Fun with DC Power
The last few days, the power level shown by the meter on the power panel always read low, even though we are plugged into shore power.
Then yesterday the power started to briefly blank every time the furnace kicked on. Finally, last night, the DC power completely died. Actually, most of the DC power died. No lights, no heat, no hot water. But the refrigerator still worked.
Time for a trip to Fred Meyer to get a heater. With the darkness outside, I wouldn’t do much troubleshooting until morning. But an AC heater could keep the coach warm.
Troubleshooting the problem, this morning and reading the limited information in the user’s manual, I determined that the problem is with the disconnect relay.
The rig has a battery switch on the panel by the door. This switch turns off some of the DC power systems. According to the manual, it is to reduce the drain on the battery when dry camping and you leave the coach for a time. Since we are not dry camping, it seems that we could function without that relay for a brief time. Since RV dealerships aren’t open on Sunday, and probably don’t have the part in stock anyway, removing it from the equation seemed a good solution.
So I tied the input and output together. Now the power level is as expected, and the lights are bright, as they should be. I may not get in too big a hurry to fix that thing.
Technorati Tags:
Holiday Rambler, RVing
