strange ticking sound under the bed in our 2008 Beaver Patriot Thunder

[Ante Peros]

Right under the pillow of our bed we are hearing a constant clicking sound. We have raised the storage area and checked but whatever is under there is securely built in. Does anyone know what is under there before we start de-constructing the whole area? We have been having issues with our house batteries and inverter and think we are coming to terms with that. But it all might be related.... if I only knew what was under there. I have found no references anywhere!

[Fred Cook]

Do you have a King Air bed? The mechanism for it lies directly under the pillow area. Access it by removing the mattress and the board at the head of the bed

[Eric Maclean Co-Admin]

Ante
I'm not familiar with the lay out of your coach IE what's under the bed I assume you have a double slide coach with a bed  slide .
 a little bit more information might help us determine what might be the origin of your noise.
You stated it may be related to your battery and inverter problems.
At what frequency does the clicking happen is it constant or intermittent do you have a solar set up.

What you may be hearing is the big boy solenoid cutting in and out this sometimes happens in systems setup with a solar array.
Let me explain
The big boy is used to combine you two battery banks ( chassis and house ) for charging purposes or to provide a battery boost while starting the coach via the boost switch at the drivers station.
The big boy solenoid is controlled by a small electronic box called a B.I.R.D or bidirectional isolator relay delay to achieve the charging function
In short what the bird does is monitor the voltage of each battery bank separately and when it sees that one bank or the other is receiving a charge voltage above a preset voltage approx 13.2 volts it commands the big boy solenoid to operate connecting the two battery banks together and following them to be charged as one battery bank by the available charging source weather that was the inverter or solar on the house battery side or the engines alternator on the chassis battery side.
This system is reliant on the bird seeing a good charge voltage of approx 13.2 volts or more for a more than a set period of time let's say two minutes this is to allow the charging system to stabilize and to avoid the solenoid from opening and closing repeatedly.
The problem  comes when one battery bank is heavily discharge ( in this case likely the chassis bank ) in this case the bird does what is supposed to and connects the two battery banks to charge then as one but if the one bank is heavily discharged this causes the charge voltage to be drawn down below the preset 13.2 volt threshold and the bird then allows the big boy to drop out as it no longer recognizes a viable charge voltage.
Of course at this time the charge voltage is still present on the house battery bank and without the extra draw from the chassis bank the voltage jumps back up to an acceptable charge voltage 13.2 volts or more and the bird then commands the big boy to close again connecting the two battery banks and the cycle continues.
This is common in a system using a solar array because often the solar array will provide a marginal charge voltage depending on the amount of sun it's getting .
You may also what to check the operation of the Big Boy solenoid as they are known to develop dirty contacts inside them .
There is an article in the COMMON PROBLEMS section on how to disassemble and clean the contacts in the big boy.

For further information on the BIRD and the big boy service go to the COMMON PROBLEMS articles in the coach assist library.
The bird article has a good description and troubleshooting section .

Sorry for going on so long
As always have a great day
Eric

[Ante Peros]

We don’t have a solar array and it is a regular king size mattress. Taking the mattress and board off is so much more logical than our first thought of through the storage under the bed. I’m going to look through all the diagrams in the manual again and see if there is a pump or other mechanism under there it is a constant click almost like a time bomb- yikes!!!

[Ante Peros]

I forgot to put in more details. It is a 4 slide Brandywine IV model. We were able to pull out a piece of the bed support and at least find the ticking noise. It seems to be a relay of some sort - with all sorts of wires and connections. We will disassemble the bed a bit more and try to get to the wires and figure out what to do next...Do we call an electrician? Maybe it will be as simple as pulling the wires in and out and cleaning the connections. I've looked up the wiring schematics but it is all Greek to me... Thanks for all the responses - it really helps to talk through these things! I'm hoping it is part of the mysterious battery drain we have been experiencing! Ante

[Scott Shearer]

Ante,

Do you know if your Patriot Thunder has an electric or hydraulic bed slide? Some models, including newer ones, use the electric system for the bedroom slide.

If it is electric, it will have relays mounted under the bed. Look at page 109 in the 2008-2009 Patriot Thunder wiring diagram on Coach Assist. These are common type 87 relays (probably Bosch).

-Scott

[Carl Boger]

Ante,

Can you post a picture of the relay?  It likely is a type 87, but if not I am sure it can be identified with a picture.  If the relay is failing and constantly switching power it may be  a source of your power drain. Changing out relays is fairly simple and almost any auto parts will carry them, but do yourself a favor and buy a good name brand and not a cheapy!   


  Hopefully this will help some.

[Ante Peros]

We are pulling the bed apart today to get to the relay - so I will definitely take pictures when we have access. Thanks so much!

[Ante Peros]

The relay box was to the rope light that had stopped working - we disconnected it and the ticking stopped. We will have to figure out how to replace the light in order to keep our RV at it's best, but until then we can now sleep. We made sure everything else was still connected - it's always a learning experience and this forum is the best. Appreciate everyone's time and concern!  Ante