Power problems on maiden voyage HELP.

[djcarter]

So after a few hours the inverter starts beeping E02 so it not charging after a while we pull over a figured we would turn on the generator to charge batteries generator won't start ( churns and churns almost goes but never catches) after a few hours pull over for night no lights or anything guessing house batteries are dead? Put the chassis engine on but I'm guessing it does not charge house batteries? So we are in the dark and glad we did stock the fridge as food will spoil soon, guess tommorow will go to RV park so we can plug but we were hoping to avoid that...RV life...and thoughts?

[djcarter]

Update: don't know if this matters but water pump and rear charging station work. And genny now does nothing does even make a sound

[djcarter]

Radio is not working either so thinking it might be disconnect switch but I set it to disconnect and water pump stops working the to use and the pump kicks back on so it does seem to work puzzled even more now

[16ACE27]

Sounds like your batteries are dead. The water pump will work to a very low voltage. Try using the emergency start switch, prime the generator by holding the STOP for 30 seconds after the red light comes on, then try to start it.

[Oneilkeys]

What kind of coach do you have? All are set up a little differently. You may have tripped the 100 amp circuit breaker in the battery box. An easy thing to check. I have to prime my generator for 45 seconds and sometimes for 20 seconds again before it will
start. Stop and buy a cheap volt meter, if you don't have one , and check to see if your house batteries are charging while your engine is running. It will take quite a while for your house batteries to recharge if they are close to dead.

[djcarter]

Hurricane 35C...breakers all good. Generator light never comes on, now water pumps not working, driving for hours on road so you think they would charge a little. Will stop at RV park tonight and plug it will charge batteries but my guess is after driving for a couple hours I'll be right back where I am now, what can be draining the batteries so fast, I've got the big fridge that uses inverter ( wishing had the little ones that use propane now)...keep that ideas coming. If the Genny does start does anyone recommend driving with it on I've heard both way don't and no big deal?

[Hittntherooad]

The inverter running the fridge will require a lot of battery and run them down pretty quickly. Can you set your generator to come on at a certain voltage? Don't believe your house batteries are charged by driving. I have dual house batteries with a switch so I can use one or both at the same time. I usually alternate between the 2. Yes you can drive with the generator running.

[Beau388]

If you are running the coach A/C and the residential refrigerator on the inverter at the same time, there is not enough output from the coach's engine alternator to charge the batteries. It works this way - the engine alternator is rated at 175 amps @ 3,000 rpm and above, but that rating assumes the alternator is at 80 F degrees. The actual max output of the alternator at 130 F degrees is 100 watts. The engine needs 19 amps to run the computer and fire the injectors. The A/C consumes 26 amps on blower speed 2 and 38 amps with the blower on 4. The frig consumes 6 watts @120 volts or 55 amps @13 volts. Inverter is about 80% efficient at low wattages so figure 70 amps @ 13 volts. Total needed is 115 amps, thus the frig is running down the batteries at 15 amps per hour of driving. Now the frig doesn't run all the time so it is not quite that bad, but remember there are other loads in the coach. The electrical system prioritizes the alternator output so the chassis battery has to be fully charged before the systems starts to charge the house batteries.

[scottb34J]

Originally Posted by Hittntherooad

The inverter running the fridge will require a lot of battery and run them down pretty quickly. Can you set your generator to come on at a certain voltage? Don't believe your house batteries are charged by driving. I have dual house batteries with a switch so I can use one or both at the same time. I usually alternate between the 2. Yes you can drive with the generator running.

I have the Hurricane 34J and the house battery's do charge while driving. You can see the voltage go up from 12 to 14 on the inverter panel by the door. I would make sure you don't have the battery switch in the store mode. As this will not allow you to charge the battery's with either the alternator or the gennie. This looks like a good time to try out the Thor concierge hot line.

[Oneilkeys]

If your house batteries are not charging while driving, see thread "Name That Box" for a discussion of how the system is supposed to work in the Axis/ACE. While you may nor have a BIRD/Trombetta, you probably have something that performs tue same function.

[djcarter]

Well from bad to worse we got to the RV park and there happen to be a mobile tech right there help another RVer. We plug in everything comes on I start setting up water and sewer he comes over with voltmeter starts looking around can't​ find anything we are plugging and unplugging he getting reading and nothing. He does get the generator going we unplug not charging batteries or load it seems turn off genny, he packs up no charge he says since he could not fix anything off he goes but now shore power is not working and my built in surge protector is not on...yeah team now we are stuck with no power at a KOA right next to a big RV dealer in Inanapolis we call they say sorry I no we are 200 ft away but we can't help backed up for weeks call your dealer you bought it from ( they are in Albany NY) gee thanks I'm sure they can help, try a different mobile tech since guy who left has full voicemail box and he tries to walk me thru a few thing but can't help or come by he is almost an hour away on the other side of town so I guess I have a $100K really glorified tent with a few bells and whistles.

[brianh442]

Originally Posted by djcarter

Well from bad to worse we got to the RV park and there happen to be a mobile tech right there help another RVer. We plug in everything comes on I start setting up water and sewer he comes over with voltmeter starts looking around can't​ find anything we are plugging and unplugging he getting reading and nothing. He does get the generator going we unplug not charging batteries or load it seems turn off genny, he packs up no charge he says since he could not fix anything off he goes but now shore power is not working and my built in surge protector is not on...yeah team now we are stuck with no power at a KOA right next to a big RV dealer in Inanapolis we call they say sorry I no we are 200 ft away but we can't help backed up for weeks call your dealer you bought it from ( they are in Albany NY) gee thanks I'm sure they can help, try a different mobile tech since guy who left has full voicemail box and he tries to walk me thru a few thing but can't help or come by he is almost an hour away on the other side of town so I guess I have a $100K really glorified tent with a few bells and whistles.

Is your battery switch in the USE position?

Are you priming the genny before starting? Press and hold the stop side of the genny switch for 15-20 seconds. Release and immediately press and hold the start side of the switch.

Also does your rig have an EMERG Start switch on your dash?

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by djcarter

Well from bad to worse we got to the RV park and there happen to be a mobile tech right there help another RVer. We plug in everything comes on I start setting up water and sewer he comes over with voltmeter starts looking around can't​ find anything we are plugging and unplugging he getting reading and nothing. He does get the generator going we unplug not charging batteries or load it seems turn off genny, he packs up no charge he says since he could not fix anything off he goes but now shore power is not working and my built in surge protector is not on...yeah team now we are stuck with no power at a KOA right next to a big RV dealer in Inanapolis we call they say sorry I no we are 200 ft away but we can't help backed up for weeks call your dealer you bought it from ( they are in Albany NY) gee thanks I'm sure they can help, try a different mobile tech since guy who left has full voicemail box and he tries to walk me thru a few thing but can't help or come by he is almost an hour away on the other side of town so I guess I have a $100K really glorified tent with a few bells and whistles.

So you have your power cable plugged into the KOA supplied power pole? Is the breaker in the pole on? Have you tried resetting it? Have you looked at your main input breaker in your rig? Tried resetting it? If you have power at the pole, the breakers are "on", you should have power to the converter to charge the battery if your USE/STORE switch is in USE and you should have power to run your Air Conditioning. If you get this far check your resettable DC breakers in your battery compartment to make sure they aren't "flagged". If they are, push the flag back in.

[16ACE27]

And if there is someone in that KOA who looks like he knows whate he is doing around his rig, ask for help. You'd be surprised how willing RV'ers are to help each other.

[djcarter]

Well there may be hope looks like our circuit at the RV park is out so no power from the pole...next investment voltmeter

[Forest Grump]

there is a BCCC, BATTERY CONTROL CENTER, on the right side of the firewall in the engine compartment. Open it up and reset it. Kinda simple.

[Hittntherooad]

Yes, voltmeter is number one tool. Start at the pedestal, end of the cord that plugs into the rv, to the transfer switch etc. once my power went out after I had to reset the pedestal breaker a couple times. Come to find out the wire going into the receptacle on the side of the rv that you plug the cord into was loose causing high amps. It finally got hot enough to burn into leaving us with no power at all. The generator worked but not pedestal power. Pull the receptacle out and skinned back the wire to new and tightened it down. I believe with all the vibration and moving these things do things get loose. You just have to start at one end and work your way through.

[djcarter]

Is it under the center housing console inside. The tech made sure the breaker looking thing with the flip switch was set

[djcarter]

Originally Posted by Hittntherooad

Yes, voltmeter is number one tool. Start at the pedestal, end of the cord that plugs into the rv, to the transfer switch etc. once my power went out after I had to reset the pedestal breaker a couple times. Come to find out the wire going into the receptacle on the side of the rv that you plug the cord into was loose causing high amps. It finally got hot enough to burn into leaving us with no power at all. The generator worked but not pedestal power. Pull the receptacle out and skinned back the wire to new and tightened it down. I believe with all the vibration and moving these things do things get loose. You just have to start at one end and work your way through.

Exactly what the tech on the phone said just start at the pedestal and work you way in

[Mo_Mike]

Originally Posted by djcarter

Well from bad to worse we got to the RV park and there happen to be a mobile tech right there help another RVer. We plug in everything comes on I start setting up water and sewer he comes over with voltmeter starts looking around can't​ find anything we are plugging and unplugging he getting reading and nothing. He does get the generator going we unplug not charging batteries or load it seems turn off genny, he packs up no charge he says since he could not fix anything off he goes but now shore power is not working and my built in surge protector is not on...yeah team now we are stuck with no power at a KOA right next to a big RV dealer in Inanapolis we call they say sorry I no we are 200 ft away but we can't help backed up for weeks call your dealer you bought it from ( they are in Albany NY) gee thanks I'm sure they can help, try a different mobile tech since guy who left has full voicemail box and he tries to walk me thru a few thing but can't help or come by he is almost an hour away on the other side of town so I guess I have a $100K really glorified tent with a few bells and whistles.

Got a VEGAS here, so no personal experience with your particular coach, but did you say that you got the generator started and when you put a load on, it shut down?

You may have a loose wire in your TRANSFER SWITCH, causing a problem with the circuit coming out of your generator. If the generator starts, then shuts down when you put the load, it would seem to be an issue with the load. If this is the case, it may be that your batteries were not charging, so that would explain the fact they are dead.

Not sure if you have a TRANSFER SWITCH or an equivalent, but we had a loose connection that actually burnt a wire in two. caused the A/C to run on bad power (was shaking like a mixer) before the circuit went out all together...