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Problems Switching To Coach Battery Power


87Dolphin

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Hi. I have recently purchased a 1987 Dolphin. I absolute love it and have gotten familiar with mostly everything on board (appliances, water & waste systems, etc...

Here is my issue...I would run my generator and plug the RV into it to run everything (ie. Fridge, water pump, 12v lights and electrical outlets). All was good. But when I would unplug from the generator, it would take anywhere from 5 mins to 1 hour for the coach battery to power on the 12v lights and water pump. This happened a dozen or so times. Then one day the coach battery never kicked on and I haven't been able to use the 12v lights or water pump without being plugged into a generator or to 110v power.

Does anyone have any idea what could be up? Or can someone direct me to where this switch of power happens when I unplug?

The coach battery is a couple of months old and is fully charged up.

Any help would be appreciated....thx

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There is a relay on the older converters that switches the RV 12V feed from the coach battery to the converters output. When no 120 VAC is going to the converter the relay puts the coach battery to the RV's 12V system. When you "plug in" and supply 120 VAC to the converter the relay puts the converters output to the RV's 12 V system and switches the coach battery to a small charger mounted inside the converter. It could be that relay or a bad connection between the converter relay and the coach battery.
On the older RV's like yours the relay is usually black, on my '91 it's blue.

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It's fairly common with age for the relay contacts to pit and stick together. When the MH is plug in the 120 power pulls the relay up and when it's unplugged a spring returns it to battery power. If yours is an open relay type (the early ones were) the fix is fairly easy with a small file to burnish the contacts. The only problem is it's inside of the converter/charger so if this is some thing you would like to attempt be sure to unplug the MH first! Give the converter a wack with your fist it might jar the relay free.

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