Serious Electrical Gremlin

Catpowered · 06-23-2006, 11:58 AM

I have never experienced this before! I turned the engine off and put on my 4-way flashers while hooking up my dingy. I returned to the coach to check the dingy turn signals, brake lights, etc. and found no lights on either the dingy or coach were working. Furthermore, the starter on the coach would not work! I checked all fuses on the main panel above the genset and those in the electrical cord/inverter compartment. I found one 10-amp fuse blown there and replaced it. However, still no lights or starter. I replaced those circuit breakers that had a spare, but still no luck. I called the Freightline dealer but they said "tow it in". I called Winnebago Roadside Assistance and they told me to check all fuses and circuit breakers and arranged for towing if I needed it. I told them I would do more troubleshooting and call them if I needed a tow. Just for curiousity, I thought I'd try the coach headlights again, they didn't work the other time I tried them. I turned them on, went outside to check them, and sure enough they didn't work....but as I was looking at them they came on! I leaped up into the driver's seat and tried the starter, sure enough it worked! All the lights were now working, both coach and dingy, and everything was normal. Go figure. Needless to say I do not turn on the 4-way flashers when hooking up the dingy any more.

Catpowered · 06-23-2006, 11:58 AM

I have never experienced this before! I turned the engine off and put on my 4-way flashers while hooking up my dingy. I returned to the coach to check the dingy turn signals, brake lights, etc. and found no lights on either the dingy or coach were working. Furthermore, the starter on the coach would not work! I checked all fuses on the main panel above the genset and those in the electrical cord/inverter compartment. I found one 10-amp fuse blown there and replaced it. However, still no lights or starter. I replaced those circuit breakers that had a spare, but still no luck. I called the Freightline dealer but they said "tow it in". I called Winnebago Roadside Assistance and they told me to check all fuses and circuit breakers and arranged for towing if I needed it. I told them I would do more troubleshooting and call them if I needed a tow. Just for curiousity, I thought I'd try the coach headlights again, they didn't work the other time I tried them. I turned them on, went outside to check them, and sure enough they didn't work....but as I was looking at them they came on! I leaped up into the driver's seat and tried the starter, sure enough it worked! All the lights were now working, both coach and dingy, and everything was normal. Go figure. Needless to say I do not turn on the 4-way flashers when hooking up the dingy any more.

LouRobin · 06-23-2006, 04:27 PM

Welcome to my world.
I have had several electrical gremlins in the current coach, and trust me they NEVER appear when you are at a repair facility.

Radios turn themselves on, or don't work at all.

Items work even when the coach disconnect switch is turned off, and then they don't?

House batteries will run down within days of storage, but then hold a charge for weeks at the RV dealer.

Hurricane Hot Water will work, then not, then work, then blow a fuse, then work, then not?

I have had a independent RV/Truck Tech. tracing all the electrical stuff over the last few weeks. He has discovered a bad transfer switch he says was hit by lightning, a bad alternator, and is now in the middle of tracking them critter within the Hurricane system, to be continued.

The good news is some of the stuff is covered under insurance, some under extended warranty.
Bad news is the dective work and time to track all if this is on my wallet.

This is making me a appreciate the old saying that some times "less is more". It's nice to have all the toys on board, but a PAIN when a gremiln decides to attack them.

MikeT · 06-23-2006, 04:53 PM

Actually, the UFO refueled and disconnected from your electrical system ----

They tend to do this to confuse us ----

John_Canfield · 06-23-2006, 05:54 PM

Poor electrical grounds are often the cause of intermittant and flakey electrics.

DonavonP · 06-24-2006, 09:32 AM

Sounds just like a problem I had and cleaning the battery terminals cured it.

M&Aeller · 02-25-2008, 09:35 AM

Can someone help me out here?
Yesterday I parked my 2002 Adventurer at my storage lot like I always do, but this time I decided to park it on pieces of plywood to keep the new tires off of the grass. After I did this, I got an electrical shock every time I touched any part of the coach that was steel, like the door, the steps, the metal step cover over the battery compartment, etc. I could not figure out what was happening. I pushed the switch to turn off the house batteries (got zapped in the process) and also disconnected the auto battery - neither seemed to help.
Finally, I decided to just drive off of the wood back onto the grass. After I did that, no more shocks - everything is fine.
Do I have a serious problem here?

- Mike

jk_and_dog · 02-26-2008, 03:15 AM

Welcome to the world of MHing. You MUST learn to feed the gremlins and stock everything in the hardware store to help keep them feed. I have learned to just sit back and let them eat. The more flustrated you get the more hungrey they get. Just sit back, relax...they will soon be fed and asleep.

Flyer · 02-26-2008, 05:16 AM

Were you plugged into a 110 AC receptacle? If so the ground and hot in the receptacle may have be reversed wired. Happened to me. I'm not sure what the plywood has to do with it.

Catpowered · 02-26-2008, 04:19 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Flyer:
Were you plugged into a 110 AC receptacle? If so the ground and hot in the receptacle may have be reversed wired. Happened to me. I'm not sure what the plywood has to do with it. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

This was a really old posting of mine. I found the problem which was a loose nut on the wire terminal located on a frame-mounted fuse. This high amperage fuse, which looks like a small relay, is located on the chassis frame not far from the starter on my Cat C-7 engine. There are two wire terminals on this fuse, and one nut was not even threaded half-way. It was obviously an installer oversight. Tightening this nut solved a multitude of problems, including an intermittent ABS light, inoperative security system, and total electrical failure including no starter.

M&Aeller · 02-27-2008, 03:32 AM

No, I was not plugged into a 110 AC receptacle.
I had just parked it in the storage lot and was getting ready to close it up for a couple weeks.
I am not sure what the plywood had to do with anything but as soon as I removed the wood under the tires, I no longer got electrical shocks.
I always thought that the rubber tires acted as insulators between the vehicle and the ground, that is why I have heard that if you come upon a downed power line that is laying on the ground - stay in your vehicle because the tires will insulate you.

- Mike