Quote:
Originally Posted by Jevad
Folks, I'm in the same boat, trying to do some debuggin and searching for what Thor wired and how?
Thor Four Winds 30D, Ford e450 chassis. Im pretty sure it did charge off the alternator as I boondocked my way from NJ to FL last spring... but not sure when it STOPPED charging off the alternator?
Long part of the story - I assume it might have been last November during 2 night boondock at harvest host in the North East. Rookie mistake, ran the house batteries down, as the furnace ran overnight, it completely killed the batteries (Trusted the dumb panel gage thinking 3/4 battery at night was enough). Woke up in the morning to a very cold rig (and did I mention at a Harvest Host... so a little hungover).... I dont recall if I had to jump start the Chassis as well, but finally got the generator to start up. But dash radio froze (blank screen), and it looked like the RV House wasnt charging. Got it home, put on shore power and everything came back to normal - found out how to "Reset" the radio (stick a tiny pin in the reset) and everything seemed to work. Not liking the dumb led panel, I opted to install a Victron Battery Monitor (712)... works good. But now I noticed its NOT charging while Im driving.
In summary:
- It USED to charge on Alternator (so its not that its not configured to do it)
- It DOES Charge on both shore line and generator
- It DOES NOT charge when rig is running (regardless of engine revs or how long I drive - someone said maybe the smart battery isolator waits until chaxsis is full before it charges House - Nope)
- It DOES charge when I use the emergency bypass
- Maybe unrelated - but When I start my Chassis, I MUST also turn on the House battery in order for the Radio/Rear view camera to work? I dont remember if I had to do that before, but I do now. (would the house battery turn on automatically when the chassis runs)?
So, help me dear friends...
What does Thor Put on this model 2018 Four Winds 30D? BIRD as in the image above? BIM as shown?
What could it be?
Bad Fuse? - Where is it? Would it still charge with Emergency Bypass?
Bad Isolator? (BIM or BIRD?)
Bad Relay? - I dont think so since it does work for the emergency bypass.
THANK YOU in advance.... I dont know what I would do with out the smart folks on this site.
Dave
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OK... some debugging done - figured I would pay it forward.
1. My 2018 Thor Four Winds 30D, Owners Resource for my vin says it was SUPPOSED to have the Precisions BIM-160... however pulling the antifreeze reservoir to find the BIM, it turns out I have the simpler?/cheaper?/crappier? Isolator Relay & Delay modules.
2. Having let the house batteries run down to about 60% charge I checked some voltages on the isolator with the engine running and/or pressing the emergency start. While I could hear the relay click with the emergency start voltages were never equal - meaning the relay wasnt closing the contact to bridge the Chassis to the House batteries.
3. Fishing around I found I had TWO 7.5A fuses in line with the low current side of the Isolation Relay solenoid - ONE for the Emergency Bypass button, and ONE that fed the Isolation Relay Delay (IRD) component.
- Looks like the IRD supposedly is switched off the Engine some how (I couldnt follow , feeds Delay component, to make sure the engine is running before it triggers the relay to bridge the HOUSE and CHASSIS batteries (thus allowing the House battery to be charged off the alternator).
4. My 7.5A fuse that fed the Isolation Relay Delay component was blown. I replaced that and now could hear the Isolation Relay close a few seconds after the engine started running (Didnt hear that before).... However the Isolation Relay would never bridge to batteries.
5. I contacted Trombetta, shared my experience and they agreed the Trombetta Isolation Relay (Contactor part 684-1251-012) had to be replaced. Trombetta recommended newer better part number - 684-1251-032-02 instead... so use that if you experience the same)
I have ordered the replacement part, and will install later this weekend. I've attached a few pictures and also a drawing for what I found showing the fuses and parts.... hope it helps.
Dave.
Thor Forums
