ranger Posted December 12, 2009 Share Posted December 12, 2009 The main engine cranking battery on my Toyhome is going dead in about 2 days. I have had it checked it checks good and afterall it is only 4 months old and showed no signs of failure prior to this. I have not been able to find anything such as lights, etc. which could be draining the battery. I have even unhooked the main wire from the positive post to the battery isolater (sylonide type which is another story) just to see if that could be creating the drain. No luck there. I'm thinking it might be the starter?? Anybody encontered this before? On another note - after reading the posts about battery isolaters I looked closer at mine. Again, mine is the sylonide type and appears to be wired wrong. There is a hot wire leaving the battery post to a relay (I think it is a relay or circut breaker?), then another wire leads off the other side of the relay and hooks to one side of the isolater. Then another hot wire is hooked to the same side as the previous wire and runs to the coach battery. In other words all wires are hooked to one side of the isolater. No wires are hooked to the oher side or middle connection on the isolater. I am thinking the isolater may not be working and the previous owner just placed both wires on one side. What do you guys think? Where can I buy another isolater and how should it be wired? Thanks, Ranger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maineah Posted December 12, 2009 Share Posted December 12, 2009 The main engine cranking battery on my Toyhome is going dead in about 2 days. I have had it checked it checks good and afterall it is only 4 months old and showed no signs of failure prior to this. I have not been able to find anything such as lights, etc. which could be draining the battery. I have even unhooked the main wire from the positive post to the battery isolater (sylonide type which is another story) just to see if that could be creating the drain. No luck there. I'm thinking it might be the starter?? Anybody encontered this before? On another note - after reading the posts about battery isolaters I looked closer at mine. Again, mine is the sylonide type and appears to be wired wrong. There is a hot wire leaving the battery post to a relay (I think it is a relay or circut breaker?), then another wire leads off the other side of the relay and hooks to one side of the isolater. Then another hot wire is hooked to the same side as the previous wire and runs to the coach battery. In other words all wires are hooked to one side of the isolater. No wires are hooked to the oher side or middle connection on the isolater. I am thinking the isolater may not be working and the previous owner just placed both wires on one side. What do you guys think? Where can I buy another isolater and how should it be wired? Thanks, Ranger Yeah it's wired wrong sounds like some one tried to "fix" it. Truck battery wire on one side (big post) coach battery on the other small wire to the key switch. The little boxes are circuit breakers. Now if both are hooked to the same post essentially both batteries are hooked together so maybe you are looking in the wrong place for your truck battery issue. I would disconnect the coach battery, tape it and see how that effects your truck. If all is well then your problem is with the coach end. NAPA or the likes should have the relay make sure they understand that it is a continuous duty solenoid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranger Posted December 12, 2009 Author Share Posted December 12, 2009 Yeah it's wired wrong sounds like some one tried to "fix" it. Truck battery wire on one side (big post) coach battery on the other small wire to the key switch. The little boxes are circuit breakers. Now if both are hooked to the same post essentially both batteries are hooked together so maybe you are looking in the wrong place for your truck battery issue. I would disconnect the coach battery, tape it and see how that effects your truck. If all is well then your problem is with the coach end. NAPA or the likes should have the relay make sure they understand that it is a continuous duty solenoid. Thanks Maineah, I'll try that today and let you know. It's strange, I bought the MH in October and have used it and had no battery problems until now. I did unhook the wire from the truck battery that led to the solenoid and inturn to the coach. Once I unhooked that wire I had no power in the coach so I thought the coach was pulling down the truck battery and may be causing the problem but as stated earlier the truck battery still went dead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maineah Posted December 12, 2009 Share Posted December 12, 2009 Is the truck battery like dead after 2 days? or it just will not crank. Or better question how do you get it started? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranger Posted December 12, 2009 Author Share Posted December 12, 2009 Is the truck battery like dead after 2 days? or it just will not crank. Or better question how do you get it started? DEAD! but I can jump it off with a jump starter. I did remove the coach battery today and found it was dead as well ( and low in water) and it will not even take a charge. I replaced the truck battery and checked for voltage at the wires that were hooked to the coach battery and found no power. If the battery fails again it should be something with the truck? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maineah Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 OK try this, buy a cheap 12 volt test light most auto parts stores have them disconnect your positive battery cable clamp the end to the post and the probe end to the cable. Make sure you have every thing turned off, if the light is on (I suspect it is) start pulling fuses one at a time until the light goes off if none of the fuses make it go off then start disconnecting the wiring to the coach until you get the light to go out. What ever makes it go out is the cause of your dead battery. If you have cell phone chargers or some thing that would normally stay on disconnect that first it's probably not enough to kill the battery but it will screw up the battery draw test. All though it's rare alternators some times will cause a battery drain so if all else fails disconnect the alternator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranger Posted December 14, 2009 Author Share Posted December 14, 2009 OK try this, buy a cheap 12 volt test light most auto parts stores have them disconnect your positive battery cable clamp the end to the post and the probe end to the cable. Make sure you have every thing turned off, if the light is on (I suspect it is) start pulling fuses one at a time until the light goes off if none of the fuses make it go off then start disconnecting the wiring to the coach until you get the light to go out. What ever makes it go out is the cause of your dead battery. If you have cell phone chargers or some thing that would normally stay on disconnect that first it's probably not enough to kill the battery but it will screw up the battery draw test. All though it's rare alternators some times will cause a battery drain so if all else fails disconnect the alternator. Thanks Again! I will try tomorrow and let everyone know. I did replace the fully charged truck battery yesterday and took her down the road, Stopped and cranked her several times with no problems. Tried her today and she fired right up. I still have the coach battery removed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranger Posted December 16, 2009 Author Share Posted December 16, 2009 Thanks Again! I will try tomorrow and let everyone know. I did replace the fully charged truck battery yesterday and took her down the road, Stopped and cranked her several times with no problems. Tried her today and she fired right up. I still have the coach battery removed. Truck battery still cranking fine and alternator charging. I still have the coach battery removed. It appears that the DEAD coach battery was drawing down the truck battery and I am assuming due to the battery isolater being wired wrong if that is possible. I am thinking of installing a battery maintainer (2 amp automatic) on a new coach battery instead of messing with the battery isolater which will need to be replaced, properly wired, etc. The trips I take are less than 2 hours one way and I do not do any camping without electrical hook-ups. If my understanding is right then I could plug up the battery maintainer without having to plug up the entire coach. If I am missing something or am wrong in my thinking please let me know. I also plugged the coach up today and pressed the battery button on the monitioring panel in the coach - it read acceptable even though the coach battery is removed. Can anybody explain that? Does it mean the invertor is saying the battery is charging? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maineah Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Yeah it's reading charger voltage. WM has little 2 amp chargers that are maintainers, you'll have to plug it in to the house if you plug in the MH it will make the charger/converter run. The isolator is a nice option if they work right (the relay type) if your truck battery is weak you can turn the key on and it will give you a little boost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranger Posted December 18, 2009 Author Share Posted December 18, 2009 Yeah it's reading charger voltage. WM has little 2 amp chargers that are maintainers, you'll have to plug it in to the house if you plug in the MH it will make the charger/converter run. The isolator is a nice option if they work right (the relay type) if your truck battery is weak you can turn the key on and it will give you a little boost. Good point and THANKS!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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