Grand Villa electrical and other issues.

March 02, 2011, 06:04:45 pm

For a number of different reasons my Grand Villa has sat for almost a year and half. I thought everything would be all right because I had a solar panel hooked up to the house battery and a Trik-L-Start between it and the engine battery. I was unhappy to find out last week that both batteries were way below normal. I ended up replacing the engine battery which was 6 years old - a remarkable longevity considering it was a wet cell battery. I was then able to start the Cat engine after priming it. The voltage gauge did not increase immediately even after revving it up to 1500 RPM but did eventually go up to about 13 volts.

At the same time I went to check tire pressure and discovered that the inside right rear was completely flat, 0 psi. I got out the built-in air hose and tried to air up the tire only to find out WHY the tire was flat. The tire valve extender hose had blown out. I did not have the time then to get someone out to the storage lot to fix it. I then pulled out the solar panel and found out that one of the connectors had corroded in two.

Today I was able to meet the tire guy at the storage lot. (The lot owner required that I enter the gate code.) It turned out that he had used his last valve extender on a fire truck so we both went into town (it was easier than having to go to the gate to let him out and then back in.). No one had any long enough. He was able to refill the tire without removing it from the coach by using what I call an air cannon to reseat the bead. He told me that the 75 lbs pressure listed in the coach was not enough and put in 110, the cold pressure limit on the sidewall.

While he was working on the tire I checked out the alternator and generator. Both were acting up. The alternator was not charging the engine battery and was showing 16 volts on the house battery. I immediately shut off the engine. I suspected maybe there was a problem with the diode isolator. I first cleaned the engine battery connection and put carbon conductive grease on it. When I removed the alternator wire and sense wire from the isolator I saw what appeared to be corrosion from the steel stud and nut even though they were tight. I cleaned them up and sprayed them with Corrosion Block and tightened them back up. I started the engine and now both batteries were charging correctly. Next I checked out the generator because it would only run if I held the switch down. There are only two connectors that I could get to on this unit. One was a Molex and the other was a spade lug. I sprayed both with Corrosion Block and connected and disconnected them several times to wipe the contacts. The generator now worked properly. I then turned on the A/C units to load the generator. Shortly after the second A/C came on the ATS kicked off but the generator kept running. I guess that is the next thing to check out but it will have to wait until next week as I am working an SCCA race in College Station this coming week end.

Next week when I have more time I will remove and clean all the connections to the batteries and everything associated with them like the boost switch. I doubt that the ATS switch problem is a connection issue but I'll try that first.

Re: Grand Villa electrical and other issues.

Reply #1 – March 02, 2011, 10:17:37 pm

Sounds familiar. My ATS was tripping on 2nd A/C start most of the time and I had it to Onan several times and every time it checked out fine. The generator stays running but you have to run and turn everything off before the 30 second delay when the contacts will try to close again (under load) causing clatter and damaging the ATS. I replaced the ATS with a similar style with no improvement. I tested and found that the A/C units were pulling a bit more amperage than they should so I tried replacing the start capacitors with hard start capacitors but could never get the right ones for my units. Prior to making a trip across the desert in late June I replaced the 18 year old A/C units with new Coleman power savers. I hate them compared to the old ones. They just don't cool down the coach as quickly even though the air coming out is the same temperature as the old ones. Must be something to do with their ability to handle the moister in the air. Even with these units I still have the issue just less often. Very important to add load gingerly and take it away that way too. After all this I talked to one of the manufacturers of the ATS unit and he told me that the original type that you and I have use contacts that open and close and they have a small range for accepting momentary voltage loss before openning. The style of ATS that is relay based are much more forgiving with regard to that split second voltage drop. However, if your unit is like mine, the wiring arrangement on the relay type will require running new wires as the old ones are just long enough to line up with the contact style ATS and you can't really splice and add wire (or shouldn't). Good luck. This has been a nightmare. IMO the generator on my unit being propane while the fuel is diesel with no space for changing to a diesel unit combined with this electrical bugaboo with the ATS has proven to be the worst engineering on any of the systems on my coach. Even compensating for age, this had to have been very marginal from the get go. Judging by the quality of everything else this has been a real disappointment.

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