Follow up to post from last November.

[D_E_Bishop]

Last year I was having a problem with my house batteries not charging and thought I had it solved, here is the post from then;

B.I.R.D.

I failed to acknowledge Doug's comments and I should have. When I posted my non-problem Doug explained how my system worked and that it was working correctly.

Through diligent maintenance, I now have my old(can't find any date) house and chassis batteries working fine. They are on the replacement schedule for January. I'll replace them before "Q".

We just made a three week trip up to a Family Celebration of Life in Florence. My SIL had succumb to cancer and we had a great time celebrating the beautiful person she is.

I can not get my batteries to hold a charge above 12.6 and the house batteries don't charge from the engine. I pulled up that old post and without the benefit of my Fluke(9vdc batt. died), all I had was a test light available, I managed to discovered that the solenoid/relay failed again.

That old post jogged my never been good memory and I once again owe you guys and in particular, I owe dougrainer a big "Thank You".

[wa8yxm]

I prefer the test light over the Fluke or equal for most 12 volt testing.

Now I admit there are times when I need to know, what voltage I have and I have meters that will tell me plus or minus next to nothing (Very good accurate meters) but usually Bright/Dim/Dark is all I need and the test light does that BETTER than the volt meters.. Way better.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

The 11880 Essex relay SOLD by Cole Hersee, and used to be sold by Ace Parts, Columbus KS et al. is not as durable as a person is led to believe. Results came from real-world testing and break amperage that exceeded about 60 pitted the contacts horribly. When put on the carpet, the OEM will claim LOAD MUST BE RELIEVED BEFORE SWITCHING TO OFF.

This, has been proven to be a superior unit as far as break amperage limit is concerned. It just outlives the 11880

https://www.waytekwire.com/item/75580/White-Rodgers-DC-Power-Relay-Contactor-/

[CharlesinGA]

Not sure what solenoid you are using, but a 200 amp rated Cole-Hersee has silver-tungsten contacts and should last the life of the RV with moderate use.

https://www.amazon.com/Cole-Hersee-24213-Continuous-Solenoid/dp/B005K2429I/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&i...

If your existing solenoid has only one small terminal, just connect the existing small wire to either one of the small terminals, and make up a short 16 or 14 gauge wire with appropriate size terminals on the ends and connect the other small terminal to one of the mounting bolts or other suitable ground adjacent to the solenoid.

When tightening the large cables, DO NOT allow the inner nut on the solenoid to turn, ever. Doing so can cause the contacts inside to shift and the solenoid to fail prematurely. Use a second thin wrench to hold the inner nut in its current position.

Charles
2007 Winnebago View 523H on a 2006 Dodge (Daimler-Chrysler aka Mercedes) Sprinter 3500 chassis (T1N). Bought Sept 2015 with 18K miles on it, Prog Ind HW30C, Prog Dymanics PD4645, Coleman Chill Grille, PML/Yourcovers.com deep alum trans pan, AutoMeter 8558 trans temp gauge, Roadmaster sway bar, Koni Red shocks (front & rear), Fantastic Ultra Breeze hood, added OEM parabolic mirrors and RH aspherical mirror, MB grill conversion.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Your post suggests you are a gentleman. Made me smile.

[MrWizard]

Glad you got it working
And yes, the pro members here are a very big help

Thanks for the post,