91 CountryCoach with no 50 amp service

[lloyd&pamela]

Mike I have a cal for the next hour and then I will do your suggestions. I disconnected the charger. Back in an hour...

[lloyd&pamela]

Mike all four of the chassis batteries show 10 volts when I just tested them. Disconnected the 24 volt charger. John W and I tested the pole and it is fine.

I am recharging the batteries tonight and we will drive to Tuscon Thursday to see Chris Snyder who originally built the bus and knows its systems.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

You may find the problem in a compartment you access on the back wall of the first bay in the middle. There is an access panel with all the switchgear for your bus accept for 1 switch, for the inverter, that is on the shelf above the batteries second bay starbord side.

Tully had lost 1 leg and that is where I found it.

[Will Garner]

Lloyd,

I got the same B---- in the Box message from my 1991 CC. In my case it turned out to be a fault in the shore cord. The shore cord had a burnt connection from a previous owner that failed early own in my ownership. I took the cord to West Marine where they installed a new end plug ($100 lew$$$ vs $600 lew$$$ for a new shore cable) and I have not had any further problems, You should also take the 50 Amp Marinco Plug on the side of the bus off to make sure all wiring connections are tight. It could be over time and many bumpy roads, that one leg of the 50 amp has come loose. The loud pop could have been the moment of separation between the Marinco and the internal coach cabling.

Hope you find it soon so you get peace of mind.

[lloyd&pamela]

Joe and Will,
Thank you I will check these out tomorrow after my morning calls.
Lloyd

[garyde]

Hi Lloyd. If you start your Generator, and the transfer switch switches, then you would have power to your inverters and your house batteries. Do you have a switch which jumps your house batteries to the coach batteries and Starter?
If your charger is tripping the 120 volt circuit breaker: Is it a direct short or a slow short.

[lloyd&pamela]

Gary, the 30 amp shore cord is giving us power to the important half of the ac fuse box including the galley ac and inverter which are keeping the house batteries fully charged. I have a Charger I bought at Napa charging the chassis batteries tonight.

I don not remember if I have a switch that "jumps your house batteries to the coach batteries and Starter."

Does anybody know where it may be located if the charger does not fully charge the chassis batteries by thursday?

Sorry Gary I do not know what this question means, "Is it a direct short or a slow short."

[garyde]

Hi Lloyd. If the second you turn on the charger, it trips the circuit breaker it usually means the circuit is ok, but the charger itself has 120 volt current touching ground. Probably the charger has failed.
If you turn the charger on and it does not immediately trip the circuit breaker, but trips after a period of time, it means there is a lag to the short, and it could be heat related, too much current flowing out. Possibly a loose connection somewhere on the 120 volt side of the charger.

[lloyd&pamela]

Thanks Gary, the breaker trips immediately. Jim Craig, seems to think it may be on or both of the Vanners that are connected to the charger since we have always had a battery balance light flash and all the batteries are at 10 volts and he said two should have a different voltage if the vanners were working properly, I guess we will find out Friday with Chris. Thank you.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Lloyd,

Free advice here........

Follow the power. I suspect you are not comfortable playing with this electric since it can hurt you. Get someone that has a basic understanding, or better yet specific knowledge of how your coach is set up and get them to follow the power from your plug all the way to the various devices.

When you post you are getting too many guesses, when you call advisors they are pulling you in different directions, and unless you are talking about Vanner inverters, as opposed to Vanner equalizers this search for your prioblem has just derailed. The advice given here is all valid, but it has you bouncing around.

Hit and miss efforts may get you to the problem eventually, but the best and fastest way is to methodically trace the systems looking for the problem.