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Old 03-20-2021, 10:30 AM   #1
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Mystery power

And let the mystery begin, went to start the RV and there was no lights just one faint click and then silence. It will start right up with the battery boost pushed. The RV is plug-in and has a Battery Tender on it all the time.
Got the multimeter and checked the battery it read -12.57 volts, I double checked polarity and checked again, same. Disconnected the cables, same.
Took it up to the parts store and had it check,
VOL: 12.68V
MEAS: 1198
RATED: 1000
Brought it back home, reinstalled, hooked up cables 12.57 volts, all is good! Try starting it and still ALL IS GOOD.
This is the second time this same problem has shown up. Last time I the starter relays and replaced.
This is a 2002 W22 Workhorse chassis, I looked at the switch at the bottom of the steering column, saw no damage. I’M AT A LOST!
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Old 03-20-2021, 12:08 PM   #2
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Sounds like your battery post connection may just be loose? That would explain why when you reinstalled the battery it worked.
It doesn’t take much resistance with 12v and that kind of current draw to dump all the voltage at the terminal.

Let’s see what other ideas weigh in...
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Old 03-20-2021, 12:22 PM   #3
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If it is the question of being a negative reading on the battery, there can only be one explanation and that is some form of missed test.
Thinking of what would happen if there were some way to get reversed polarity coming from some item on the Rv into the battery, one would get a far worse reaction than grounding the battery. We know that grounding out the battery does all kinds of violent things like sparks, fire, explosion, so adding a totally reversed polarity would be instant chaos! Many sparks, blown fuses and melted wires?
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Old 03-20-2021, 12:54 PM   #4
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Sounds like the chasis battery solenoid may be sticking. I usually leave my chasis battery disconnected, while in storage. When toggling the switch to reconnect it, you should hear the solenoid click. The one time that mine didn't, I checked the battery and it was good. I checked the voltage at the other side of the solenoid and nothing. I tapped the solenoid with the butt of a screwdrive and cycled the toggle switch. Suddenly all was good.
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Old 03-20-2021, 12:56 PM   #5
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I do have a cutoff switch on the neg of battery. See attached. Could this be it? It and all the cables are clean.
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Old 03-20-2021, 01:10 PM   #6
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I'm not sure what kind of cables, or cable lugs/clamps you have on the ends of your battery cables, but a long time ago, I had a similar problem, and while troubleshooting, removing and reconnecting/tightening clamps at the battery terminals, one of the lugs almost fell off the end of the battery cable. I guess over time, the wire inside the lug had corroded, and that was the problem. I had enough cable to cut it off, and reinstall the lug/clamp on the cable, and all was good.
It was one of those "found the problem by accident while troubleshooting" problems. Never even thought that the cable wire ends could corrode out, inside the lugs or clamps. Apparently, they can.
You can check by pulling hard (carefully) on the cables, when they're connected to the battery terminals. Be careful not to short or ground anything.
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Old 03-21-2021, 07:47 AM   #7
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I think this cutout maybe the problem. Going to take it out and see what happens. Thanks for the help!
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Old 03-24-2021, 06:09 PM   #8
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Quote:
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I do have a cutoff switch on the neg of battery. See attached. Could this be it? It and all the cables are clean.
I had one on our coach.

Had.

It caused me more headaches than it was worth. They tend to build up light surface corrosion and cause high resistance. You won't see it until you take it completely apart.
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Old 03-24-2021, 07:50 PM   #9
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Bet you a grape soda its a bad ground or weak ground.

I am almost certain that you have a bad or weak ground on the chassis battery.



Beefup the ground strap from starter the frame, from engine to frame and your rig will be humming!
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Old 03-24-2021, 08:29 PM   #10
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Replace the chassis battery solenoid.
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Old 03-24-2021, 10:30 PM   #11
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Quote:
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I do have a cutoff switch on the neg of battery. See attached. Could this be it? It and all the cables are clean.
Yeah, I don’t like this thing. It looks way too flimsy for the current it needs to pass. Just not robust enough. I’d like to see the copper disconnect part at least three times as thick...and it’s connected by a tiny rivet? That’s the throttle right there. Makes no sense to me.
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Old 03-24-2021, 10:58 PM   #12
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You say your headlights would not burn bright and your engine would not start. Then you say (implied) you moved those cables around and the engine starting normally. This points to battery or battery cables or battery connection or battery switched sources.

That faint click was probably your Bendix engaging and disengaging so that tells me your low current, relay coils are probably working okay. So you are looking for with big current connection problems or your starter solenoid is acting up.

===

Plus you said you already put in new Boost and BDS solenoids; so the next time this sort of thing happens, you might start moving the ground battery cable around while someone turns the key... and see if you found a bad battery cable in the process.

Note: Corroded battery end grow green and when you look at the wire strands you will see a lot of corrosion between the strands... which creates a lot of resistance and heat.

The solution is easy if you have enough cable... just cut 1+ inches off the end, as needed, and reattach and new connector on the end.

Note: If you run short of cable, this might be a good time to put in a manual disconnect switch so you can add new cable to make up for what you cut off.

The best clue is no headlights... pointing to a bad ground. So this is maybe the time to wire brush your ground points at the frame.

Note: Bad grounds will let those battery charges pass a few amps, but not the high current to a starter motor.
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Old 03-25-2021, 11:44 AM   #13
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Quote:
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I do have a cutoff switch on the neg of battery. See attached. Could this be it? It and all the cables are clean.

I had one of these on my truck for a short period of time. I would go down the road and the volt meter on the dashboard would jump around like crazy. Took off the switch and all returned to normal.
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