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lm1050's avatar
lm1050
Explorer
Nov 18, 2017

12 volt electrical not working when shore power disconnected

I have a 2009 Four Winds Windsport 34y toyhauler motorhome. when i disconnect from shore power the 12 volt dosent work. i have checked all the fuses and relays that i can find (2 latching and 1 solenoid behind fuse box in engine compartment). . I ran power from the battery to the fuse box in the coach with a temporary wire and the lights came on . i have looked everywhere i can think of and cant find another relay . there is voltage coming out of the box in the engine compartment. . any ideas would be greatly appreciated. thanks Larry Myers

8 Replies

  • Pardon me if I misunderstand. I'm reading the first post repeatedly and see no mention of house batteries. The house is not powered from the engine battery - rather from at least one battery in a compartment with ventilation accessible from the outside of the house. The first thing I would check is the voltage on the house batteries. If below 12 volts they are not charged, and if not charged for a long time they are probably ruined. Check the charging system by measuring the voltage on the batteries while hooked up to shore power so the converter should be applying at least 13.5 volts to the batteries (fuse for that may be somewhere other than the house fuse panel).
  • lm1050 wrote:
    WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE AND IS IT RESESTABLE?. AGAIN, THANKS EVERYONE AND ILL KEEP SEARCHING. LARRY MYERS


    In the first response to your post, see the portion underlined and in blue print. That is a clickable link to a picture of one of those breakers.

    Some of them have a button for manual reset, some are auto reset ( when the battery is disconnected and reconnected), and some do not reset. They are available at most auto parts suppliers and they come in varying (10,20,30, etc) amperage. If your's tests bad, replace it with same amperage as the old one.
  • lm1050 wrote:
    THANKS FOR ALL THE FEEDBACK BUT I HAVE TRIED ALL THESE SUGGESTIONS EXCEPT FOR THE BREAKER IN THE FUSE BOX. WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE AND IS IT RESESTABLE?. AGAIN, THANKS EVERYONE AND ILL KEEP SEARCHING. LARRY MYERS

    It isn't a fuse box but the box under the hood that controls the 12V major large wires - you will see the large gauge wires running in and out of it. Inside there is a small black re-settable breaker that would trip on our old Hurricane giving the exact same symptoms you describe. On ours the button was in the lower left side of the box as you are looking into the box. You have to shove a bunch of wires around to even get to the box.
  • THANKS FOR ALL THE FEEDBACK BUT I HAVE TRIED ALL THESE SUGGESTIONS EXCEPT FOR THE BREAKER IN THE FUSE BOX. WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE AND IS IT RESESTABLE?. AGAIN, THANKS EVERYONE AND ILL KEEP SEARCHING. LARRY MYERS
  • When we had a 2006 Hurricane, the same thing happened to us. There was a circuit breaker that had tripped in the 12V box almost dead center at the top under the hood.
  • Make sure you haven't accidentally toggled your battery disconnect - on my rig they located in spot where someone occasionally hits it with their knees. Also - there probably is a auto reset circuit breaker near your battery - when they go toes up they disconnect the battery from the rig. You can check those with simple continuity check.

    Hope this helps

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