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80 AMP CB

June 15, 2012, 03:55:32 pm

At the lake this week and when we set up in the camp ground and it started getting dark I noticed half of my lights inside wouldn't come on.  The A/Cs and fridge and ice maker were working fine so I knew the AC power in was ok.  I knew the house battery was getting old but seem to be working last time out.  Turned on the monitor and coach voltage was in the red.  I usually run the boost on the way from storage to the camp ground, but this time I had forgotten.  When I turned the boost off things went from bad to worse.  It was obvious I was runing off the engine battery.  While we looked for the charger, I put a small charger on the house battery and that helped a little.  When I located the charger in the vacumn hose storage cabinet both fuses were fine.  When I got a meter and checked the output it was 13.5 VDC.  I checked, on what the wiring diagram called a 80 AMP CB in the battery box, and had 13.5 on one side and 7.9 on the other.  I removed all three wires, the one from the charger and the one to the house battery and what appeared to be a wire to the fridge, and tied them together and everything was fine.  When I pried the back off, the inside of the CB consisted of a convex metal disk with 2 contact points.  The washer that held the disk to the center stud had broken in three parts and allowed the disk to stop making contact.  I am still trying to figure out what exactly this item is suppose to be protecting.  The charger is fused and has what I believe is internal protection and it won't put out 80 amps.  The only other time I can see drawing that much current from the charger is if the boost is on and starting the engine with the coach hooked up to shore power with weak batteries.  Not sure if I should try to get one or not.

Bill and Doris OKC
93 GV gas

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Re: 80 AMP CB

Reply #1 – June 15, 2012, 04:28:30 pm

A fuse or circuit breaker in a large gauge wire direct from battery is there to PREVENT A FIRE.

If a large gauge wire every made contact with ground (like insulation worn off at a frame component) with no fuse or circuit breaker you would have a fire.

Strongly suggest you replace it.

Only exception is wire from start battery to engine starter.  Even the wiring to an inverter is fused (we are talking about a very high amp slow-burn special fuse).

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Re: 80 AMP CB

Reply #2 – June 15, 2012, 04:50:15 pm

The only wire attached to this CB is the charger on one side and the battery on the other plus a small wire for the fridge.  My manual indicates the fridge is connected directly to the battery and the disconnect switch doesn't remove it.  I think this is just a convienent connection point.  From the inside way the disk is formed it will reset itself.  I'll ask Foretravel when their phones are fixed.

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Re: 80 AMP CB

Reply #3 – June 15, 2012, 05:21:51 pm

That sounds proper to me.

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