Another Battery Question

[Eagle]

Does anyone know if (see picture) a cable connects where arrow is shown?

On Friday I took the motorhome to Batteries Plus and had the house battery changed. Today, Sunday, I looked under the hood and found that the relay (?) was pulled away from the wall. The relay snaps into a plastic container. I could not find a loose cable that may connect to the copper spade (see arrow).

There was a piece of black tape over the copper connector which makes me think there was no cable there.

I have removed the battery, but could find no loose cables. The cable on the other side of the copper connector goes to what, appears to be a solenoid mounted above the front headlight.

After reading through all the battery threads I am starting to think this is some type of battery disconnect.







Wayne[/img]

[skater]

Okay. I used to think that was the dual-battery isolator.

However, I just looked at mine, and I don't think that's actually what it is. I'm not sure what that is.

In mine, I can follow the positive coach battery cable to a unit that's in front of the battery (you have to lean over to see it), which I now believe is the isolator. The heaviest cable that comes off that, on the opposite side, runs to the unit you're pointing at.

In mine there are TWO wires on the side that you're pointing at. I assume that one is for the converter, and one goes to the generator for starting power. I'm not sure what the unit actually is, but my guess would be a self-resetting circuit breaker.

[skater]

I've uploaded some pictures to the gallery.

Here's what that part in mine looks like.

And you can almost-kinda-sorta see the isolator in this one.

(The positive battery terminal is taped off because I wanted to see if my converter is actually bad or if the battery is dragging it down. I got 11 volts while running the fantastic fan at its lowest setting and the radio at relatively low volume. Yep, it's bad.)

[Eagle]

OK, just an update. I looked under the rig and throughout the engine and could find no loose wires. I have to think that at one time a cable was connected, but has been removed.

I did have solar power at one time and it could be there was a wire connected at that time.

Since everything works I am going to leave well enough alone.

[skater]

OK, just an update. I looked under the rig and throughout the engine and could find no loose wires. I have to think that at one time a cable was connected, but has been removed.

I did have solar power at one time and it could be there was a wire connected at that time.

Since everything works I am going to leave well enough alone.

It would be an odd place to connect it, I think, but anything is possible!

[Eagle]

Well, I thought my problems were over, but today I was going to Deltaville and pulled into Food Lion. When I tried turning on the house lights nothing happened. No lights, no nothing.

Thinking there was a loose battery connection I checked the battery and did not find a problem. I was able to start the generator and that gave me lights.

When I returned home I checked everything, but could find no problem, but still without house lights when using battery only.

Another mystery to solve all because I allowed someone else to change the battery.

[skater]

Yeah, I think that empty connector you showed in your picture should be connected to the converter (which is also the power distribution). Look for a fairly heavy cable somewhere. I don't know the exact routing it takes to get from the converter to the battery, unfortunately. Presumably there's a separate wire from your coach battery (probably - are you sure it's not connected to the engine battery?) to the generator.

[Alaskan]

Eagle.....

That little unit appear to actually be a 50amp fuse as its says 12volt 50 amp on mine

On mine the wire that leaves from the right-side of that fuse goes to the positive terminal on the solenoid in-front-of the battery

The cable that leaves from the left side of that fuse runs back to the generator, that being the 12 volt starting cable for the generator

In your picture it looks to me like maybe a third wire had been added for some reason as that copper wire-end doesn't look stock to me..

The only thing I can think of is that someone had run a wire over to that fuse from the engine battery as a back-up for starting the generator.