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.

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

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.

 

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.

Loss of 12 v Power

 

 Blairsville, GA  (high 78, low 48)

We awoke yesterday  morning to no 12 volt power.  We have no air conditioning, no heat, no hot water, no lights, and no fans.   You don’t realize how important 12v power is until you lose it.

The electric outlets still work, the TV works, and thankfully the outlet for the coffee pot works.  The refrigerator also still works, so we can have both cocktails,and coffee in in the am.   :)

Al has checked the batteries, connections, and everything else we can think of.   The battery cut-off/salesman switch has not been accidently disconnected.

The inverter seems to be running as normal. 

I went online to a Monaco Coach forum and got some really good suggestions.  We think the solenoid for the battery cut-off switch has failed.  Apparently, this is a very common issue and many people just bypassed the solenoid without replacing it.  We don’t use it anyway.  

A very nice man in Mississippi by the name of Chuck had me send him pictures, and he told us exactly how to bypass the solenoid.  He thinks that is our problem after having Al do a few tests.  We are reluctant to mess with it ourselves, because we are afraid of messing up something else, or blowing up the coach.

We called our mobile RV tech yesterday morning and left a message.  We decided if he could come, we would let him repair the problem.  If he couldn’t, we would consider plan B.   Fortunately, he can make it today, despite the fact that he’s also getting ready to head south for the winter in a few days.  Thank goodness.   Now, if it’s just as simple as we think/hope it is.

Wish us luck.  It seems every time we are getting ready to leave, something happens.   I guess it’s par for the course in Rv living.

Merikay and Craig left this morning, with Merikay driving.  They should be getting close to Atlanta by now, where they’re stopping at a Trader Joe’s.   Brave  folks, they are! 

Bye, Merikay and Craig!