Homerocks Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Hello, I've slowly been working on the electric on my recently purchased 89 warrior. I have come to the conclusion that I need to replace the isolator. Here is what leads me to believe it needs to be replaced: When I bought the warrior, I was told by the previous owner that the alternator will not charge the coach battery. When I popped the hood, I saw that this was due to the positive cable from the isolator to the coach battery was disconnected, taped off and cable tied (obviously disconnected on purpose). The isolator also appears to be a manual type (see photos). There is a physical switch to open and close the circuit within the isolator. There are only two posts on the isolator. One has a cable directly connecting to the truck battery's positive terminal with nothing else in line, and the other is for the positive feed to the coach battery (disconnected). There is no post for an ignition connection. I reconnected the coach positive cable to the isolator and found that with the coach battery and truck battery connected, regardless of the physical switch position, voltage was the same on both sides of the isolator. When I plugged in to shore power, both batteries charged. When the truck was running, both batteries charged, and when I had the truck off with no shore power, I got the same non charging voltage on both sides of the isolator and at both batteries. I'm assuming the isolator does not work, which is why the previous owner disconnects it. Does this sound correct? Also, what isolator would I replace with? Can I use a relay type? Is it pretty straight forward to run an ignition feed to the relay? Thanks Again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homerocks Posted January 11, 2014 Author Share Posted January 11, 2014 Pic 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred heath Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 A solenoid isolater should work fine. They're pretty straight forward. Basically your two large posts go to truck and coach battery respectively. Center post connects to your alternator output. There may be a smaller post to use for ground. Make sure you get one rated for the amps your alternator is putting out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WME Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Buy an RV isolater, not a Ford starter relay. The Ford is not rated for continus use. The normal hookup is alternater and truck battery to one side and the coach battery to the other side. Switch 12v goes to the small middle post, there maybe two small on some isolaters one is 12v the other is ground. The single small post are self grounding so they must be bolted to the metal chassis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrel Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 These are pictures of my isolater. The isolater is located on the right wheel well close to the wiper motor. A gray or black wire comes from the positive battery side to one isolater post. A blue wire from the other isolater post to the coach battery. A pink? wire from small isolater post to ignition side of the windshield wiper motor. When the ignition is turned on power is applied to the wiper motor, it also applies power to the isolater which trips so the coach battery will charge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maineah Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 darrel's pictures are what it should look like note the small purple wire it has to go to a circuit that turns on with your truck key that is what energizes the relay with out it nothing will happen. Also they have replaced the wires with a larger gauge (that is a good thing) but they will not fit on a standard RV circuit breaker. The way it appears to be wired there is no short circuit protection for either battery you may have to go to a boat yard to find some thing that will work with the larger wires. darrel's pictures show a push button breaker it's a little hard to see but it is connected to the + cable on the truck battery it is also a real good ideal to have some kind of protection on the wiring going to the coach from the isolator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrel Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 That's correct. I have another push reset fuse located in the battery compartment, it looks like the one in the first picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homerocks Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 Thank you for the replies. I guess my next question would be what is the stock alternated rated at, and what current breakers/fuses should be placed in line? And could I use a four pole solenoid if I manually wire the fourth pole to a ground? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skydancer2992 Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 I use a jumper (two alligator clips on a piece of wire going across my dead isolator) if I want to use my engine to charge the coach battery. I've only done that once, when dry camping at the Grand Canyon. My significant other insists on having electrical power when staying at campgrounds. Therefore, I let the campgrounds charge my coach battery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrel Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 I'm not positive but think the stock alternator is 45AMP. My fuses are 30AMP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maineah Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 If the truck has A/C I believe it's a 65 amp alt. All though the wiring you have will handle more than 35 amps there really is no need to use any thing more than 40 amp protection. You can use a 4 terminal relay by grounding one but if you are going to buy one any way you may as will get one that you don't have to ground with an extra wire. If you don't know what the relay is don't use it a starter relay looks the same but it will smoke within hours more often than not if it has 4 terminals it very likely to be a starter relay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stamar Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 It might be 45 amp but the replacement part is 60 amp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanAatTheCape Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 I got a replacement relay at giant recreation world. I did update the wiring between start (engine) battery (where 12v dc + source was) all the way to the house (cabin) battery including grounds - I added grounding wires from solenoid housing to chassis. The 3rd terminal (activation circuit) connects to wiper motor which is hot whenever ignition switch is on. with a voltmeter, I measure about .1 v drop at every connection in circuit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nam Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Any relay that can handle 40A at 12V or more would be sufficient...make sure you have tight connections. When I got the first Warrior, the inside was corroded so I did not make any connection either. I took it apart, clearned it, and it worked like new again. The original isolator wasn't very good in my opinion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homerocks Posted January 17, 2014 Author Share Posted January 17, 2014 Thank you all for the replies. While things have taken an interesting turn, I'm having more problems, and they just don't make sense. Following my original post, I was away for about a week. When I got home I went to install the isolator I ordered http://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Tow-Ready/TR118665.html?feed=npn&gclid=CLGQiJvOhLwCFWhnOgodmGwAuw . When I popped my hood, I looked in the area that darrel's pictures showed, and found that I had two isolators under the hood. I still have the manual switch with the aftermarket heavy duty cable as in my original post, and I also have what appears to be the original isolator and cable installed, just at Darrel's pics showed. I had a three pole isolator mounted to the chassis with 10g cable coming off of each side of the isolator, and the center pole had a wire going to the wiper motor. Taking a look at this already installed (original?) isolator and cables, I quickly realized that the cable that should go from the isolator to the truck battery positive was connected from the isolator to the truck negative terminal. I first removed this cable from the battery. I then metered, and I found that the cable on the coach side is still wired to the coach battery (12.3 no shore power and engine off). I then went on to check both sides of the isolator, and when both sides of the isolator were connected, I had the same voltage on both sides of the isolator regardless of whether or not the ignition was on. When I metered the third pole (wiper connection on the isolator) I got no voltage when the ignition was off, and I got over 14v when ignition was running. So I installed my new isolator, which I linked earlier, and I got the exact same readings in all situations. I am baffled and becoming very frustrated. This should be very simple. Are all three isolators bad..including the new one? Could I be metering wrong? I have been measuring the hots with my ground on various locations, and I have gotten the same readings on both sides of the isolators, regardless of the truck running or not, shore power plugged in, or nothing plugged in. The voltage is passing through in both directions regardless of anything. What now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred heath Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 It sounds like you should go back to basics. Identify your coach battery supply wire, your truck battery supply wire, alternator wire, and (ignition on) supply. Probably the wiper 12v wire. Remove everything else.Install your new isolater and attach wires as per instructions. It sounds like multiple novices have been working on your electric. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek up North Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 http://www.etrailer.com/question-66607.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skydancer2992 Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 You should be able to quickly bench test each isolator by using a jumper from the engine battery side to the activating contact. Leave the coach side disconnected and instead, watch the voltage rise on the meter. For why you may be getting the same voltage on both sides of the isolator is that one of your accessories may be connected to both sources, creating an alternate path for both systems to power up. In a more unlikely situation, there are isolators that look identical but they activate when the middle terminal is grounded. Smaller vehicles systems, like a Cessna airplane, the ignition switch activates the main "isolator" by grounding it, and then the battery is connected to the plane's power bus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek up North Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 It's only guesswork if your wiring has been changed from when it originally left Winnebago in '89. Below I've attached the 1990 drawings from Winnebago. You'll have to refer to both for the isolator. 085259.pdf 095714.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanAatTheCape Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 I have a 1993 winnie warrior. I had a 92 itasca spirit - they are identical. on both of these unit, a wire runs from the start battery 12v + terminal and goes to isolator (solenoid). A wire coming from windshield wiper hot wire ( will be hot when ignition switch is "on") to the smaller terminal (controls solenoid). Another wire runs from solenoid to house battery. solenoid grounds to chassis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maineah Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 What you need to do is start the truck. The voltage should start to rise on both sides of the isolator. If it does not rise on both sides there is an issue with either the isolator or the wiring. Meter the ground on the isolator, Place one lead on the battery + the other lead on the isolator case it should read battery voltage .A digital multimeter draws almost no current this can be deceiving because it will read perfect voltage but carry no load. The cause is poor/dirty connections this is one reason I use a test light to check basic voltage it will draw enough current to load the poor connection and drop the voltage enough to either not light or light dimly. The system is straight forward it is nothing more than an electronic light switch it's either on or off the big terminals are the two screws on a light switch the little terminal turns the switch on and off. Usually the isolator circuits have breakers (little silver boxes with small terminals ) they can go bad but are more prone to rusty connections this is where you will often find bad connections they should be somewhere in series with the #8 battery wires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredNewell Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 What you need to do is start the truck. The voltage should start to rise on both sides of the isolator. If it does not rise on both sides there is an issue with either the isolator or the wiring. Meter the ground on the isolator, Place one lead on the battery + the other lead on the isolator case it should read battery voltage .A digital multimeter draws almost no current this can be deceiving because it will read perfect voltage but carry no load. The cause is poor/dirty connections this is one reason I use a test light to check basic voltage it will draw enough current to load the poor connection and drop the voltage enough to either not light or light dimly. The system is straight forward it is nothing more than an electronic light switch it's either on or off the big terminals are the two screws on a light switch the little terminal turns the switch on and off. Usually the isolator circuits have breakers (little silver boxes with small terminals ) they can go bad but are more prone to rusty connections this is where you will often find bad connections they should be somewhere in series with the #8 battery wires. Maineah, this is a genius job of explaining. I'm messing with mine today. This really helped. I get it too complicated and confuse myself. Again, Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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