Electrical Problem

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
B

BigCasinoGA

Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2006
Posts
6
Suddenly some of my electronics aren't working right.  Funny thing is, they will work when I hold down the battery tester switch, but once I let it go, they don't work anymore.  Included in this odd list are my water pump, hot water heater, and tank gauges.

Any suggestions as to why these items might only work when this switch is held down?

Everything else seems to work OK.  I'm baffled.

Thanks for any suggestions, I'll give them a try.
 
It's a 1991 Fleetwood Southwind built on a Ford Chasis.

I just can't imagine what could have suddenly effected my electronics this way.

Thanks for any assistance.
 
Suddenly some of my electronics aren't working right.? Funny thing is, they will work when I hold down the battery tester switch, but once I let it go, they don't work anymore.? Included in this odd list are my water pump, hot water heater, and tank gauges.
Click to expand...

Are all of these controls on the same panel?? If so, I'd look for a loose connection there.? ?If the switches are mounted on a printed circuit board, you may have a PC trace that's cracked and only makes connection when the board is flexed (i.e. when you press on the battery test switch).
 
check connections at the battery as well as the batteries most electronics are rather sensitive to voltage variations
 
You should have a battery cut-off switch.  Try operating that a few times and see if it clears the problem.  That switch controls a solenoid that should be located on the firewall up front.  These are known to go bad.  Replace with a continuous heavy duty one available at auto parts stores.

 
Included in this odd list are my water pump, hot water heater, and tank gauges.
Click to expand...

Are you talking about the indicator lights for those items, and are they all mounted together somewhere -  like above the stove? If so, it sounds like a loose or corroded connection (either positive or ground) right at the panel. If those items themselves are not working; well that's a whole different animal. Which is it?
 
All of these items have switches located on the stove vent.  The vent fan and light work perfectly, but these other items do not.  I will check all the connections today to see if there is anything loose or corroded, but I assumed that since some of the items worked and some did not, that was not the problem.  But I could be wrong.  I'll let you guys know.

Thanks for all the helpful responses.
 
BigCasinoGA said:
Suddenly some of my electronics aren't working right.  Funny thing is, they will work when I hold down the battery tester switch, but once I let it go, they don't work anymore.  Included in this odd list are my water pump, hot water heater, and tank gauges.

Any suggestions as to why these items might only work when this switch is held down?

Everything else seems to work OK.  I'm baffled.

Thanks for any suggestions, I'll give them a try.
Click to expand...

For my panel to light up I need to hold down the switch labeled "Test" .
 
Do your inside 12vdc lights work, Fridge, Heat/AC?

Sounds like your battery test switch switches the batteries on for testing if they are switched off, and they are switched off
 
John:

My "Test" means test the panel, ie display status of systems.
 
Jeff Cousins said:
John:

My "Test" means test the panel, ie display status of systems.
Click to expand...

That I undestand.

All motor homes and trailers (Far as I know) have a battery cut off switch somewhere, In some cases this is a manual switch (often a knife switch) which is mounted right on the battery terminal, in other cases it is a relay mounted somewhere else.

In the second case it is possible that when you press the TEST with the battery disconnect turned OFF that it connects up the battery so it can run the tests you have requested by pressing the switch. 

And then when you have finished taking your readings, it restores the system to the "OFF" (Battery disconnected) state. 

Check your battery disconnect
 
John In Detroit said:
That I undestand.

All motor homes and trailers (Far as I know) have a battery cut off switch somewhere, In some cases this is a manual switch (often a knife switch) which is mounted right on the battery terminal, in other cases it is a relay mounted somewhere else.

In the second case it is possible that when you press the TEST with the battery disconnect turned OFF that it connects up the battery so it can run the tests you have requested by pressing the switch. 

And then when you have finished taking your readings, it restores the system to the "OFF" (Battery disconnected) state. 

Check your battery disconnect
Click to expand...

John:

Our Test switch DOES NOT affect the 12V systems in the m/h. If the disconnect is ON I still have to hold the TEST switch on the display panel to see system status.
 
Jeff Cousins said:
John:

Our Test switch DOES NOT affect the 12V systems in the m/h. If the disconnect is ON I still have to hold the TEST switch on the display panel to see system status.
Click to expand...

This I understand,  The question here is what happens if you hold the test switch with the disconnect OFF.

Because it sounds to me like the test switch is overriding the disconnect and it's turned off
 
Well my problem was solved.  It was actually a burned out fuse.  Seems that several items are fused together, but not others on the hood vent.  Once the fuse was replaced, everything returned to normal.  Fuse was located under fridge.  Just ordered a large fuse assortment, because after going over the motorhome electical system looking for this problem, I couldn't believe the number of fuses that thing has.

Thanks for everyone's help.

Bill
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 719 (members: 4, guests: 715)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,928
Posts
1,387,654
Members
137,677
Latest member
automedicmobile
Back
Top Bottom