When our coach wasn’t very old, Mark, we were leaving BCS one evening after days of service and the shop was closing. I noticed some glitch and ran back inside to tell our advisor, Ken Carpenter. Actually, I think he was still warranty rep at the time. He grabbed two techs and they tracked down the culprit… the salesman’s switch solenoid. One thing about Ken, he knew his stuff, which was more than I understood at the time (and mostly still don’t). It was after hours, and the techs I think we’re inclined to bypass the solenoid or replace a fuse, I can’t recall details, but he had them replace the whole shebang altogether, no charge. Before we left and they got to head home, Ken in no uncertain terms told us to leave that darned switch alone… leave it on. Yes Sir, you got it!
Like all who knew him, we surely do miss Ken… his help, his knowledge, his witty banter.
For newbies that “salesman’s switch” seems like an easy way to shut things off and save batteries, and it is… if you’re a dealer maybe. But it doesn’t shut everything off, isn’t meant for long term storage circumstances, and as noted here, its overuse can cause issues. It seems nice to simply flip the switch on the way out the door, but to truly save battery power take the extra minute or two to open the battery bay and shut off the Mains instead.
The switch itself oft goes bad, not intended for continuous use after the sale; but the solenoid also can be an issue that many here solve by jumping around it. Ditto with the switch I guess, but it’s harder to get at its connections than the solenoid’s. We’ve tried, for the last 16 years to leave the switch alone/on, but as Eric points out, kids and curious adult visitors may mess with tempting doorside buttons. It can be taped in the ON position or a “do not touch” label applied, but so far it’s been no big deal, and the replacement solenoid has been fine.
Your current solution should do the trick, but it would be nice to know why the fuse wouldn’t hold… something was drawing current.
Joel
