Battery Isolators,Separators, and Switches?

[HIGHCOUNTRYMIKE]

ooop's

I have the shore power hooked up to night but as I mentioned there is NO power to the house system.

[Scalf77]

Again,

The separator appears to be working, upon starting engine alternator fires up, voltage on Start Battery side of the Separator goes above 13.2 volts and the separator connects the house and start batteries. At this time you appear to have power on the house side of things and all is working well.

Now, when you turn the engine off, the voltage starts to decay and drops below 12.8 (that is your time delay between before you hear the click). Now the two battery systems are disconnected or separated from each other.

The Separator is not between your house battery and shore power charger.

You should be able to read the voltage on house battery in this mode.

So I would start checking stuff on the house battery side.

[2JT]

I ended up replacing my Blue Sea 7620 which solved the problem. The click mine makes about 30 seconds after starting the engine connects the electrical circuit so my alternator charges the house batteries. That wasn’t happening with the replaced isolator. As I understand, the isolator will not click to connect the circuit if the starter battery is low (under 12 volts I believe) to make sure the starter battery comes up to full charge before charging the house batteries.

[boywonder]

Mike: You need to be able to get your voltmeter on the house battery when the van is not running....that will tell us a lot.


Your shore power issue may be a circuit breaker/fuse issue but we need more details on what "no power to the house system" means. ...no 12V power ...no 120VAC power?

[HIGHCOUNTRYMIKE]

TO: Scalf77, 2JT and boywonder,
I was dreading trying to get a voltage reading on the house battery. Keeping in mind it is a new battery. The last thing I wanted to see was a zero or Lo on the voltage meter.
Turned out I did not need a voltage meter to determine the voltage. As I was checking the battery cable the negative cable came freely to me. It was not connected to the battery. (I did some bumpy roads last week in Utah.) I lowered the battery cleaned the terminals reconnected the negative cable and tightened the positive. I did check the voltage which registered Lo on my meter. Yes, the house battery was "dead" as you all had mentioned. Reinstalled the battery. Took the van on a 45 minute recharging ride up I-5.
Checked the voltage and it is back to normal. I have power in my living quarters.
I would like to thank you guys...you were right it was a battery issue. I'm no longer going to worry about my separator.
HIGHCOUNTRYMIKE 2003 E350 SPORTSMOBILE 4X4 7.3 325,000M

[Scalf77]

So 19 years on a Surepower is pretty good.

I suspect that you have the start assist still hooked up.

Don't have solar

Don't always plug in.

I say this because the crude problem I spoke is enhanced when you don't have a lot of current going across the contacts when they close. The Large solenoid is designed for large current.

The start assist somewhat mitigates this by combining the contacts when you are cranking the engine thus more current.

Solar can just the opposite, it can bring the house up to high enough voltage but not really pushing a lot of current across the contacts.

If you plug in all the time, chances are when you start the van, the house is already full thus not a lot of current going thru the contacts.

If you find the need you can just source the solenoid from Trombetta.

Glad your up and running