House batteries and alternator

Your house batteries should charge as you drive. Start your engine and put a volt meter on the battery leads. Your voltage should drop when the motor is turned off. If not there is a problem. Best of luck

Hi,

The problem may be as simple as a blown fuse, or it may be a solenoid with burned contacts, or a break in the charging wire

I tested my batteries with a volt meter with the engine off and again with the engine running, no difference in voltage. I wouldn't know where to start to track down the problem.

Hi,

Start with the chassis owner's manual. Look for references to charging batteries.

My unit came with a 60 amp fuse. After the 2nd time it blew I had it replaced with an auto reset 50 amp circuit breaker.

A year after that the OEM charging solenoid (conveniently located under the chassis battery (grrrrr)) had burned contacts. I had it replaced with a much heavier duty one.

If the chassis battery is charging, I would vote for a bad solenoid. If the chassis battery is not charging, I would vote for a bad alternator.

What is needed is a pictorial page showing what these components LOOK LIKE. Maybe the webmaster would go for creating such a page, maybe not. An image with a description below.

Look for this part

Look for that part

Under the hood. Under the dash. In the battery compartment. But some folks are not aware of basic safety protocol. So this must be considered as well.

The solenoid in mine looks like this. The 2 large terminals connect to the batteries. The smaller terminals control the solenoid, one is ground and the other is connected to the ignition switch.

Mine is located near the chassis battery and has a 50A fuse in the wire to the chassis battery. Yours could be anywhere???

First check that the chassis battery is charging with your voltmeter, you should read 13.2V+, engine running power plug unpluged. Look for the solenoid by tracing the wires from both battery banks. Check the big terminals with the engine off and power plug out, both should have voltage. Next check the small terminal (one is ground) for voltage with the engine running, power plug out. If you have voltage everywhere then that suggests a bad solenoid.

Both of my Monacos had Intellitec solenoids which failed in about 2 years. None of my Intellitec products seem to be good quality. Both of my Monacos had electronics that activated the solenoid depending upon battery voltage and/or which bank was being charged. Other rigs use the ignition switch to activate the solenoid.

BTW If you have solar disconnect it before checking the above and gen off.

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
What is needed is a pictorial page showing what these components LOOK LIKE. Maybe the webmaster would go for creating such a page, maybe not. An image with a description below.

Look for this part

Look for that part

Under the hood. Under the dash. In the battery compartment. But some folks are not aware of basic safety protocol. So this must be considered as well.

That page already exists, its called Google Images.

I've had problems with engine batteries not charging. Two new alternators installed over two years, better, but the problem happened again in October. Cummins in Brandon MB fixed the problem, I hope. The mechanic thoroughly cleaned all terminals on the alternator plus spent some time cleaning the alternator earth connection. Everything functioned as it should and 1500 miles later an erratic tachometer now functions normally.