Chassis battery disconnect failed while driving

[BluesLover]

Last week my 2008 Thor Four Winds Hurricane 34B's chassis battery disconnect solenoid failed without warning while on an interstate highway on-ramp. We bought the RV new in 2010, and had just under 36,000 miles on it.

The solenoid's failure resulted in a complete loss of all chassis power, including all lights, brakes, engine, the works. Unfortunately, a tractor-trailer tried to go around our RV, side-swiping the cargo trailer and the back of the RV, causing considerable damage to both.

I have reported the issue to the National Highway Transportation Safety web site, but thought I should warn others here of the potential for this to happen.

I tried to reset it repeatedly, but it wouldn't restore power. We had to have a jumper wire installed to get home. Thor has agreed to replace the control center, but I am having second thoughts about doing so.

What is the likelihood of another solenoid failure, next time while at interstate speeds in traffic? We were very, very lucky this time that there was only damage to the coach and trailer.

[BluesLover]

rgatijnet1, It was the disconnect that failed, not the ignition switch, and there was no shorts. The design defaulted to NO power to the chassis if the solenoid failed. Thor's local dealer replaced the entire control box, bypassing the solenoid powered disconnect, replacing it with a manual switch. My complaints were reviewed by the NHTSA and they forced the recall, recognizing the potential for failure while driving at highway speeds. Only by the grace of God did mine fail right before getting on the interstate...

[RonVBT]

I wouldn't bother spending much time on the phone with Thor or a dealer. It's a "RV Customs Products" recall. You can do the recall in 5 minutes yourself and save yourself the gas money. Better yet...you can make your system better by installing a manual battery switch from an automotive store like others have done. That way the system is hard wired "on" unless it will be parked for an extended time, then you manually switch it off.

[rgatijnet1]

In the good old days, you could disconnect your battery and the vehicle would still run off of the alternator. With sophisticated electronic circuits, that is no longer the case. In fact I remember a specific warning on one of my vehicles about disconnecting the batter while the engine was running, and the damage to the electronic circuits that it could cause.
AT first I thought that this seemed to be an ignition switch problem, similar to just turning the key off. The thing is that on most rigs, that would have no affect on the headlights, IF THAT is the lights he is talking about losing. IF he is talking about losing all of his dash lights, than it still could be an ignition switch failure.
Hard to say or guess without knowing the wiring diagram of the type of chassis involved. The chassis battery shorting out to ground would have the same affect as turning off the ignition and may also prevent the alternator from providing any power and may also cause the headlights to go out. This is as simple as a complete inspection of the chassis battery, or main wiring circuit to see if there is a frayed wire from friction or rodents, that could short out the main 12 volt circuit to ground.

[dondjs]

Thank you for the notice of the recall. I did notice it while ready the posts. I will be calling THOR on Monday. I did not receive a notification in the mail. The dealer I checked with on this had no knowledge of what may have caused the problem. Thanks to the Forum, I now know how to proceed.

[bullydogs1]

I thought there was a recall on this and Thor simply took the disconnect out. You can search the NHTSA.org website...might be there.

[dondjs]

My 2008 Windsport by THOR did the same thing today on the interstate, fortunately, I was able to get off on the shoulder, but then all of a sudden, power returned, started the engine and made it 45 miles home. Now sitting in the driveway, power loss again after shutting down, and starting up a couple of times, then nothing.

Will THOR fix this. Coach has 32K. This seems like a major problem for THOR.

[Effy]

There was a BCC recall that addressed this exact issue. The solution is simple, re-route the disconnect/ take it out of the circuit. You won't have a chassis disconnect anymore but the power won't go out either.

[RonVBT]

I would say that, if you have a chassis disconnect switch...and when you disconnect the chassis battery you can turn your ignition key and nothing happens...you should be leary. If that system fails, you are dead in the water (or freeway)!

[RonVBT]

From what I gather on the forums, this is a RV Products problem. There are several BCC models that have the problem. RV Products builds the FW2050 special for the Four Winds (Thor) coaches. Come to find out, it's a bad idea to have your lifeline routed through an inexpensive solenoid that can fail causing catastrophic problems. Camping World (although not their fault) came out immediately to help me while I was stranded on I-80 in rush hour traffic and was very apologetic. They gave me $120.00 worth of credit at their RV store because of my inconvenience. If I would have been killed, I would ask for more.

[cltkids]

I have been following this awhile (I have already bypassed my BCC) and was wondering if this is a Thor problem only? Or are other manufacturers having this issue?

[RonVBT]

I had this failure last night while driving my MH home from dealer minutes after purchasing it. I noticed my backup camera cycling on and off and my ABS brake light flashing on momentarily. I pulled over to the slow lane and moments later had complete power failure! The engine quit and no power to the instrument cluster. I was able to get the rig off the road (I was on I-80 during rush hour traffic going through Sacramento, Ca. at the time. I still had Coach power but the emergency battery switch did nothing to energize the Chassis. Is it possible that Thor uses Chassis battery to energize the Emergency solenoid? It seems like they would use the Coach battery to do that. Anyway, Camping World sent two techs right out (I wasn't far from the dealership) and they were very apologetic. They were able to re-wire the BCC going by memory to get me home but want me to bring it in for the recall fix. I have read the recall and it is pretty straight forward...just move the chassis battery wire from the rear terminal to the front terminal. it totally bypasses the chassis battery disconnect which is the way they used to do it in the old days anyway. You just want to isolate the coach and the chassis batteries while parked so as to not run down the chassis battery. I need to figure out why my emergency switch doesn't seem to work when the chassis battery is dead though. That's the whole purpose for it.

[BluesLover]

tgenardi wrote:
I'm looking for some help regarding this topic. I have a 2007 Hurricane and had the same experience. I was able to put the mh in neutral and kept restarting it and got it home.

I read the postings regarding this and I went ahead and replaced the solenoid and tried starting the mh again and now nothing works. I don't have 12v to any of my chassis. When I try to turn the chassis on with the switch, I hear a pop, the green light flashes and goes away.

I don't know if there was a difference between the solenoid I took out and the one I put in, the new one wasn't the White Rogers model, lighter weight - you could see difference in the construction of the two.

I ordered another solenoid online to see if it helps.

Any help would really be appreciated as I have a trip coming soon and would really like to have everything all set to go and have no issues on trip.

Your problem is different than mine, as you were able to restart the vehicle, so not sure that replacing the solenoid would help.

Mine lost ALL power, including ignition, starter, lights, everything electrical except the "house lights".

[BluesLover]

ScottBrownstein wrote:
We are being a little fast and free with terminology here. On most rigs, the battery disconnects are not solenoids, they are solenoid activated physical switches the only use power to close and open, but remain in whatever state when power is removed. The solenoid switch in the BCC is a powered solenoid that must remain powered to stay closed. I too have lost power while driving and saved the day by using my BCC boost switch to re-power the chassis. The problem was a cracked battery lug on the chassis battery that decided to stop conducting at 55 MPH on route 95! Didn't generate an immense problem, but the dash went dead as well. Pushing the Boost switch (and holding it) re-powered the rig and all was well. In fact, I eventually started the generator which powered the converter and fired the BCC solenoid for me so that I could take my finger off the switch and drive for the rest of the day until I could make repairs.

The BCC solenoid CANNOT cause loss of power in any way! A bad disconnect switch (or cable, or battery lug) can!

I can only pass on what the service tech and engineers at Thor told me, as well as service technicians at two different RV shops.

They all said the chassis power was disconnected due to a faulty solenoid. There was no cracked battery lug when my unit failed. There was, however, a total and complete loss of power.

As I wrote earlier, Thor replaced my BCC and wired in a manual disconnect that I can use to disconnect the chassis power for storage. It works great.

I am thankful that my reporting the failure to the NHTSC finally lead to a recall of the defective units. Hopefully no one will get killed when their RV stops running while going down the road. PLEASE take in your RV for repairs as soon as possible!

[Effy]

Kaz wrote:
Got my recall notice for the BCC repair this weekend. Off to the dealer for a fix.

Me too. I have issues also with the house disconnects. Must be defective solenoids.