1986 Minnie Winnie 12-Volt Battery Compartment Clicking

[mommocked]

my 1986 minne winne motorhome has clicking coming from the battery house. shore power is good 12v side is clicking and lights go high and low ??? what is it?

 

[Waterbug]

Sounds like maybe your AC to DC converter is trying to maintain a battery with a shorted cell or two. When the current draw exceeds the converter output it may be designed to shutdown. Then it retries.

 

[mommocked]

Sounds like maybe your AC to DC converter is trying to maintain a battery with a shorted cell or two. When the current draw exceeds the converter output it may be designed to shutdown. Then it retries.

thanks waterbug what is it that is making the clicking noise? a fuse, relay, what?

 

[Morich]

Can you tell us a bit more about the noise and where and when you hear it? There are two sets of batteries and in the later year models after 1990, one group is on each side near the front. If it seems to be coach or chassis items to check, that will cut the chase in half! Any difference in the clicking when plugged or not?
One big thing is that Winnebago is slow to change too many items so first step may be to tell us which floorplan of the 1986 Winnie you have. If we can look at that floorplan for the later year, we may be able to find lots more details of how it is wired.

I would lean away from it being the converter overloaded to shut down as that would seem likely to trip a fuse if working into a direct short? Bit of guessing there when we are not able to know more about which RV you have!
If it is the model with the switch to connect the chassis and coach 12V together, you may want to check that switch is not left in the wrong position to leave them connected while the engine is not running!
Do you have the owners manual to check to insure you are setting things correctly?

 

[klook]

Being that old it probably has the old metal converter possibly built into the fuse panel. I would disconnect the battery and have it load tested first, then with the battery a known good, or bad and replaced, note the voltage disconnected and turn the converter back on. If it rises to the mid to high 13.x volts, it should be ok.
The fluctuating lights leads me to believe the converter is kicking in and out. Bad battery, bad converter, or both.

 

[mommocked]

Sounds like maybe your AC to DC converter is trying to maintain a battery with a shorted cell or two. When the current draw exceeds the converter output it may be designed to shutdown. Then it retries.

thanks waterbug what is it that is making the clicking noise? a fuse, relay, what?

Can you tell us a bit more about the noise and where and when you hear it? There are two sets of batteries and in the later year models after 1990, one group is on each side near the front. If it seems to be coach or chassis items to check, that will cut the chase in half! Any difference in the clicking when plugged or not?
One big thing is that Winnebago is slow to change too many items so first step may be to tell us which floorplan of the 1986 Winnie you have. If we can look at that floorplan for the later year, we may be able to find lots more details of how it is wired.

I would lean away from it being the converter overloaded to shut down as that would seem likely to trip a fuse if working into a direct short? Bit of guessing there when we are not able to know more about which RV you have!
If it is the model with the switch to connect the chassis and coach 12V together, you may want to check that switch is not left in the wrong position to leave them connected while the engine is not running!
Do you have the owners manual to check to insure you are setting things correctly?

hello and thanks for your reply! they are the 2 batteries for inside 12 volt apps lights, water pump, clock panel and check lights for holding tanks, how much propane , THERE IS A SWITCH! i have seen it right beside my head at the drivers seat!! i wondered what it was it may be what you are talking about. the clicking is coming from the housing that holds the 2 batteries down on the chassis for 12 volt system. the tech changed the converter parts today said only 6.6 volts coming from batteries sugg ested checking the relay at the batteries there are fusses down there also that connect to the relay thats where the clicking is coming from. ran out of time today, i am gonna go under it in the a.m. to further investagat the noise thanks again i will let you know what i find

 

[mommocked]

p.s. it is a 1986 minne winne 20 ft. long chevrolet chassis g-30

 

[Morich]

Okay, good info for better guesses?
The online drawings info only goes back to 1990, so a bit of guessing might say we can use that to help find things? But keep in mind that may have some holes in the plan, so go with what you see, not so much as my guess!
I might suggest this location that appears to be out near the front hood as this location on the 1990:

Looking from driver's side and maybe somewhere close to the coach batteries?
I'm kind of looking at this location for a solenoid that may be clicking??? Solenoid is a relay by a different name as it is shaped different but the same idea with a coil that closes contacts when battery is applied to a control wire on the small center lug.
This shows what we might hope to find there!

This item has been around on Winnebago for a really long time and the operation has changed very little except for the names of things like the switch that controls this relay. Current(new) name for a solid state item is BIM ( battery isolation manager).
Older was "mode solenoid" for many years.
You should find a switch that is used to connect the chassis (start?) battery and the coach batteries that power RV things. The name for the switch has changed several times, so I can't say where or what label it might have!
Idea is that the switch has several positions to change when the two batteries are connected or disconnected from each other. Newer RV have this done automatically to open/close this set of big contacts. But on your RV, it is likely you need to know about the switch and it has to be flipped at different times.
When we drive, we want them connected to let power from the engine alternator charge the chassis as well as coach batteries as we drive to the next site. But when we are camping, we don't want to drain BOTH and be dead for starting.
OR if you are ready to leave and the engine won't start, we can close the switch to get a "jump start" from the coach battery!

My thought would be to see if this fits for your RV and if it seems to be where the clicking comes from?
It may be that wires are corroded or not getting good 12Volts to the small center lug. That lug closes the contacts inside when it gets 12volts. The contacts are like about a silver dollar and "thump" so we can hear them move. Or if we put a hand on the silver can, we may feel it vibrate!
Big lugs on each side are where the two battery cables connect.
IF you find this is there and maybe what is clicking, there is a way to test it. This is 12volt DC and pretty safe to work around other than making sparks. If you find the switch inside and leave it so they are NOT connected, you can test the solenoid is working by touching a wire from either big lug to the small lug and hear it thump!
That tells you it moves but the contacts inside can get burned and not connect good. You need a meter to test that part.

Idea to test? IT may be this solenoid is closing and when you have both batteries together, the inside lights get brighter? But when the battery used to close the contacts goes down a bit, the contacts drop open and the lights get dimmer?
Lights getting brighter and then dimmer as the contacts open close? Clicking every time it moves? Maybe a wire needs cleaned to get the full 12Volts to work better?

Or am I making up a big story and it is not what is clicking at all?? My ideas are easier to test out if I am lots closer than setting in the middle of TEXAS!

Wish you luck and let us know if any of that makes sense!

 

[mommocked]

yes that solenoid relay with the lugs is next to the batteries gonna check it all out tomorrow thanks again

 

[klook]

He stated that his camper is a chevy and that schematic has the words existing Ford trim on it?

 

[mommocked]

Okay, good info for better guesses?
The online drawings info only goes back to 1990, so a bit of guessing might say we can use that to help find things? But keep in mind that may have some holes in the plan, so go with what you see, not so much as my guess!
I might suggest this location that appears to be out near the front hood as this location on the 1990:
View attachment 2404885
Looking from driver's side and maybe somewhere close to the coach batteries?
I'm kind of looking at this location for a solenoid that may be clicking??? Solenoid is a relay by a different name as it is shaped different but the same idea with a coil that closes contacts when battery is applied to a control wire on the small center lug.
This shows what we might hope to find there!
View attachment 2404886
This item has been around on Winnebago for a really long time and the operation has changed very little except for the names of things like the switch that controls this relay. Current(new) name for a solid state item is BIM ( battery isolation manager).
Older was "mode solenoid" for many years.
You should find a switch that is used to connect the chassis (start?) battery and the coach batteries that power RV things. The name for the switch has changed several times, so I can't say where or what label it might have!
Idea is that the switch has several positions to change when the two batteries are connected or disconnected from each other. Newer RV have this done automatically to open/close this set of big contacts. But on your RV, it is likely you need to know about the switch and it has to be flipped at different times.
When we drive, we want them connected to let power from the engine alternator charge the chassis as well as coach batteries as we drive to the next site. But when we are camping, we don't want to drain BOTH and be dead for starting.
OR if you are ready to leave and the engine won't start, we can close the switch to get a "jump start" from the coach battery!

My thought would be to see if this fits for your RV and if it seems to be where the clicking comes from?
It may be that wires are corroded or not getting good 12Volts to the small center lug. That lug closes the contacts inside when it gets 12volts. The contacts are like about a silver dollar and "thump" so we can hear them move. Or if we put a hand on the silver can, we may feel it vibrate!
Big lugs on each side are where the two battery cables connect.
IF you find this is there and maybe what is clicking, there is a way to test it. This is 12volt DC and pretty safe to work around other than making sparks. If you find the switch inside and leave it so they are NOT connected, you can test the solenoid is working by touching a wire from either big lug to the small lug and hear it thump!
That tells you it moves but the contacts inside can get burned and not connect good. You need a meter to test that part.

Idea to test? IT may be this solenoid is closing and when you have both batteries together, the inside lights get brighter? But when the battery used to close the contacts goes down a bit, the contacts drop open and the lights get dimmer?
Lights getting brighter and then dimmer as the contacts open close? Clicking every time it moves? Maybe a wire needs cleaned to get the full 12Volts to work better?

Or am I making up a big story and it is not what is clicking at all?? My ideas are easier to test out if I am lots closer than setting in the middle of TEXAS!

Wish you luck and let us know if any of that makes sense!

hello there is the solenoid and 4 fuse blocks that have 2 terminals on them one to solenoid 1 goes up into the rv. 1 is 20 amp 1 is 30 amp 2 are 6 amp the 30 amp is making 2 noises 1st is a tap then a click/ping like something is opening. i replaced the 30 and the 20 amp fuses 3wks ago i am still waiting for the 2 6amp fuses. all these fuses and wires are old (original) so i am gonna go thru them and replace and clean. the power inverter i run it off of is predator 5000 inverter it has a OUTPUT meter that reads 294 when lights go bright, then read 1190 when they go dim. also that switch in the drivers area says DUAL+ MOM AND OFF in the middle. that charges batts when on dual and momentary charge when pushed and held there is also a charge meter in the drivers cab shows eng batts charge and house batt charge right now it will not show house batts chargin it has been reliable showing good charge untill this problem. i think maybe by replacing and cleaning it will eliminate my problem?? any suggestions?

 

[klook]

Did you mean 1294? Or 12.94?

 

[klook]

A Predator 5000 sounds like a generator?

 

[mommocked]

A Predator 5000 sounds like a generator?

its a quiet inverter

 

[klook]

It is a Predator Generator. Inverter is a term for the new kind, which I have one, of a different make. Harbor Freight sells them. So you are running off a nice generator. Nothing on it should give you the numbers you mentioned. Unless it is output volts and that first number is not voltage. So, this is plugged into the main plug of the camper? That means you still have a converter somewhere making dc voltage. You need a meter to check voltage in places we ask so we can tell what is going on.

 

[klook]

By the way, 11.90 indicates a dead battery.

 

[mommocked]

It is a Predator Generator. Inverter is a term for the new kind, which I have one, of a different make. Harbor Freight sells them. So you are running off a nice generator. Nothing on it should give you the numbers you mentioned. Unless it is output volts and that first number is not voltage. So, this is plugged into the main plug of the camper? That means you still have a converter somewhere making dc voltage. You need a meter to check voltage in places we ask so we can tell what is going on.

I HAVE A HARBOR FREIGHT PREDATOR 5000 WATT INVERTER NOT A LOUD ASS GENERATOR

 

[klook]

I am out, good luck.

And you need to learn terminology.

 

[Morich]

We can get lots of confusion on names of things!
One to clear about the drawing I referred to is that the online info only goes back to 1990 and it IS for a FORD chassis in this case. Yes, it would be nice to have a drawing for a 1986 and the correct chassis.
But if we want to get it done, we have to use the best info we can find, so I considered the odds of this very old, solid system that Winnebago used for many, many years might be close enough to help! Since we were not currently needing to know anything specific to the chassis and there is not Chevy listed in the 1990 drawings, I had to move beyond that and go with what we DO have!
I noted several times that this info was suspect and needed checking before trusting too far!
If the OP finds this looks like what they are working on, I have to go with what I have, not what I wish I had!
Inverter? Inverter generator? Not much difference there if we just want power coming out! Whether I eat a candy bar or eat a Hershey bar is not one for me to worry the issue very far!
I would assume it is one of these:

But if it is okay with Harbor Freight to confuse the name in ads, I'm okay with calling it a candy bar if it works!

But the switch is one to fully understand, so maybe we need to talk about it?
That looks like what I expect on the RV that are a bit older and we need to do the switch manually instead of the later mode solenoid or BIM!
Dual? I assume this means the relay contacts are meant to be closed and both battery groups are tied together as in Dual! Good for when the RV engine is running to let power from the alternator work to add charge back into the start as well as the coach battery! This may be a point to look deeper!
MOM? This sounds like where we would push and hold the switch while we are actually cranking the engine to start. This connects a good coach battery to a start battery that may be weak and when the engine starts we just let go of the switch and the two separate! We get a "jump start" without getting out jumper cables!
OFF? This switch position keeps the two groups disconnected from each other. When camped without being plugged in, we can then use all the coach power we want and not worry running the start battery down!
We don't get the full details to tell us how this is all wired, so some testing may help.
What I might guess is one battery is way lower than the other.
Maybe a point to mention is what we get when we connect a fully charged good battery to one that is way low. If we read voltage on a battery at 12. 7, then connect it to one that is 7.0, we can get a reading that shows somewhere in between those two numbers!
A meter to test voltage would be good but this idea seems to fit if the coach battery is good and the lights are nice and bright inside, then we have the relay connect a really weak start battery, we may see the lights go down. Maybe the start battery is bad? Or maybe it just needs charged?
A bit of test?
Turn the switch to off and see if the engine cranks? If it starts that kind of says that battery is good but if no good cranking, need to make sure it is charged and holds that charge!
While the switch is off and the batteries are separated, try the inside lights and see what they give you when only connected to the coach battery.
If things look good on lights and then go dim when connecting the start battery in, look for problem in the chassis/start battery or wiring.

A way to test this relay and switch for making contact between the two batteries is maybe easy, if you can then get the engine started. The engine should start with the switch off, but if it is way slow to crank, try pushing the switch to MOM as you crank. That gets you a jump start using the coach battery to help the chassis battery!
If a jump start makes it start better, look at the chassis battery and wiring. Maybe bad battery or maybe just dirty cables?
But it you get the engine started and want to know this relay is working, try moving the switch to dual and rev up the engine. You may be able to see the lights get a bit brighter as you rev up the engine? The inside things are still working off the coach battery but if you get more power as you rev the engine, it tells you power is coming all the way from the alternator to the start battery, from there through cables to this relay and contacts to the coach battery and on to the lights!
I would first do this part with the RV cord disconnected to cut any confusion from the RV built in converter trying to charge batteries or run lights, etc.
You have three sets of wiring on the RV. One is the stuff a normal truck has, lights horn, etc.
Second is the RV (coach) part that runs inside lights, etc.
Then the third is the AC from the cord or generator. It runs the places where you plug in hair driers, fans, etc, and also "makes" DC to run inside things as well as store some in the coach batteries!
But I like to deal with one at a time before trying them all as it gets way too heavy for me to sort all of it at once!