House Battery Disconnect No Longer Shuts Off 12V Loads

[LittleBearBurns]

So the aux power on/off switch doesnt work anymore. Used to, when leaving my coach, id hit the "off" side of the switch and everything connected to the battery would turn off. (Lights and such) now when i press the "off" side of the switch, nothing happens. Everything stays on. Since this has been happening, I now manually turn everything off one at a time, and im returning to a dead battery every time that i can only charge with shore power. What is happening? So i have a short?

 

[be happy]

Seeing how in the past everything you wanted off went off with the switch, I would think about replacing the switch. Give Lichtsinn RV a call as they are the go to Winnebago folks. They may have info on your 95 spirit and can get you the correct switch.

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Just a couple of questions, what do you mean by turning everything off one at a time? I could be wrong but I believe the switch you are refering to turns off the 12v items so what are you turning off and how.

Welcome to the forum, many folks here to help. Please put information about your coach in the signature block. That will help folks get closer to your problem

 

[Waterbug]

Your problem most probably isn't the switch. That switch on most RVs activates and deactivates a solonoid/relay that connects and disconnects the house batteries. If the contacts on the relay arc, they can become welded together. Arcing occurs when you deactivate the relay, while a lot of current is passing thru it. Most DC items in the RV should be turned off when you activate or deactivate the relay. EDIT: You are returning to a dead battery because there are items, like gas detectors etc., that can't be turned off. Since the battery stays connected, they continue to draw current.

 

[Morich]

We will need more definite info on which 95 Spirit they have to actually do a look at things but I looked at a few of them and see a different setup than we expect now on many RV. It looks like there has been a change in design of the cutoff, likely due to legal problems as this was a bit less complex than many of our RV.
Instead of a switch to operate a relay that only cuts off part of the battery drain, leaving safety items powered, this model seems to cut off ALL power from the coach battery by turning it off at the breakers!
I'm always surprised at how many differences we find in various RV. They certainly are not all the same!
We get the info that they have a 95 Spirit but not info on which model but it looks like they have the same layout for this part of the wiring. If they are speaking of turning off the breakers, rather than a switch, I suspect they have a bad breaker at the battery box> But that is a guess without actually knowing I'm looking at the correct model of that year and make!
I am guessing a bit here until we know more but I suspect they are turning off the breakers in the battery compartment to kill power tot he coach. the setup in 95 did not use a relay and we did turn off the safety equipemnt as well as the other things.
In some ways iot was better, in that we DID get ALL the coach drains turned off but that also added some hazard! We did turn off things like the propane and CO detectors and that might leave us coming back to an RV full of propane! I suspect the legal department got involved in that change?

I am guessing they are calling the breaker a switch and this is what they are using?
There seems to be no battery cutoff switch in this model?
But that is way out on the guessing limb without more info on which RV and what they are calling a switch??

 

[Waterbug]

If it is a defective breaker, it is a VERY STRANGE breaker failure. I breaker that won't trip or shut off would be a real hazard. That would also be a liability issue for it's designer/manufacturer. EDIT: I Just noticed that it says breakers (plural) for what is in the battery box. If there is more than one, they would both/all have to fail for ALL DC power to be stuck on.

 

[Morich]

The question of ALL the coach power off is likely due to them missing the tiny stuff that most would never think about. Circuit/wire ID "LS" only feeds the power to a switch controlling the mode solenoid. Most users will not be able to describe what that solenoid does and even less likely to note whether it is still working or not.
But the details are missing on what the OP meant. Do they actually have a switch or are they calling the breaker a switch?
There is no way to say it is the breaker that has failed as it may be as simple as the wires are crimped in some way that makes a short circuit that can't be shut off.
But if there is no relay and we do show there is a breaker and no switch, I would want to first start looking at what we do have by checking the breaker and wiring.
Not hard to imagine a broken handle on a breaker that doesn't actually move the contacts! Bakelite handles are kind of famous for getting brittle with heat and age.
That sort of thing is why good craftsmen do actually turn off power and then check it before trusting!
Where, what, and how they disconnect the power is still a bit of guess. If they come back, we may be able to find out but there are lots of these questions that never get answers!

 

[LittleBearBurns]

Seeing how in the past everything you wanted off went off with the switch, I would think about replacing the switch. Give Lichtsinn RV a call as they are the go to Winnebago folks. They may have info on your 95 spirit and can get you the correct switch.

Lichtsinn RV | Winnebago and Newmar RV Sales, RV Parts & RV Service Dealer

Lichtsinn RV, the Top Winnebago Dealer of Winnebago MotorHomes featuring Winnebago Motor Homes, Newmar Freedom Aire Motorhomes and Used RVs. We also offer RV Parts and RV Service.

www.lichtsinn.com

Just a couple of questions, what do you mean by turning everything off one at a time? I could be wrong but I believe the switch you are refering to turns off the 12v items so what are you turning off and how.

Welcome to the forum, many folks here to help. Please put information about your coach in the signature block. That will help folks get closer to your problem

Yes I do mean the 12v items. Built in lights and such. And okay ill check it out

 

[dickb46]

I'm having a bit of a problem wrapping my head around this.
If the disconnect doesn't work why not just replace it?

 

[Morich]

Like many posts we get, we have never gotten enough info to actually say what the problem is. The problem of just replacing the switch is that it may not be the switch but parts that the switch operate!
If we go with what "seems" to be the problem, we have several things besides the switch that might cause this. First step might be to find out if they are calling a breaker the switch? Both kind of do the same job but they are far different in details!
If it is an actual switch, that is far more likely to fail in this way than a breaker, so knowing what they are working on can get important to know. But in either case, the switch or breaker may still not be the item which has failed if that "switch" actually does not do the disconnect. In many cases the switch we flip only operates a relay that does the actual disconnect. If the real problem is a relay that the contacts have welded together, changing the switch is a waste as the contacts in the relay are still going to be welded!
The truth about repair is often not the actual work we do to fix things but the process we go through to decide what needs the fix, the switch, the relay or the wiring between some point!