Yet another bad solenoid

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John Canfield

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It has been a while since I looked at my house bank voltage with the engine running, so I thought I would check it yesterday.  What I saw I didn't like - 12.8 volts, chassis batteries were 13.something.  I know from past experience that house and chassis banks will read exactly the same voltage (or vary by only a tenth of a volt.)

So we apparently have our fourth (or is it the fifth?) solenoid failure.  I was hoping our forced air ventilation of the electrical bay would eliminate solenoid failure (due to thermal breakdown), but obviously that isn't the situation  :mad:

We have extensively discussed the solenoid issue on another forum and here earlier in the year and the conclusion reached was the Trombetta solenoid coil is rated for 12V and eventually self-destructs due to 13.6 (or whatever the engine alternator charge voltage is) being applied to the coil.

It seems that we get about 10,000 miles out of one Trombetta solenoid. 

:mad: :mad: :mad:
 
Either get a better solenoid or buy stock in Trombetta :)
 
Mine has been acting squirrely for a while. Right now it's working again.
I plan to replace it with the Trombetta solenoid with the silver contacts and 14 volt rating that was discussed in the thread you mentioned.

I'll do that in CO in a few weeks  at my SILs place where I do a lot of my maintenance. She has a commercial peach orchard in Palisade, CO and has put in a full hook-up RV site for us.  ;D
 
John,

That is frustrating after all the vent work you did.  I thought you solved the problem for good.  It would be interesting to open up the failed unit and see what it looks like after you install the new one.  Might give you some insight into the failures.

I purchased the standard solenoid and carry it on board.  My solenoid is located in front on my Journey under the hood behond an access panel.

Best Regards!
 
So far my (third times the charm) silver-contact solenoid with series resistors that I put in place a year ago has been fine, but it may be too soon be able to claim complete victory.  Here's the thread on 'that other forum', complete with pictures (Yet another solenoid bites the dust!).

On edit: Typo fix.
 
John, you are scaring me - four or five solenoid replacements? I just replaced mine yesterday for the first time.
I bought the newer silver contact Trombetta solenoid from Lake-View Electronics in Grafton, Wisc. Phone 262-377-8250. Really nice people.
Paid $45.95 and approx. $8.00 standard shipping. Ordered on Monday and arrived on Wed.here in Northern Ill.(staying with a friend)

Based on your experience, should I have ordered more?  ;D


TomC
 
Got to drop that voltage going to the coil of the contactor. See the above referenced thread for the particulars of either using resistor(s) or a diode (as I did), along with the silver contact version of the contactor. My change is now 13 months and 14K miles old and works just fine.
 
Please excuse my ignorance again but do all of us WB DP folks have these?  Or is it an add on?  If we all have them, where is it likely to be?

thanks, Gary
 
Sorry to hear about the recurrence of this problem John. Given the number of failures, I think it is safe to say that the design specs of the Trombetta solenoid are inadequate in the WB DP environment. Last year when mine failed, I replaced it with a Trombetta silver contact solenoid and installed a resistor in series with it to drop the voltage. So far no problems but if it fail again I will not be reinstalling another Trombetta. I will bite the bullet and install this:  http://xrl.in/
 
taoshum said:
Please excuse my ignorance again but do all of us WB DP folks have these?  Or is it an add on?  If we all have them, where is it likely to be?

Gary - mine is behind a metal box in the electrical bay.  I suspect all diesel pushers have the solenoids.

There are two solenoids - one of them operates when you flip the switch by the door to disconnect the house batteries (like for storage), the other one bridges the chassis and house battery banks when A) the engine is running, or B) when you operate the Battery Boost switch (on my dash.)

I realized I can drop the coil voltage with resistors (or diodes) in series, but I'm leaning toward a 14 volt coil with silver contacts.
 
Still have all my diodes........ Guess I should outa install em'
 
John Canfield said:
Replacement ordered.  Winnebago is still  using the same Trombetta solenoid  ??? ???

Hello John,

I presume that mine haven't failed "yet".  Would you recommend that I get some spares to take with me?  If so, how do I order the Blue Sea component?  thanks...  gary
 
John Canfield said:
Harry - try one more time with a link...

Sorry. It worked when I checked it. Here is the link again: Solenoid

Did you order a solenoid from Winnie again John? ...... Never mind I just checked your link. I guess great minds think alike.
 
taoshum said:
I presume that mine haven't failed "yet".  Would you recommend that I get some spares to take with me?  If so, how do I order the Blue Sea component?  thanks...  gary

Gary - I ordered mine from the link that Harry provided (one post above this one.)  The solenoid I wanted wasn't stocked, so it is being two-day dropped shipped to me from Blue Sea.  PKYS, where I ordered from,  seemed to be easy do do business with (thanks for the link Harry!!)  BTW, my first choice, the Blue Sea 9112 is discontinued, but is still available.  Apparently the solenoid I ordered is superior to the 9112, but has a different footprint - fortunately there is plenty of room for the new solenoid.

I wouldn't worry about carrying a spare - you can run the gen set if your solenoid goes bad to keep the house batteries charged while on the road.  We might have more current demand while traveling since the King Dome is running, the DirecTV DVR is on, the fridge is on inverter, etc.  Just check your house and chassis battery voltages every so often to be sure they read about the same (or +- 0.1 - 0.2 volts)
 
Here is the photo of the culprit. About 40 years ago I used to just flip the ring over and loosen the 2 posts & turn them 180 degrees.  That way new copper to copper contacts. My old mind cannot recall the black coating all over the terminal posts 40 years ago. Yes I remember the black burnt area on the contact part but not the even black coating on the other parts. I never used to have to file the posts when I turned them 180. Shinny copper was there. Could it be fumes from the coil?The ones I worked on 40 years ago were only on long enough to start a car or tractor. I installed the new one with silver contacts. The old hold down windings still read 14.2 ohms. The new one reads 7.9 ohms. In my Voyage it is a job replacing it. It it fails again will see if John's holds up & I will go that way. Art
 

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