Three problems... hopefully related

[David T. Richelderfer]

Happy Days!  We made it to Winnemucca, NV yesterday after spending two nights at the Wildhorse Casino near Pendleton, OR and one night at the Orovada Rest stop south of McDermitt, NV.  Just after I hooked the toad to the coach at Wildhorse on Thursday morning, Leslie noticed a shiny spot on the curbside front tire.  Upon closer inspection, it was obvious the tire had been wearing unevenly and the right edge of the tire was worn down to show steel belting.  Thank you, Leslie, for noticing that potential blowout waiting to happen!  After getting two new tires installed by Les Schwab's of Pendleton, we stayed the second night and were able to get on the road on Friday morning.  BTW, Schwab is having trouble getting tires.  The fellow said I was lucky they had two tires of the size I requested, that being 315/80R22.5s and they are Perrelli's... expensive at $700 each included FET.  Adding the service call, new valve stems, and beads made the total bill over $1,600.  We have decided to stay off the road and spend three nights here in Winnemucca.

This morning, my nephew with me helping spent about two hours removing the Big Boy solenoid.  The repair piece in the BAC website under Technical, Common Problems, Big Boy Solenoid Cleaning said to clean away the green corrosion and remove the old grease, and sand out the pitting on the contact surfaces.  My Big Boy had no corrosion at all and no pitting to speak of.  I drug my fingernail across the contact surfaces and they felt only a little rough.  There was no visible pitting.  We applied new grease, reassembled it, and reinstalled the Big Boy.  It works but I am doubting it had a problem.  But what could have caused the voltage reduction across the Big Boy which I detailed in an earlier post?

[Scott Shearer]

David,

The most common problem with the BIRD-Big Boy system seems to be that the BIRD module is functioning normal, the Big Boy relay is fully engaged, but Big Boy relay is corroded and isn’t providing a good electrical contact. You have eliminated a corroded Big Boy as your issue.

With corroded Big Boy, it usually doesn’t help to use the boost switch alone. The Big Boy is already engaged but not making a good electrical contact, you need to deenergize the Big Boy first.

Since you are seeing a difference when pressing the boost switch, it seems to indicate that the Big Boy isn’t actually engaging, at least not fully.

There is a lot of good information in the document located at Coach Assist->Common Problems->Batteries-Not-Charging-1. It will help you determine the proper voltage readings at the BIRD module and the terminals on the Big Boy.

-Scott

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

David,
I've run into a similar issue on my Bird/Big Boy system. About a year ago the Big Boy wasn't making contact so I assumed internal corroded contacts. Disassembled it and found no corrosion or significant pitting. Reassembled and it seemed to work fine. Since then I've had 2 instances where I was not seeing the same voltages on the 2 large BB terminals. Hitting the boost switch fixed it. Just checked the "hold voltage" from the Bird  and it is at ~2.7v. BIRD says it outputs 4v to keep the Big Boy energized. The BIRD "solenoid" terminal goes to 7V when I remove the wire running to the Big Boy so I suspect that the BB is dragging the Bird solenoid signal down. I think 2.5-2.7v is marginal at best to keep the BB engaged. Will call Bird to verify but suspect a new BB may be in my future.
Steve