Wednesday, October 29, 2014

We’re Back in Business

 

Blairsville, Ga (high 65, low 38) rain

 

We have rain today and some colder weather coming, so I guess our period of perfect weather has ended. The past few days were so nice, that it was making it very hard to want to leave.    We may leave on Sunday, but we may not.  That’s the nice thing about having your own lot, I guess.

If you didn’t read the last post, we awoke to no DC power the other morning.  We had no air conditioning, heat, water heater, water pump, or lights.  It was a problem with our 12v system.  Our first thought was that the battery cut off switch had accidently gotten turned off, again. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the problem this time.

Fortunately, we got the problem resolved, and I wanted to document it in case it happened to someone else.

I had gone online to a Monaco forum and was pretty certain our problem was with the battery cut off switch which is also known as the salesman switch.  Ours switch is inside by the door, but it’s wired to a solenoid, which in our case was in the rear passenger bay, near the batteries.   Al tested the voltage on the solenoid, and found it good on one side and bad on the other, so we were pretty sure that was the problem. 

Chuck, one of the people on the Monaco forum, told us how to re-wire the solenoid that would bypass it.  He said most of the other Monaco owners had already done this, because it’s only a matter of time until the solenoid fails.

We saw no good reason to have this switch, and would be happy to bypass it, but we just couldn’t bring ourselves to do  it ourselves.  

The only thing I know about electricity, is how to turn it off and on.  Al knows some, but isn’t real comfortable with this type of thing.  We were afraid we would screw something up and do some major damage to the coach.  

Our local mobile Rv mechanic is getting ready to head south for the winter, so we weren’t sure if he’d be able to come out or not.

Fortunately, he was able to fit us into his schedule.  By the time he got here, we had located the solenoid, so we saved him time having figure out where it was located. Each coach is different.  He tested the solenoid, and also came to the conclusion that it was bad. He rewired it to bypass the solenoid.  It took him all of 20 seconds, I think.  :)

As it turned out, even I could have done the bypass, but that’s okay.  He only charged us for the service call, and we knew it was done right and we weren’t going to blow up as we slept!

I am posting before and after pictures in case this happens to someone else.

This is the bay where the cut off solenoid is located. The solenoid is on the bottom row, to the right of the square box on the left.

battery cut off area on right rear side of Motorhome

Here is a close up of the solenoid as it was wired originally.

close up of where we thing selonoid is located?

Here is the bypass.  The red cable that was on the top was moved to the bottom post.  That’s all you need to do to bypass the switch.  Easy peasy.

IMG_5490

 

We took a ride up to the Blue Ridge Parkway yesterday. The fall color was faded, but it was still beautiful.  I’ll post some pics soon.

6 comments:

  1. Glad you got your problem resolved. Just by looking at the before and after pictures I can see the Manufacturer makes your electrical system look more complicated than it really is. One thing that really surprised me was that your 12 volt system shuts down the shore power to most of your appliances. Most RV manufacturers don't do that. They are two different systems and should remain as such. The only thing your shore power does to the 12 volt is to trickle charge your battery bank.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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  2. Very interesting solution, thank goodness it wasn't an expensive or involved fix. Once in a while, you win one! :c)

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  3. Thats great that you got things all fixed up and ready to hit the road. Honk as you pass us here in Unadilla!

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  4. Good detective work and resolution. It's always good to know your limitations.so glad you will soon be on the road to Florida. Let's get together soon.

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  5. Glad your back up and operational. The Gremlins have to make their presence known once in a while, don't they? Safe journey!

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  6. That was some very useful info to share. I learned it is better to defer to the professionals if I don't know exactly what to do.

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