Freightliner Chassis Owners - House Battery Charging

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Kevin,

Thor confirmed I should have a BIRD. Apparently, it has flown the coop or I would have found it already. It was NOT where they said it was and if you can't trust the people who built it, what do you do?  :'(

Still looking...

Kim
 
Kim,

In the rear you should have an electrical panel/box. It should connect a Large solenoid (BigBoy) used to connect the two battery banks (house, Chassis)together. From it trace the control wires. One should lead either directly to the BIRD or to a relay(or in my case 2 relays) and then to the BIRD.

See attached pictures.

btw. My BIRD failed and had to be replaced. Also the BIRD control voltage profile to charge the Chassis battery when parked doesn't always work when the charge profile is set to AGM for Lifeline. The BIRD looks for 13.2 volts before connecting and the AGM/Lifeline voltage is only 13.1. The work around is the change the charge profile to Flooded for a day every couple of weeks.
 

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Kim (skyking4ar2) Bertram said:
Gary,

Can I assume you have the ISB engine as well? I am not finding any ISL engine coaches with that feature.

I was having a conversation with a Thor Tuscany owner who says his does, but he has the smaller XTE coach with the smaller, ISB-XT engine. Interesting that the Winnebago folks (so far) have that option.

Kim

Yes, we have the little ISB... probably like most of the Dodge PU's with a Cummins Engine.... reading the other posts, I suspect that the box I'm thinking of is the Trik-L-Start box and it probably charges the engine batteries when on shore power.  I'm convinced that the engine power does charge the house batts underway though since the fridge keeps going for many hours...  I assume that you have a handle on it now based on the other comments.
 
Ken,

The picture of the Big Boy relay was helpful, and I knew what the BIRD looked like, but am still tracking. I have a set of connections similar to yours that have Littelfuse Mega  bolt down fuses and I am not sure how to test them unless they simply test like a regular fuse. Thor suggested there is a set of fuses that can blow when batteries are replaced but .....

I attached a picture of the connection block.

It has rained for the last four days in Taos, but hopefully tomorrow I will get a chance to trace some of the wiring and find both the relay and the controller.

Kim
 

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I hate odysseys!  :)(

Having recently entered our eighth year of full timing, I am constantly amazed at how much information you have to accumulate to stay on top of your lifestyle.  8)

I will not have a machine beat me.
 
Kim (skyking4ar2) Bertram said:
I hate odysseys!  :)(

Having recently entered our eighth year of full timing, I am constantly amazed at how much information you have to accumulate to stay on top of your lifestyle.  8)

I will not have a machine beat me.

Seems like I've had more issues in the last month and 1/2 than the previous 8 years. Not really true, but certainly far more than any other trip. Good news is that we made it to Alaska and back before the problems started. Most issues are solved, but a alignment shop told me my drive shaft is dented and should be balanced. Truck shop remove and replace and a driveshaft/machine shop to balance. Hopefully I'll get this done next week before we leave Indiana and head south. Harder to fix is finding out what is causing wear to the drivers side tag tire. This has been going on for ever (probably since I've owned the coach). 3 alignment shops say everything they see is prefect. I had the last shop check to make sure the 2 tag air bags are the same. Weighing the coach shows no real difference side to side. Next week I will just have the 2 tag tires flipped and worry about this later.



 
Kim if the Bird is bi-directional is ground power charging your chassis batteries?
 
Kim (skyking4ar2) Bertram said:
I guess on the upside, the driveshafts are relatively short and easy to pull...

True, but it's just one of many issues. Next week I should get a new driver side window dual shade (screen & solid). The old one failed. I thought it was made by United Shade in Elkhart and hoped they could repair it, but it wasn't theirs. The current version of Monaco said it was MCD, but no not theirs. So I ordered a replacement from United Shade since the're nearby. Later I found out the shade was made by AutoMotionShade from Ontario.

ken

 
Latest update from Thor Support (and a tech who was very interested in resolving the issue):

As I suspected, the Damon transition was happening when my coach was built and my born on date is three weeks before the oldest technical schematics for my unit. His comment being that Damon might not have been as good at documentation. Luck is fickle.

However, he was able to give me some additional information and rabbit holes to climb down so the good weather will help me help myself. And a troubleshooting tree to isolate the issue!!!

He did, however, tell me they are installing the BIM (Battery Isolation Manager) (see attached) on all new coaches, gas and diesel. Seems a little smarter and he thought it would be a valuable upgrade.

More wire tracing to be done! Off we go!
 

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I find it odd that they refer to charging voltage without specifying the actual voltage. Seem like it's a compact version of the BIRD/BigBoy combo which is nice, but its seems to do the same thing.
I also assume you still keep the large solenoid because it doesn't appear that the BIM will connect the batteries using the Dash switch (aka battery boost).

 
My unit has a Trombetta instead of a Big Boy and they are apparently wired a bit different for use with the BIRD controller.

I have a voltage test to perform as we try to isolate which component failed. Some documentation indicates these Trombettas have a history of early failure. I still have not found the BIRD controller but I must be getting close.  8)
 
One thing I found odd about the BigBoy (and probably the Trombetta) is that the signal voltage from the BIRD to keep it closed is only 3+ volts, not 12. I found this out when the first BIRD died and I wanted to close the BigBoy to charge the chassis batteries while we were park. So dumbly I just ran a 12 volt line to the BigBoy signal  input. Checked on it a few minutes later and the BB was hot. Disconnected my line and found the BB documentation. I could have damaged the coils in the BB if I had left that 12 volt line on.


Yes I heard that the Trombettas were subject to early failure.


Follow that signal line off the Trombetta. It has got to lead you to the BIRD.


I have found relays in the stupidest places. I was doing some additional insulation in the rear and opened the floor of the closet on the rear pass side. Under the floor is one of the Aquahot heat exchangers, obviously I knew that was there, but behind it is a PC board with 4 relays. 2 of them control the Bedroom slides. Not sure about the others. My wiring diagram shows them in the circuit, but not where - a lot of help! At least I now know where they are located.
Good luck finding the BIRD, with these coach manufacturers who knows where they though was a good location.

 
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