Ghost power ?

Topic: Ghost power ? (Read 1681 times) previous topic - next topic - Topic derived from Re: No 30 amp Shore P...

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #25 – August 18, 2022, 02:57:12 pm

Update Update !
I moved the coach down the driveway this weekend then disconnected both batteries. Yesterday I was putting some supplies in the coach and the dash radio/cd player was lit up like Blackpool tower.
When I tried the windshield fans, they both worked as did the interior lights.
So I switched the salesman switch off and now there's no radio, fans or lights.

Still puzzled but not defeated ha

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #26 – August 18, 2022, 02:58:50 pm

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #27 – August 18, 2022, 03:32:49 pm

You either have a third battery or you are not getting the batteries disconnected. No other physical option unless you have a converter and you have A/C power hooked up.

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #28 – August 18, 2022, 03:53:01 pm

No AC
No Solar
Can't get much more disconnected than this

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #29 – August 18, 2022, 04:26:06 pm

According to the specs those are coach batteries. Look for an engine chassis battery elswhere.

Foretravel Motorhome 1988 Grand Villa U280 Specifications | All Things...

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #30 – August 18, 2022, 04:37:01 pm

I know that sometimes I'm a bit thick but,
I have a 1987 late build and registered Jan 1988 ORED and not a homemade chassis.
The left battery is the chassis and the right battery is for the coach, there's no third battery.
If it was that simple even this blind squirrel would have stumbled on it by now ?

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #31 – August 18, 2022, 05:19:16 pm

You said turning off the salesman switch shut everything off so things, I would guess all those things
run off the house batteries.

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #32 – August 18, 2022, 05:26:46 pm

Yes and that's what is so confusing, with both/all batteries disconnected where's the power getting to the salesman switch?

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #33 – August 18, 2022, 06:30:48 pm

Quote from: craneman – August 18, 2022, 04:26:06 pm

According to the specs those are coach batteries.

The 1988 Gran Villa U280 is not the same chassis as a 1988 ORED.

The diagram below from our Forum library (1989 12V - Automotive - ORED) should be similar to the 1988 ORED owned by Olde English. Shows only 2 batteries.

Other than what has already been previously suggested, I can think of no rational explanation for the source of the "ghost power".

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #34 – August 18, 2022, 06:41:17 pm

Back to reply #9 there has to be another battery or power source somewhere on the coach.

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #35 – August 18, 2022, 07:31:06 pm

Someone added a battery somewhere.

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #36 – August 18, 2022, 08:22:47 pm

Quote from: Olde English – August 18, 2022, 03:53:01 pm

No AC
No Solar
Can't get much more disconnected than this

Are these the batteries located just inside the front door? Now I'm not being insulting for the fun of it, but is there another battery inside that compartment? I must confess to stuffing extra batteries in strange locations myself.

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #37 – August 18, 2022, 08:28:36 pm

I've had this coach for over 10 years and I do my own maintenance so I've crawled all over it. From front to back and top to bottom I've been underneath for fluid changes, front brakes and shocks, new springs on the front jacks.
If there's a third battery I'd like to know where it's hiding.

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #38 – August 18, 2022, 08:32:44 pm

How hard is it to trace the wire from the salesman switch to whatever is supplying it?

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #39 – August 18, 2022, 08:38:42 pm

More than I want to do tonight ha.
I just went out and fiddled with the salesman switch and the power feed seems low, the dash fans were turning slower than they would normally. So I'll have another go at it tomorrow.

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #40 – August 19, 2022, 08:48:31 am

Quote from: Olde English – August 18, 2022, 08:28:36 pm

If there's a third battery I'd like to know where it's hiding.

I'm waiting to hear who made it and why did it last ten years. Then again it sounds more like a third battery wired in parallel to the other two for either the generator or the main engine and located accordingly. In the Rockwood, to get us safely through the night, I hid four 6V GC batteries under the bed along with a charger/power supply in addition to the two group 27s in the slide out tray.

My current task, four weeks in and I'm down to the last wire nut to remove:

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #41 – August 19, 2022, 10:42:40 am

Quote from: Old Toolmaker – August 19, 2022, 08:48:31 am

I'm waiting to hear who made it and why did it last ten years.

X2
May be very difficult and expensive to legally dispose of at end of life, or the guys in the black suits may pick up whether you like it or not. Amazing they have been operating for two months. A part number would be appreciated. I want some
Scott

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #42 – August 19, 2022, 10:46:11 am

The mystery battery is probably technically dead, but being in parallel has a surface charge after the two main batteries are disconnected. He mentions that the fans were turning slower.

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #43 – August 19, 2022, 01:15:55 pm

Maybe the mouse is getting tired or the bearings on his wheel are binding up?

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #44 – August 19, 2022, 01:27:23 pm

Do you still have 12v at night with the batteries disconnected? My money is on a solar panel you didn't know you have

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #45 – August 19, 2022, 01:55:23 pm

Although you still have a mystery, thanks for the update.

Roland

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #46 – August 19, 2022, 01:57:43 pm

When you said you disconnected both batteries, did you mean both house and engine/chassis batteries? Your dash radio is powered by the chassis/engine battery if like ours. Another possibility is that your isolator is bad or not wired correctly. Ours was when we bought it.

Pierce

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #47 – August 19, 2022, 03:45:17 pm

Power and heat source
Glowing cylinder of plutonium oxide standing in a circular pit
A glowing cylinder of 238PuO2
Glowing graphite cube containing plutonium-238 oxide
The 238PuO2 radioisotope thermoelectric generator of the Curiosity rover
The isotope plutonium-238 has a half-life of 87.74 years.[122] It emits a large amount of thermal energy with low levels of both gamma rays/photons and spontaneous neutron rays/particles.[123] Being an alpha emitter, it combines high energy radiation with low penetration and thereby requires minimal shielding. A sheet of paper can be used to shield against the alpha particles emitted by plutonium-238. One kilogram of the isotope can generate about 570 watts of heat.[6][123]

These characteristics make it well-suited for electrical power generation for devices that must function without direct maintenance for timescales approximating a human lifetime. It is therefore used in radioisotope thermoelectric generators and radioisotope heater units such as those in the Cassini,[124] Voyager, Galileo and New Horizons[125] space probes, and the Curiosity [126] and Perseverance (Mars 2020) Mars rovers. Also one 88 Grand Villa 36' was outfitted but we have lost track of its location or current status.
The twin Voyager spacecraft were launched in 1977, each containing a 500 watt plutonium power source. Over 30 years later, each source is still producing about 300 watts which allows limited operation of each spacecraft.[127] An earlier version of the same technology powered five Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Packages, starting with Apollo 12 in 1969.[37]

Plutonium-238 has also been used successfully to power artificial heart pacemakers, to reduce the risk of repeated surgery.[128][129] It has been largely replaced by lithium-based primary cells, but as of 2003 there were somewhere between 50 and 100 plutonium-powered pacemakers still implanted and functioning in living patients in the United States.[130] By the end of 2007, the number of plutonium-powered pacemakers was reported to be down to just nine.[131] Plutonium-238 was studied as a way to provide supplemental heat to scuba diving.[132] Plutonium-238 mixed with beryllium is used to generate neutrons for research purposes.[37]

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #48 – August 19, 2022, 04:25:17 pm

Disconnect the ground at the batteries .
I have the same year and the start battery is driver side rear box , closest to the engine.

Re: Ghost power ?

Reply #49 – August 19, 2022, 05:36:32 pm

Mike
Yours then is way different to mine, my rear box has my power cord and oil. Two batteries under the stairs, left is chassis and right is coach.

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