Master disconnect on fourwinds 5000

[Vintmxman]

I own a 2006 fourwinds 5000 class c coach. My wife took it on a trip to Virginia and now she called a nervous wreck telling the master discontent would not turn off the house power and the brand new battery is now dead and will not charge. She is 600 miles from home and I don't know what could be wrong. I went over the coach a hundred times so she would not have a problem and this happens on day one..please help..it was working fine the day she left, turned off and on with no issues....

[evanvalk]

I would have her check the surge protector on one of the wall outlets, If she had a power surge for some reason, that would cut off all power ac and dc. gen would not start. Just a guess. Good luck.

[enblethen]

Yes, you should not use a starter relay. It must be a continuous duty relay. They draw less amperage on the coil and does not get hot.
They just look like the old Ford starter relays!

[indyzmike]

enblethen wrote:
Mine is a silver Ford starter style. There is nothing really special about the relays. They are continuous duty 100 amp available at most auto parts stores. NAPA, is a good place.

My dad's class A, a 1990 Pace Arrow, had an automatic jump start/charging control. I had an emergency start/charging relay replaced by a repair center. It worked once after that. Found out that they had installed a Ford style starter relay. I found out that the Ford style starter relay coil draws too much current from the control circuit, and wrecks the switching component on the circuit board. I replaced the relay with one from the circuit manufacturer, and replaced the burned out component with one from Radio Shack. All worked fine after that.
Moral of the story is, do not use a Ford style starter relay if you have the automatic jump start/charge circuit.

[Vintmxman]

enblethen wrote:
It should be adjacent to the battery disconnects. Mine is a silver Ford starter style. It is tied to the battery disconnects by small pieces of copper bar.
There is nothing really special about the relays. They are continuous duty 100 amp available at most auto parts stores. NAPA, is a good place.
I have two of these relays. One for charge/emergency start and another is an ignition relay used to turn on loads added by Fleetwood to chassis. Electric mirrors/heaters, electric window, etc.
Yes, it is a good chance, however you must verify that the emergency start fuse circuit is not blown.

Thank you Sir. I will verify Emergency start prior to relay replacement.....I appreciate you taking the time to reply. This is all new to me but I am learning quickly thanks to your advise.....I'll let you know I find...

[enblethen]

It should be adjacent to the battery disconnects. Mine is a silver Ford starter style. It is tied to the battery disconnects by small pieces of copper bar.
There is nothing really special about the relays. They are continuous duty 100 amp available at most auto parts stores. NAPA, is a good place.
I have two of these relays. One for charge/emergency start and another is an ignition relay used to turn on loads added by Fleetwood to chassis. Electric mirrors/heaters, electric window, etc.
Yes, it is a good chance, however you must verify that the emergency start fuse circuit is not blown.

[Vintmxman]

Interesting Bud. So if it does not start over of the emergency start its a good chance it the charge relay ? I have this correct ! Would that relay be in the coach or in the motor bay ?

[enblethen]

The charge relay on many coach's is the same relay that is energized for the emergency start.
If your wife got the genset started off emergency start, was she able to re-energize the coach battery disconnect?

[Vintmxman]

Thanks to all. It's very difficult to try and walk her through repairs or things to look at. She started the gens et with the emergency start switch so that running now so she will be fine until she returns home and I can diagnose the problem....thanks yo everyone for the quick and helpful tips...much appreciated. It's her first trip alone in it and I feel horrible things art working correctly. I spent do much time in preparation on it and I feel short....not very comforting on my end yo think she is having problems do far away from home.....thanks again to all. This is a great site full of very kind people...

[enblethen]

Battery hooked up incorrectly.
Could have dropped the power feed to the genset would also cause problem.
Possible when the battery was installed the installer arced the batteries and caused reverse polarity fuse in the converter to blow. Then the shore power would not be able to charge the battery.
Lot of possibilities.

[rongtamw]

If you have the main engine running ,it should provide enough electric to start the generator.Once it the generator starts you can shut off the engine.Don't know about your short.good luck

[Vintmxman]

enblethen wrote:
Does the rig have a emergency start switch? If it does she should be able to energize the emergency start to turn the coach batteries on and to start the genset.

Didn't know that detail. It does have an emergency start switch...I'll pass that along to her...any thoughts on what could drain a brand new battery in that short amount of time ? It certainly isn't charging but why would it be draining ? Dead short somewhere ? How would I go about finding that ?

[enblethen]

Does the rig have a emergency start switch? If it does she should be able to energize the emergency start to turn the coach batteries on and to start the genset.

[Vintmxman]

She was driving a when she arrived at her friends home she attempted to start the generator and found the battery was dead and the master switch just had a FIM glow and would not turn off. So she had no lights, water pump etc.....no shore power where she ended up having yo park the coach. The battery was brand new top of the line 300 dollar battery....something drained the battery while she was driving. It was only a 10 hour drive and it's completely dead...just can understand why it didn't charge as she drove or what could have drained a brand new battery that quickly. She is a nervous wreak as am I..thankfully the engine starts and runs fine m it's just the house battery that has the issue, sorry if I wasn't clear...scrambling yo get an answer yo help her...she not very good under pressure...

[dan-nickie]

If she is travelling or camping, why would you need to turn the battery off?
What is she using that would run the battery down overnight?