Battery & electrical questions
I have a 2014 Coachmen 21QB on a Chevy 4500 chassis, with an Onan 4KW generator. *Does the generator have its own starting battery? If so, how is this battery charged? Or does the generator crank...
Forum Discussion
pnichols wrote:
Now ... what has happened twice in 15 years regarding our current motorhome's batteries getting charged by the Ford alternator ... is this: The 12V solenoid that connects the engine alternator to the coach batteries whenever the ignition key is turned on has failed, such that we arrived at our destination with coach batteries that did not get charged by the alternator.
This above situation was probably due to corroded contacts of the solenoid - because I could still hear the failed solenoid engaging when I would turn on the ignition key. I now have an after-market heavy duty 12V solenoid with silver plated contacts inter-connecting the engine alternator and coach battery bank.
What you are describing is an extremely common problem on the Winnebago manufactured motor homes. WBO used a charge/boost relay (round silver case, two large terminals and one small one, two mounting ears) that is way under capacity for what it is doing. It is 80 amp rated with plain copper contacts. The very best thing you can do is replace it with a Cole Hersee 24213 which is an identical looking relay, except it has two small terminals. You have to fabricate a short jumper from one of the small terminals to ground, usually a mounting bolt. The old relay was internally grounded to the case.
The Cole Hersee 24213 is 200 amp continuous duty rated with silver tungsten plated contacts that will probably last longer than the motorhome. It is about $50.
Amazon Cole Hersee 24213 relay
The terminals are slightly shorter and you have to be careful tightening the nuts. DO NOT allow the factory installed nuts, or the studs, to turn during tightening, use thin lockwashers and you will have just enough stud to work. I have recommended this numerous times on the major RV boards and just recently went thru a series of PM's with a gentleman who found that the relay was not functioning on his Itasca. He replaced it. This is the "standard" recommendation on the View/Navion forum, to simply replace it before it fails. The one on my '07 View was failed at 18K miles and I didn't know it because I was always using shore power to keep the battery charged via the converter. After testing and discovering the relay bad (no voltage rise across it after starting the engine) I replaced it.
Charles
