Electrical issues

[Marilyn Ruta]

1989 Ticonderoga had battery separator catch fire. I have now replaced unit, cleaned up burnt wiring, and installed battery disconnects. Wiring was all put back the way it was but unfortunately I believe this unit has had a previous fire. Whoever repaired previously did not do it correctly. Coach starts and runs fine, all electrical seems to be working but both battery banks are linked constantly. Does anyone have an electrical drawing for the firewall in the engine compartment? There is a battery separator, two other solenoids, two 200 amp fuses, a heart charge control and a solar control all tied at this point. I will probably move the solar control ( this one doesn’t work) and the heart charge control away from the engine. Also the battery separator has the same charging control as the heart unit...is duplication required or even a good idea? Also any ideas as to where the wires are routed from the roof to the engine compartment?

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Go to the BAC webs site; https://beaveramb.org/
From the top bar, Select "About"
Then "Beaver History"
then "Beaver Coaches 1984-1994"
then "Schematics 1984-1994"
then "Service Manual Schematics"

There are a number of diagrams of the wiring of the battery bay including the isolator. The early ones are for GM gas models but once you hit the diesel chassis diagrams you may find what you are looking for or something very close. Suggest you use the "drawn date' as a guide.
Steve

[Eric Maclean]

Hello I believe what you are looking for is in the coach assist section under 1996 Monterey drawings page 8  and 9
The two fuses are  1 for the chassis batteries and the other to the coach batteries.
One of the solenoids is the battery disconnect and one is the boost solenoid.
As for the solar lead in I'm not sure where they come down from the roof.
Good luck
Eric

[Fred Brooks]

    Marilyn, another place to look is behind the LP detector in the kitchen cabinet near the floor. The original detector was powered by the chassis battery and the house battery. Later replacement detectors only had 1 red power wire. Some people did not know what to do when replacing the detector so they combined the 2 red wires together and connected them to the replacement detector. From that day forward if the house batteries went dead, so did the chassis batteries. Hope you figure it out, Fred

[Marilyn Ruta]

Thanks for the comments. From what I see in the wiring diagrams up to 1988 are one set, then they were revised in 1989, and again in 1990. Unfortunately there are no 1989 drawings. The 1991 drawings are close to what I see in my coach. The drawing in pretty simple and I may just gut the wiring completely and start new. Any thoughts on why you would need the Heart charge control and a battery separator that has the same function built into it? At the very least I will move the Heart and the solar control to a weather proof location.

[Fred Brooks]

    Marilyn, is your coach an 89 or 98, the profile has me confused, Thanks Fred

[Marilyn Ruta]

1998 sorry about that.....got the numbers all screwed up

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

In Coach Assist, check the 94-95 Patriot diagrams.
Steve

[Marilyn Ruta]

Found the drawings....not much help.  Thanks

[Fred Brooks]

   Hey Marilyn, I was just reviewing your previous comments. When you say "heart interface" are you referring to the "echo charger? The echo charger is a maintenance charger to keep the chassis batteries topped off from parasitic discharges. The battery isolator is the alternator main means of charging the chassis and house batteries. The freedom inverter/charger is the main source (battery charger) for the house batteries when plugged into shore power. You need these main components as engineered. Sorry for your difficulties, hope you solve your issues. Fred

[Gerald Farris]

Marilyn,
Like Fred stated, the battery isolator is used to separate the two battery banks from discharging each other, but it allows the engine alternator to recharge both battery banks. That is its only function. It is just a very large diode bank with the engine alternator output tied to the center terminal and the house battery bank tied to one end and the chassis battery bank tied to the other. Since the battery isolator prevents battery voltage from reaching the output terminal of the engine alternator, your coach came with a Duvac alternator with a sense wire and an ignition wire that enables it to properly recharge your batteries.

If my explanation does not make sense to you, and you need more help in understanding your coach wiring, just call me and I can walk you through your wiring issues. 713-254-4156 I am presently located in Arizona, (Mountain Standard Time Zone).

Gerald

[Marilyn Ruta]

From the information with the separator it states that it monitors voltage and links to charge both battery banks. Sure Power 1315-200. It also has the switch to link the battery banks which works. I don’t have the sheet with me but will bring  it home tomorrow. The Heart Interface box ( not the inverter / charger ) was connected to both posts on the separator along with the output from the solar controller. From what I read this control does exactly the same thing as the separator.  I have a picture of the wiring but this site won’t let me post- file too big. Today I removed the Heart box and all the solar connections, still have both battery banks linked constantly....traced all chassis battery wiring and found all to be okay except for wiring at starter solenoid, not 100 % sure what it is supposed to look like, but I don’t think it is correct. Again, wish I could send pictures....everything works, engine starts fine, salesman switch works. That being said I am sure looking at how the separator, fuses and start solenoid are wired something is not right. I am waiting for a friend to come look and have another opinion before I start going through it all one wire at a time.  Thanks for all the help and I may call......Marc ( Marilyn’s husband)

[Marilyn Ruta]

I will try this picture

[Eric Maclean]

Your fire wall looks different than my 1997
You say there had been a fire was it at the firewall?
I'll try to get you some pics of mine to compare.

In your pictures I see only the boost solenoid and the battery combiner and the two fuses ( coach batteries and chassis battery)
I know this sounds strange but have you checked the battery cables at the batteries it's not uncommon to get them hooked up wrong.
At the moment I have my solar disconnect ( bad charge controller)
And I am about to install a new battery combiner as my coach never had one.
Meanwhile I'll try to get you some pictures
Eric

[Fred Brooks]

    Marc, From looking at your picture, you don't have an diode isolator. Earlier generation used the 1315-200 solenoid to combine the house and chassis batteries. It is also used as the "boost" solenoid which is controlled by a switch at the dash to assist in starting the engine. This 200 amp solenoid also is activated by an ignition circuit once you start the engine so the alternator will charge both sets of batteries. May I suggest disconnecting the chassis battery ground cable and then start tracing cables to divide and conquer. I have seen these 200 amp solenoids fail internally and end up connecting both posts together which would cause your issue. Hope this helps, Fred