No 12 Volt!

[dshinnick]

Hey all-

We have a Holiday Rambler '05 Ambassador. All was well today until about 15 minutes ago, when
we lost 12 volt power. The ceiling lights shut off, the EMS went blank, as well as the climate control.

Our outside surge suppressor says that there's 120V coming in on both legs, and we do seem to have 120V on both legs in the coach.

But, the 12V system seems dead. I have reset the inverter, and the GFCI outlet in the bath area. Our Magnum power display says we are in Float. The Intellitec EMS is dead; no display at all. Same with the climate control. I guess they're both 12V devices.

I did shut off shore power and switched on the inverter, and things lit up just like they're supposed to, so we must have 12v power. The House Battery gauge shows over 13v in the house batteries. We checked fuses in the box in the bedroom, and all showed good except for the dash radio control, which I'm guessing isn't the culprit....

So, the question of the evening is: what can cause a loss of 12v power, while leaving 120v working?

I did have an incident recently where the house batteries were allowed to run completely down, but they've been refilled and recharged, and have been working fine for two days.

Help! Any thoughts?

thanks-

dave

[Nomadac]

Don't know about Monaco, but in our MH we have a switch at the front step area that kills power to the 12v system when MH is in storage. I had this problem late at night on our last trip and flipped the switch on and off several time and the power came back on. This switch goes to the solenoid distributes the 12v to the different areas in our MH. In the near future I am going to replace the solenoid to insure I don't have a problem again as I have already replaced the switch once.

You might check and see if you have a similar setup.

[coolcity]

YC 1 wrote:

coolcity wrote:

bowlturner wrote:
check your left front compartment, in the electrical box you will find a large relay, just had to replace mine, 120 was fine no 12 volt..

If the relay was dead why does it work properly while in the inverter mode? (what OP claims)

I think he meant that 110 volts was running, hence his batteries were ok, BUT, his 12 volt systems were dead.

This really points to the salesman solenoid.

you Could be correct Thats not how I read it.Funny OP does not clarify after reading the posts here
OP quote:
did shut off shore power and switched on the inverter, and things lit up just like they're supposed to, so we must have 12v power. The House Battery gauge shows over 13v in the house batteries.

to me it sounds like the lites are working this way hence 12v is working also

[YC_1]

Salesman switch information

[YC_1]

coolcity wrote:

bowlturner wrote:
check your left front compartment, in the electrical box you will find a large relay, just had to replace mine, 120 was fine no 12 volt..

If the relay was dead why does it work properly while in the inverter mode? (what OP claims)

I think he meant that 110 volts was running, hence his batteries were ok, BUT, his 12 volt systems were dead.

This really points to the salesman solenoid.

[dshinnick]

Thank you all SO much. Last night about 1:30 it came on all by itself, but I will investigate your suggestions to try to eliminate any weak components in the system.


Thanks Again-

Dave

[coolcity]

bowlturner wrote:
check your left front compartment, in the electrical box you will find a large relay, just had to replace mine, 120 was fine no 12 volt..

If the relay was dead why does it work properly while in the inverter mode? (what OP claims)

[coolcity]

midnightsadie wrote:
I,d go with the ground wire start at the batteries.the first poster is good info.

If it was a ground wire at batterys he would not have a working inverter system

[mscamping]

Once you find the large solinoid, put a jumper across the large terminals on it and see if that brings back the 12 volt, if it does just eliminate the solinoid and you're good to go.. You will need to bolt the large wires together and tape up the small ones, also tape the large connection too.. Mike Mathews..

[YC_1]

See if you have a panel like this below driver outside

Scroll down to the 3rd response and look for front distribution panel. There is a relay on the left. Mine has a circuit breaker as well but the most likely culprit is the solenoid. Just measure voltage on each side of the thing on the large connectors. You should have the same voltage on each large post if it is energized.

[YC_1]

bowlturner wrote:
check your left front compartment, in the electrical box you will find a large relay, just had to replace mine, 120 was fine no 12 volt..

Ditto:
Commonly known as the salesman switch/solenoid. Cycle your switch by the door several times to see if it sparks to life.

Since your inverter works the batteries are not dead.

[Alphamonk]

This happened to me on a '93 Navigator once. It was the 200 amp fuse in the battery compartment.

[bowlturner]

check your left front compartment, in the electrical box you will find a large relay, just had to replace mine, 120 was fine no 12 volt..

[sljkansas]

Is there a fuse/breaker at the battery? It may have tripped. There may be more than 1 fuse/breaker coming off the battery.

[midnightsadie]

I,d go with the ground wire start at the batteries.the first poster is good info.