I recently purchased my camper. It is a 1990 E350 Catalina. I have been having serious issues getting her started after sitting for even a day. If I drive for more than about 2 hours she starts to die and I have to shut her off for a while. I have solar installed so almost all of the time I am running house stuff off of those batteries. Nothing inside the camper should be pulling power from the original battery and if I switch my solar setup to all batteries off (original and solar) nothing in the camper works. (As it should be.) After much investigation (and replacing things that were not the problem) I have concluded that the previous owner hardwired the emergency start. The button is gone and the wires are somewhere behind the dash. :-( So, from what I can tell the start solenoid is always "on" and is killing my batteries. He has done something very odd with the wiring. The camper will NOT start from the starter battery (fully charged and brand new) with the house battery disconnected. She will start from the house battery with the starter battery disconnected. I cannot find a picture of how the wiring is supposed to be. And no, a technical schematic will not help me.:-( I have the Chilton book for it.So, I am hoping someone can tell me or show me a picture of how this is supposed to be set up. I am happy to post whatever pictures are needed. ANY help is greatly appreciated.

IMO it’s time to hire a pro mechanic for your almost thirty year old rig.

Sorry but this may utterly overwhelm your ability to diagnose and correct. You need handheld meters and a 12 volt testlight. Doing a repair by guesswork and hit and miss is impossible..

Your best bet might well be with the previous owner or the person who "created" your current issue. A remote viewing guess would be at best, . . . . . just a guess with little value.Chum lee

See if you can find an electrical person to help you troubleshoot. Maybe even a mobile tech who is electrically savvy.Jerry Parr 602-321-8141

I have a volt meter. I do not have a test light. I do know if I remove the house battery and reinstall the drain stops. This is why I was hoping someone could show a picture of what it should look like. :-(I suppose for now I will disconnect the battery when not driving until I can find a real solution.The previous owner is not an option.I appreciate the responses. :-)

emergency start has been hardwired? | Good Sam Community

maillemaker
Explorer
Jan 16, 2020
I'm going to start a new thread on my issue, thanks.
wolfe10
Explorer
Jan 15, 2020
If this is the ignition solenoid, you need a CONSTANT DUTY solenoid of at least the amp rating of the current one.

If this is the start solenoid, a starter solenoid (intermittent duty) solenoid if the same or greater rating is what you need.

Here, "more is better" (higher amp rating solenoid better with more surface area in contacts and/or better material in the contacts).
maillemaker
Explorer
Jan 15, 2020
Sorry, there is nothing in the picture to suggest failure, it's just a picture of the solenoid.

Nonetheless, it has failed.

I need to know what to replace it with.

Guess I'll call winnebago.
wa8yxm
Explorer III
Jan 15, 2020
I do not see how that photo suggests the solenoid is bad.. BUT

There are basically two flavors of solenoid (really 3)

Starter solenoids close when energized and are designed for max 30 seconds. They will burn out of continuously engaged.

Isolator solenoids are identical to starter but designed for 100% engagement for hours on end.. They should NOT burn out...

Then there is the magnetic latching type that Intelletec (and likely others) uses in their modern battery control centers.. These are.... different.. but may APPEAR identical. On these you apply power one way. it goes CLUNK and connects. and latches.. then you apply power to the coil the OTHER way and again it CLUNKS and disconnects... At least ideally it does that.. Mine .. Well the switch needed cleaning (And that was when it was nearly new) a good cleaning and as of last propane fill. worked perfectly.
BFL13
Explorer II
Jan 15, 2020
Lwiddis wrote:
IMO it’s time to hire a pro mechanic for your almost thirty year old rig.

That is un-called for! :)
maillemaker
Explorer
Jan 15, 2020
It appears that my solenoid has gone bad.

What kind should I replace it with?

Steve
Laurie_and_her_
Explorer
Oct 23, 2019
I just wanted to let all of you know where things stand now. So, the dying issue was due to several things. The house battery was tested as showing "good" but it was not. It was discharging itself. (Volt meter lead to positive post and to top of battery showed voltage.) New battery installed. The forward fuel pump was loosing pressure. New pump installed. The MAIN culprit of her dying while driving was the fuel cap. Vapor lock. She runs great now. :-)
I have someone who is going to look at the crazy wiring the previous owner did. Since I very rarely run the generator I am hoping that I will not have the alternator issue in the previous comment.
I sincerely appreciate all of the responses.
maillemaker
Explorer
Sep 30, 2019
So here is the page from my owner's manual that describes the possible damage to the alternator if you gang the house batteries to the engine battery while the generator is running:

Also, you were correct about only one solenoid. Here is the brains of my power system as came from Winnebago. There are some bus bars and, I think circuit breakers. I don't know how all of this works, it just has always done so so I have not fiddled with it.
MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
Sep 26, 2019
For many years continuous duty solenoids resembling Ford starter solenoids...

Did
Not
Exist

1.120-ohm coil solenoids are the original Autolite starter solenoids. The housing is black phenolic. And the (2) #10x32 screws are identified as follows

S for start
I for ignition coil resistor BYPASS

the solenoid mounting bracket was STEEL and served as ground. Without being grounded the solenoid did nothing at all.

The solenoids had a time limit of 30-seconds beyond which it would overheat and char the coil winding.

But the amperage limit was 800

I still use this solenoid for emergency coupling of 2 banks of batteries for starting duty.

For CONSTANT DUTY the tower-type Essex White Westinghouse style solenoid has proven to be more reliable. I prefer the 200-amp model. But there is no question the Ford solenoid is far stronger than even the Essex for high amperage loads. So I am forced to use both. The Ford solenoid has proven to be a winner paralleling battery banks to start 3406 Caterpillar D8R bulldozers.

None of the above is derived from guesswork :)
maillemaker
Explorer
Sep 26, 2019
Given that the OP’s chassis is a 1990 E350 it’s almost guaranteed to be a simple 4 post constant duty solenoid. AKA Ford starter solenoid.

Usually mounted on the drivers side behind the battery it has 1 heavy wire to the house battery, 1 heavy wire to the chassis battery, 1 small wire to an ‘ignition run’ wire and the last wire to the emergency start button. Nothing complicated or mysterious at all.

My 1990 E350's house charging circuity is a bit more complicated than that. I believe there are 2 solenoids involved. Plus what looks like some kind of bus bar or fuse bar kind of thing. I'll take a picture this weekend.

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