Resolved Coach lights up but doesn't turn when hitting ignition, generator won't do anything either.

[Kuate]

I found two fuses 70 and 5 labeled ignition and both look fine.

My coach is a 1999 American Tradition. I'm new to motorcoach btw, approximately two or three weeks in.

At the campgrounds I noticed the chassis batteries were not charging (in fact I lost charge) and had to fire it up with the Aux charge.

I parked it next to our house and added a battery tender to charge the two batteries. Two chassis batteries in serial. I wasn't sure how to charge it so I just used one battery. Next day it read full. I then proceeded to move the negative cable from that one battery to the other battery (so negative on one battery, positve on second battery since they are serialed); which was something I saw on solar charging. I figured this was the same pattern I needed to do

Anyhow, long story short. I had been messing around with two switches that turn off chassis and coach batteries so that they don't drain when not in use. Today i turned on the house batteries and fired up the inverter and everything worked as expected. I proceeded to try to turn on the generator and nothing. No clicking or anything. I tried to turn on the coach from the ignition inside and it lights up and I can see the gauges go up and down but when I try to crank, nothing happens. I found a 70 amp labeled ignition and another 5 amp also labeled ignition and both look good.

Any ideas? I'm thinking there must be a breaker somewhere. I'll keep looking but curious if anybody could throw me a bone and tell me what else to look for.

Thanks in advance!!!!

 

[Rich W.]

I may be reading this wrong but…..Unless your chassis batteries are 6 volt or you have a 24 volt starter, your chassis batteries should be in parallel. If you have two 12 volt chassis batteries and you wired them in series, you would get 24 volts but only half the amperage than if the two chassis batteries wired in parallel. So your dash would light up but your starter wouldn’t crank. If thats the case, hopefully 24 volts to the 12 volt system didn’t damage anything. But as I said, I may be reading this wrong…? On my coach the cables aren’t long enough to change the chassis battery wiring to serial.

 

[Kuate]

You are correct; I misstated. Yes they are in parallel (not serial as stated) . The tender charger supports 12v and 24v. But both times it only registered 12 v when charging. I’m assuming there has to be a fuse somewhere. While the 70 amp fuse looked fine I may just replace it anyways just to rule it out. Question, would the ignition fuse knockout both ignition and generator from starting?

 

[Rich W.]

These things are always difficult to figure out remotely, but three things here:
1. 12 volts would be a correct reading on the chassis system and the house system unless reading 6v house batteries individually.
2. Easy enough to test continuity in a fuse with a multi-meter before going to the trouble to buy one, although always good to carry spares.
3. There are no fuses between the batteries and starters, but if your gauges light up, your ignition system is getting power.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Can you help us? Draw out a simple diagram of your battery configuration so we know what you did. You don't have to get fancy, simple blocks and lines. Do it on paper and use your camera to upload.

 

[Wemustrv]

I found two fuses 70 and 5 labeled ignition and both look fine.

My coach is a 1999 American Tradition. I'm new to motorcoach btw, approximately two or three weeks in.

At the campgrounds I noticed the chassis batteries were not charging (in fact I lost charge) and had to fire it up with the Aux charge.

I parked it next to our house and added a battery tender to charge the two batteries. Two chassis batteries in serial. I wasn't sure how to charge it so I just used one battery. Next day it read full. I then proceeded to move the negative cable from that one battery to the other battery (so negative on one battery, positve on second battery since they are serialed); which was something I saw on solar charging. I figured this was the same pattern I needed to do

Anyhow, long story short. I had been messing around with two switches that turn off chassis and coach batteries so that they don't drain when not in use. Today i turned on the house batteries and fired up the inverter and everything worked as expected. I proceeded to try to turn on the generator and nothing. No clicking or anything. I tried to turn on the coach from the ignition inside and it lights up and I can see the gauges go up and down but when I try to crank, nothing happens. I found a 70 amp labeled ignition and another 5 amp also labeled ignition and both look good.

Any ideas? I'm thinking there must be a breaker somewhere. I'll keep looking but curious if anybody could throw me a bone and tell me what else to look for.

Thanks in advance!!!!

 

[Wemustrv]

I am with Kevin on this a sketch would be helpful. By chance did the battery disconnect get switched off?

 

[Kuate]

Hi all, thanks for chiming in.

I recorded a video and posted on vimeo here


The batteries were in parallel and stayed in parallel. I only disconnected them today to have them checked at NAPA. One was bad and the other was almost bad. They gave me two new ones under warranty.

I replaced them exactly as I saw them, paralle.. positive on one side for both batteries, negative on other side for both batteries (video may not show but as someone else mentioned, the chassis batteries dont have enough wiring to make them serial (my apologies here for not using the right terminology and threw people off on a bunny trail, ill fix the post).

So far I've checked ignition fuses and ignition relay. Checked power to the starter using meter and it checks at 12.5. I have not tried to manually start it and I also have not tried using the starter relay to start it. I'm still learning so those are two items ill try tomorrow or day after (coach is 15 miles away from my house). What has me stumped though is why the generator and ignition started both stopped working. So there must be somethign that knocks them both out. Thats's where I'm at at the moment. Thanks all!

 

[Kuate]

(so negative on one battery, positve on second battery since they are serialed);

Sorry about this here.. for clarification. Both batteries are wired in parallel. When i added the battery charger i had the charger on one battery. It charged for a day and read 'full', however i moved the negative cable from that one battery to the second negative cable battery. It was charging but never went to full. This morning i disconnected all cables and tried to charge each one individually with no success (one wouldn't go [ast 60%). Took the batteries to NAPA and one was bad and the other one was 'almost' bad, they replaced them both under warranty. Now i have two new batteries in the coach, both in a parallel as they should be and same as before i added the battery charger. I added my results to the vimeo video, still no luck on cranking. I was reading another post where someone had similar and it was fixed with two new batteries, not on my end. I read another post were someone was having same issue and they were trying to find the starter relay (on a 1999 American Dream..very close to mine). That's my next attempt. I dont think the other post reported on how they fixed it so ill try to bump it up.

I also think I may have lost my inside lights that run on 12v (the inverter only turns on microwave and AC Outlets) as my kitchen and bathroom lights arent turning on anymore. Thanks all!

 

[NWIP]

FYI

1. Generally the inverter is using the house batteries to supply some items that require 110v. What is powered depends on how it was wired.

2. When using the aux switch you are requesting power from the house batteries for engine start. Depending on amount or state of house batteries may not be enough amps to turn over.

3. Generator is commonly wired to chassis batteries but not always.

Because of the variables it’s a good idea to trace the source of battery power for the generator.