Even unplugged shore power and disconnected the coach batteries. Engine never hesitated. Couldn’t duplicate the total engine shut down without actually getting into the BCC and disabling the solenoid. I wonder if holding the AUX START switch would have got you down the road.

I did have the same failure in the drive way this past spring. The coil in the solenoid was toast and the contacts didn’t look very healthy. Took an hour to replace. Local RV dealer had several. What is the likelihood of a repeat failure? No telling. Rate that one up there with a fuel pump sudden death, ECC failure, tire blow out,,, Each year I stroke a check for ERS betting I will break down they bet I won’t. I’m one for one so far.

I would have thought that the alternator, ignition, lights, etc. would have been on the load side of the disconnect relay and that everything would have kept running on the alternator until the next time the engine was shut down and that then you would have discovered the failed relay when it wouldn't start.

I don't understand what the solenoid has to do with you losing power. I think you're wrong this solenoid is the culprit, I think it is something else for you to lose all engine power. This solenoid is only used to disconnect the chassis batteries while in storage mode, that's it. Why would the NTSB care about your chassis solenoid?