eyeteeth wrote:
Let back up... and say I HATE dealing with electrical. I'm fairly adept at working on most things, turning a wrench... swinging a hammer... fixing stuff. But I just despise electrical. I have no problem letting someone else deal with it...
The thing that was tricking me away from simply being a ground was the weird activity with the way ALL power would go away. Then eventually come back. I figure it would either come back immediately, or, well just act differently. Always easier in hindsight.
So anyway... moving on... when I removed the Jumper, I noticed as heavy of a gauge it was, it was still warm. So, something still wasn't right. Made a trip to the store and stocked up on a some items. (I already had electrical grease. :) . )
I don't exactly love dealing with electrical problems. (A very sarcastic understatement.) I rate electrical problems right down there with changing baby diapers. Lots of experience with both means I can tolerate both necessary tasks but definitely don't enjoy either.
As I mentioned before, the vibration of simply walking around inside a motorhome can be enough to jiggle a loose ground connection back into contact.
Yes, jumper cables will get warm if used for more than a few minutes. Battery cables will also very warm if you crank the engine for extended periods. However, battery cables are more than ample for the much lower amperage during normal operating conditions.
Battery cables are easily the most critical part of a vehicle's electrical system. If they're bad/loose/corroded/old/dirty/..., nothing will work right.
So, your problem was most likely a bad/loose negative/ground battery cable. As TreeSeeker mentioned, replace both battery cables, making sure all connections are clean and tight, and you shouldn't have any more problems. (At least in that area ... other problems are likely to crop up, which goes with the older motorhome territory.)
