Left red key on over 12 hours engine & generator offwoke to the 60 second chirp alert

[THEBRAIN]

Left red key on over 12 hours engine & generator off woke to the 60 second chirp alert
I didn’t plug in the shore power cord an left the red key turned on bc I had intensions of turning on furnace.
outside temp was 50 degrees I did a turn on test of furnace it turned on right away but then 10 seconds later it turned off, I'm thinking it wasn't cold enough for furnace but cool enough for the airconditoner heat pump?

after 12 hours of red key on The carbon monoxide turned from green (functioning properly) to red the 60 second chirp alert.
I disscounnected the red key to stop the alert bc either the engine or generater was running so there’s no
Possiability of carbon monoxide.

Can the 2 sensors cabon monoxide an propane run the battery down low enough to cause this alert?
if CM was in coach is the alarm a constant beeping like a smoke alarm?how is the CM tested?
I’ve been told that propane gas has the stink added as a safety alarm, like anyone can smell the stink.
Currently have the shore power connected, of course w/ red key turned on
didn't bring multimeter to mearsure battery, w/ SP connected is this a quickie charge of house battery.
thanks

[mkguitar]

Detectors beep with low battery voltage


You ran your battery down


on shore power your battery will charge. but it won;t be 'quicky" and depends on the condition of your battery.
Did you buy a new one ?


I don't have a heat pump, I doubt you do either.
The furnace should go on when the thermostat setting is reached- is you have LP gas, if you have battery power


the cheap ( or sometimes free) red multimeter at harbor freight work great. get one and leave it in the van- you should be testing shore power before plugging in when travelling

[THEBRAIN]

Originally Posted by mkguitar

Detectors beep with low battery voltage


You ran your battery down did the 2 sensors drain the battery?


on shore power your battery will charge. but it won;t be 'quicky" and depends on the condition of your battery.
Did you buy a new one ? no this is my boats battery it's was at 12.8V DC


I don't have a heat pump, I doubt you do either.
The furnace should go on when the thermostat setting is reached- is you have LP gas, if you have battery power yes I have a couple gallons of LP propane


the cheap ( or sometimes free) red multimeter at harbor freight work great. get one and leave it in the van- you should be testing shore power before plugging in when travelling

Mike
My shore power is from a house, I'm not at a RV place should I still be testing power from a home? I do know to plug into van first then to power. Thanks

[THEBRAIN]

Start battery started 8.5V DC have jumper cables attached w/ 2nd car replenhishing start battery extremely slow.
Just opening door dome light on causes a drop down to under 9 VDC.

House battery is still at 12.5 V DC.

I've read that in emgency situations the house battery can aid the starter battery however there is a crossconnect at the battery isolater that is unknow to me.

the isolators 4 posts only three are being used.

I've been cruising around for almost 5 weeks in the van w/ red key out and no issues untill today.
thanks

[mkguitar]

it is possible with a jumper cable at the seperator to use the house battery to start the motor.


if you are certain your battery is good then you have to look for anything which could be draining power ... it could be any number of things a methodical exploration with an amp meter to look for loads... could even be blown diodes in converter, battery separator.


your electrical system is dfferent than mine because of the power sofa, you also have a different converter

[Kurt Franz]

Originally Posted by THEBRAIN

Start battery started 8.5V DC have jumper cables attached w/ 2nd car replenhishing start battery extremely slow.
Just opening door dome light on causes a drop down to under 9 VDC.

House battery is still at 12.5 V DC.

I've read that in emgency situations the house battery can aid the starter battery however there is a crossconnect at the battery isolater that is unknow to me.

the isolators 4 posts only three are being used.

I've been cruising around for almost 5 weeks in the van w/ red key out and no issues untill today.
thanks

Maybe something to do with the isolator connection? I am by no means an expert - I have learned quite a bit from the folks here - but you state the chassis battery was dead but the house battery was still decent at 12.5. And that your isolator only had three of the 4 posts being used. Wonder if the red key being on contributed to your drain on the chassis battery? Probably should check the connections out at the isolator and confirm things are OK.

One of the first things that I discovered when I bought my Chevy "Oldtrek" last year was that the isolator was not connected properly and the house battery was not charging while driving. I found out when I stopped for the night on a road trip and had the fridge running on DC while driving. Completely killed the house battery.

In my case what I believe happened was that one of the previous owners was using the van with no house battery and he bypassed the isolator. The guy I bought it from - who flipped it - put a new house battery in but was not aware of the isolator being bypassed, so the only way the house battery was getting charged was via shore power. Once I re-connected everything back up correctly the everything functioned as intended. However, I think the fact that my house battery was neglected and abused is the reason why it will now not hold much of a charge anymore.

Lotsa rambling I realize, but maybe some of this is applicable.

On another note - like you I tested my furnace yesterday as the temps dropped. Connected to my house shore power and the furnace performed perfectly as did the CoolCat heat pump - which was great as I was not expecting much from that with outside ambient temp of 40 degrees. A nice benefit in my opinion is having the heat pump.

Merry Christmas - let us know how you fix the issue.

[THEBRAIN]

Originally Posted by mkguitar

it is possible with a jumper cable at the seperator to use the house battery to start the motor.


if you are certain your battery is good then you have to look for anything which could be draining power ... it could be any number of things a methodical exploration with an amp meter to look for loads... could even be blown diodes in converter, battery separator.


your electrical system is dfferent than mine because of the power sofa, you also have a different converter

thanks Mike I'll be checking for loads.
the Guy at autozone said the battery was taken a charge and no bad cells was 100% charged at 13.5VDC so since it has allready dropped to 12.2VDC it's allready self charging?

just checked both batteries start was 12.2VDC house was 12.2VDC.so I should expect both batteries to completely self drain? the draining of the start battery and unaffecting the house seams backwards, when the isolator is supposed to separate the 2 and never let the start battery drain. I thought when I accidently left the red key on for 12 hours the 2 sensors drained the start battery.

can a defective CO sensor killed the start battery.how are these 2 sensors tested? the propane has a mute button I pressed it the other day expecting a tone kindof like testing a smoke detector. unknown how to test the propane sensor.Thanks

Originally Posted by Kurt Franz

Maybe something to do with the isolator connection? I am by no means an expert - I have learned quite a bit from the folks here - but you state the chassis battery was dead but the house battery was still decent at 12.5. And that your isolator only had three of the 4 posts being used. Wonder if the red key being on contributed to your drain on the chassis battery? Probably should check the connections out at the isolator and confirm things are OK.

One of the first things that I discovered when I bought my Chevy "Oldtrek" last year was that the isolator was not connected properly and the house battery was not charging while driving. I found out when I stopped for the night on a road trip and had the fridge running on DC while driving. Completely killed the house battery.

In my case what I believe happened was that one of the previous owners was using the van with no house battery and he bypassed the isolator. The guy I bought it from - who flipped it - put a new house battery in but was not aware of the isolator being bypassed, so the only way the house battery was getting charged was via shore power. Once I re-connected everything back up correctly the everything functioned as intended. However, I think the fact that my house battery was neglected and abused is the reason why it will now not hold much of a charge anymore.

Lotsa rambling I realize, but maybe some of this is applicable.

On another note - like you I tested my furnace yesterday as the temps dropped. Connected to my house shore power and the furnace performed perfectly as did the CoolCat heat pump - which was great as I was not expecting much from that with outside ambient temp of 40 degrees. A nice benefit in my opinion is having the heat pump.

Merry Christmas - let us know how you fix the issue.

thanks Kurt yes I am very suspecious of the wireing at the isolater under the hood.

from want I know about isolators is 3 posts 1.start battery has priority over post 2.house battery.post 3.is alternator my isolator has 4 posts there's nothing connected to post 4.
one of the posts has 2 larger guage wires connected. should all 4 posts have wired connections?
I will start buzzing the isolators wires and identifing them.
please read above detailed post to
Mike I beleive the start battery that was 13.5VDC (I didn't confirm just believed the autozone man) is now 12.2VDC. thanks

[booster]

Originally Posted by THEBRAIN

thanks Mike I'll be checking for loads.
the Guy at autozone said the battery was taken a charge and no bad cells was 100% charged at 13.5VDC so since it has allready dropped to 12.2VDC it's allready self charging?

just checked both batteries start was 12.2VDC house was 12.2VDC.so I should expect both batteries to completely self drain? the draining of the start battery and unaffecting the house seams backwards, when the isolator is supposed to separate the 2 and never let the start battery drain. I thought when I accidently left the red key on for 12 hours the 2 sensors drained the start battery.

can a defective CO sensor killed the start battery.how are these 2 sensors tested? the propane has a mute button I pressed it the other day expecting a tone kindof like testing a smoke detector. unknown how to test the propane sensor.Thanks

The guy at Autozone had no clue how batteries work, based on what he said, or he was trying to avoid a warranty claim.


The 13.5v tells you nothing at all as it had to be on charge to see that high, and even that is too low for getting much past 70% unless you leave it for days. How did he check for dead cells? Or was he again going by the 13.5v.


The only way to check the condition is to charge it for a long time, at least 4-6 hours for most 20-40ish amp chargers and then let them sit an hour before you check the voltage. It should be at least 12.5/12.7v to be anywhere near full. Lower than that would indicate a battery that had lost capacity. Then let it sit overnight and see if it drops, which it really shouldn't after already sitting an hour unless it was hot also. Don't put them back into a system the might be using too much power until you know it is good or bad. He should have had a load tester also, but if it was a true deep cycle it would only be an indicator unless it failed miserably.

[TX-Trek]

If you decide on a new battery separator, the Blue Sea 7622 is a very solid unit. It's a latching relay so it doesn't consume amperage to stay latched. Lifetime warranty, for me it's been worth every penny. it's fully automatic but also includes a manual control switch. Look up on Google for full info.
Just because the furnace blower came on doesn't mean the furnace works. There's 2 circuits that must close in order for the burner to light. Sail switch and hi limit switch/sensor if I remember right. I replaced the stock furnace board with a Dinosaur Electronics board, a well made control board. So you may need to pull the furnace and do some bench testing on the circuits. It's 12v controls so you can use a battery or charger for your testing power.

[THEBRAIN]

Originally Posted by booster

The guy at Autozone had no clue how batteries work, based on what he said, or he was trying to avoid a warranty claim.


The 13.5v tells you nothing at all as it had to be on charge to see that high, and even that is too low for getting much past 70% unless you leave it for days. How did he check for dead cells? Or was he again going by the 13.5v.


The only way to check the condition is to charge it for a long time, at least 4-6 hours for most 20-40ish amp chargers and then let them sit an hour before you check the voltage. It should be at least 12.5/12.7v to be anywhere near full. Lower than that would indicate a battery that had lost capacity. Then let it sit overnight and see if it drops, which it really shouldn't after already sitting an hour unless it was hot also. Don't put them back into a system the might be using too much power until you know it is good or bad. He should have had a load tester also, but if it was a true deep cycle it would only be an indicator unless it failed miserably.

yes I was surprized he said he didn't have a load tester. I've had batteries load test at the auto zone at home.
if I remember correctly if the battery drops to 11.9VDC it is ruined.after they charged it I reinstalled and van start right up.
not sure how he determined the battery had no dead cells either. last time I had a battery at autozone I recieved a printout that was somewhat detailed.

Originally Posted by TX-Trek

If you decide on a new battery separator, the Blue Sea 7622 is a very solid unit. It's a latching relay so it doesn't consume amperage to stay latched. Lifetime warranty, for me it's been worth every penny. it's fully automatic but also includes a manual control switch. Look up on Google for full info.
Just because the furnace blower came on doesn't mean the furnace works. There's 2 circuits that must close in order for the burner to light. Sail switch and hi limit switch/sensor if I remember right. I replaced the stock furnace board with a Dinosaur Electronics board, a well made control board. So you may need to pull the furnace and do some bench testing on the circuits. It's 12v controls so you can use a battery or charger for your testing power.

not sure what a battery separator is or is that another name for isolator?

it seams like my isolator is operating backwards.
where the house battery holds it's charge & the start battery drains.

besides the 2 sensors being on for 12 hours don't see any other load sucking up the electricity.
I think the isolator could be wired correctly like post1. is susposed to have 2 wires connected positive of start battery & alternator.
post 2 labled A another alternator. post 3. from battery 2 positive w/ a circuit breaker inbetween. 4th post unwired.

I'll buzz these wires out an identify each wire.

when I picked up this van the house battery was dissconnected. I believe this van was parked at a RV park and was only using shorepower.
could this be a reason to dissconnect the house battery. so there's onlt one source of electricy?

if yes would the battery isolators wireing be rearranged?

just retested start batt. it's 12.7VDC gained a tad .5VDC. house is 12.2VDC remained same as this morning I drove the van 15 miles w/ red key on then stopped turned red key off. then about 2 hours later mearsured w/ borrowed multimeter.

another observation is a organge wire about a 10 awg thinner wire near isolator taped and dissconnected no lug. I believe GM uses organe as a exciter wire (charge wire small) coming out of alternator.

left post unconnected, middle post small post I think to alt.middle post 0AWG
I think to alt. or start batt. will confirm later. right post 0AWG routed under brake booster proballey house battery will confirm later
thanks for any tips

[TX-Trek]

Yes I'm referring to separator as isolator. Not sure about the unit you're using on your van, if it's bi-directional or not. Previous owner wiring can be a challenge. I recommended the Blue Sea separator because it's bi-directional - it connects or isolates house or vehicle batteries depending on sensed set voltage for a predetermined timeframe.

Example is we start the van, alternator is sending 14something volts to the separator as well as to the vehicle main fuse box. Separator senses over 13.4 volts for over 30 seconds and automatically connects house batteries. Turn the van off and it will disconnect (isolate) house from van battery when voltage drops below 13.4 volts. If van is off and we plug into shore power the separator will sense over 13.4 volts and connect van battery to maintain charge. Disconnect shore power and separator will isolate house from van battery. That's what I mean by bi-directional. There's also a manual override switch so I can keep batteries isolated no matter what, or I can connect them such as if the van battery goes dead.

There may be a parasitic drain on your van battery causing it to drain down when the van is parked. That should be checked. But I also suggest you locate and clean every engine and body ground that you can find. Poor or corroded grounds can cause all sorts of troubles. Visual inspection won't cut it since corrosion between the surfaces may not be obvious.

I believe the red wire you described goes to the house batteries via some sort of a distribution strip under the rear deck of the van. The genset output wire would connect to this distribution strip too, and there would be a circuit breaker setup too. This is how our van is set up, but I can't say for sure on yours.

[THEBRAIN]

Originally Posted by TX-Trek

Yes I'm referring to separator as isolator. Not sure about the unit you're using on your van, if it's bi-directional or not. Previous owner wiring can be a challenge. I recommended the Blue Sea separator because it's bi-directional - it connects or isolates house or vehicle batteries depending on sensed set voltage for a predetermined timeframe.

Example is we start the van, alternator is sending 14something volts to the separator as well as to the vehicle main fuse box. Separator senses over 13.4 volts for over 30 seconds and automatically connects house batteries. Turn the van off and it will disconnect (isolate) house from van battery when voltage drops below 13.4 volts. If van is off and we plug into shore power the separator will sense over 13.4 volts and connect van battery to maintain charge. Disconnect shore power and separator will isolate house from van battery. That's what I mean by bi-directional. There's also a manual override switch so I can keep batteries isolated no matter what, or I can connect them such as if the van battery goes dead.

There may be a parasitic drain on your van battery causing it to drain down when the van is parked.

I believe the red wire you described goes to the house batteries via some sort of a distribution strip under the rear deck of the van. The genset output wire would connect to this distribution strip too, and there would be a circuit breaker setup too. This is how our van is set up, but I can't say for sure on yours.

I think this is the isolator on the van, it,s deffinity a diode type not relay type.
https://www.etrailer.com/Battery-Cha...SABEgKYkfD_BwE

the van sits for days usalley 3-4 so I doubt there is a parasitic drain those usalley drain in less than 24 hours.

for right now want to resolve the current issue. I think this red key created leaving it on for 12 hours, but ppl chiming in are saying the 2 sensors only draw .5 amps which is to little to drain start battery down to 8.5VDC.

I will buzz out an identify each wire connected to isolator.

like I wrote earlier I observe 2 0awg wires at isolator I think batt+ 1 &2 a exciter wire from alternator. t's real cold right now. after I take air fliter I can physicalley observe where there connected.

I believe the dissconnected wire minus a lug should be connected to the starter. like where are all the connections susposed to be.
then report back. thanks TX trek

[SteveJ]

Originally Posted by TX-Trek

If you decide on a new battery separator, the Blue Sea 7622 is a very solid unit. It's a latching relay so it doesn't consume amperage to stay latched. Lifetime warranty, for me it's been worth every penny. it's fully automatic but also includes a manual control switch. Look up on Google for full info.
Just because the furnace blower came on doesn't mean the furnace works. There's 2 circuits that must close in order for the burner to light. Sail switch and hi limit switch/sensor if I remember right. I replaced the stock furnace board with a Dinosaur Electronics board, a well made control board. So you may need to pull the furnace and do some bench testing on the circuits. It's 12v controls so you can use a battery or charger for your testing power.

I'm using a Blue Sea 7610. The 7610 does not have a latching relay, has a lower 120 amp continuous rating, no temperature restrictions, no crossover boost, and no manual control.

The current draw is 175ma when relay is engaged, 15ma when open.

The 120 amp continuous rating has worked perfectly fine in our 2000 Roadtrek(Chevy) as well as our '97 Safari Trek, also Chevy but using a P30 chassis. When the relay closes the battery connection there is an initial surge of about 100 amps thrown at the 2 group 31 lead acid flooded batteries when they are not full but it quickly lowers to about 50 amps.

Neither location was in the heat of the engine compartment though the P30 location gets quite warm after shut down with engine compartment heat wafting up and out the grill. I see that the 7622 has an operation temperature range of 14 to 140*F.

Could this be an issue down the road?


The 7610 has worked flawlessly in both installations, having removed the diode isolators that were original. The exciter wire was not used in either install as it is no longer required with the lack of voltage drop when using relays instead of diodes.

Oh, and the 7610 is over $100 more frugal.

[TX-Trek]

Hi Steve, I know the 7610 is less expensive, personal preference on the 7622 with higher amp rating and optional manual control, and latching style relay. The 7610 is a good unit too, just depends on what you prefer. I like bi-directional separators since they can work with voltage from 2 sources.
Ours lives in the engine bay without issue. It replaced the original non-latching separator that got burning hot when in use, finally gave up. The brand name escapes me at the moment.


TB, before you start connecting wiring, I'd suggest looking at a factory wiring diagram. Older chevies routed wiring feed to starter but most vehicles now use the body control module to control the starter relay. You'd hate to backfeed voltage somewhere. Lots of sources, for the van I use Mitchell online manual, a 4 year subscription was under $50 when I bought it. I've used it a bunch of times and the included wiring diagrams were pretty good for our 2010.

[booster]

I have used both the 7610 and what I thought was a 7622 but in a full manual, no auto, model, that my paperwork says is a 7620. The current website shows a 7620 as an automatic model, though.


What I have, it appears, is a manual 7700 manual disconnect unit with a switch marked ON/Off which is probably what they call the 2155 switch now but with no Off marking on it. It does have the same yellow manual override also like a 7622.


Both units I have used were very good items and have been on the firewall for long periods in hot weather without issue. The Blue Sea literature on the temp is kind of interesting and, my guess, a recent change in the web page specs on the 7622. Both the 7610 and 7622 have no temp requirements in the actual PDF that Blue Sea has and the older install instructions I have are the same for both with no temp rating. Both are intended to be in engine rooms so would be expected to get very hot conditions. Just because the 7610 doesn't list the temps at this point may not mean the would be same I think. I would expect no issues with either unless put right above an exhaust manifold or something. Blue Sea is extremely conservative with their ratings as on sea reliability is a top concern, so that probably also helps.



An interesting thing that I found is that the 7610 can be be overridden with an manual off switch that you connect to the "ignition interrupt" input. I was running two of them to be able to switch outputs when I had a Blue Sea charger and it worked well.

[THEBRAIN]

update this morning on start batt. is 12.69VDC and house is 12.3VDC this after Saturday driving 15 miles w/ red key on stopped for 5 hours w/ red key off. drove another 15 miles w/ red key then turned red key off parked overnight.

when I picked up the van couple months ago the house battery in tray was dissconnected.
now I'm thinking that the isolator must be connected correctly at post 1 (start batt).initialley I suspected start an house where reversed.
of course I now have connected a house battery connected only inside tray, I believe post2 is also connected correctly.will confirm this need a extra long wire to extend multimeter lead.

exactly how many connections are at the isolator?
1.start batt 0awg
2.house batt 0awg
3.Alternator smaller guage
4. currently dissconnected I believe this is for a 2nd house battery (only if it's not connected to the 1st house battery)

what is the smaller guage white wire connected to mines right at isolator no lug an dissconected.

yes I'm not connecting wires just plan to buzz and identifiy.

also plan to test the isolater itself, unlikely it's faulty but could be, since it's exposed to heat, mite just need a cleaning at the terminals then cover w/ no oxidation grease, like it's basicelly a diode incased insulation an heat sink not a completcated piece.

yes booster is most likely correct about the starter wire comes from the body module that wire could get completcated.

Pleasureway doesn't provide schematics on how they wired each van, that info would be a big help.

the problem seams to be at the red key so I'll be very conious when it's on or off. if I decide to stay inside van for a night it will be w/ shore power and start battery dissconnected.

edit: plan to cruise home about 200 miles away I'm thinking if the start battery is ruined cranking the engine twice a day will keep it charged enough to get home?
how is the house battery crossconnected to use as a emgency start battery?
thanks for tips an merry Christmas

[Kurt Franz]

Originally Posted by THEBRAIN

I think this is the isolator on the van, it,s deffinity a diode type not relay type.
https://www.etrailer.com/Battery-Cha...SABEgKYkfD_BwE

That looks like the same isolator as I have on my 02 Chevy. If it is the original setup and is like mine GM Series CS series alternator - there is an adapter cable that should be plugged into the alternator which provides the sense wire that is connected to post 1 - as is the cable from the main battery - hence your two cables connected to post 1 as I believe you mentioned earlier. Post A is connected to the Alternator +. Post 2 goes to the house battery. Post E should have a small yellow wire that goes to the fuse box center ignition position.

Like I mentioned earlier the PO had bypassed the isolator - the cables from the alternator, the chassis positive and the sense wire were all bolted together and taped up. The adapter cable was unplugged from the alternator and the original plugged back in. The little yellow wire and the house battery were still connected to the isolator - but doing nothing.

Hopefully this makes some sense and possibly helps out some, as it is confusing and took me a while to get it all figured out. But once I did everything worked as intended.

[THEBRAIN]

Originally Posted by Kurt Franz

That looks like the same isolator as I have on my 02 Chevy. If it is the original setup and is like mine GM Series CS series alternator - there is an adapter cable that should be plugged into the alternator which provides the sense wire that is connected to post 1 - as is the cable from the main battery - hence your two cables connected to post 1 as I believe you mentioned earlier. Post A is connected to the Alternator +. Post 2 goes to the house battery. Post E should have a small yellow wire that goes to the fuse box center ignition position.

Like I mentioned earlier the PO had bypassed the isolator - the cables from the alternator, the chassis positive and the sense wire were all bolted together and taped up. The adapter cable was unplugged from the alternator and the original plugged back in. The little yellow wire and the house battery were still connected to the isolator - but doing nothing.

Hopefully this makes some sense and possibly helps out some, as it is confusing and took me a while to get it all figured out. But once I did everything worked as intended.

I thought GM used organe as a exciter wire (what you referred to as sense wire) the small wire coming out of alternater. Not sure what the small piece is on firewall to left of isolator it maybe a combiner. The organ wire connects to the right of it, to left there is a what appears to be red wire not sure where they are routed to.this organ wire is connected to the isolaters Alt.post

The white wire that is in front of the isolator disconnected and no lug doe’s route to the alt.

White wire inside convoluted loom.
I thought the frieg was left on either control knob was off.

Results of preliminary testing frieg on or off had no effect on changing values.
Amp draw
1.w/ red key on or off draw at start battery is 1.62amp zero draw at house batt.

Isolator test (need to buzz out the house batt. need long wire to extend MM test leads)
Doe’s pleasureway lable the house battery positive at isolater w/ white tape?

2.MM neg at Alt.(small post) pos.at post 1. .6AMP post2 0AMP
3.MM pos at alt. (small post) neg at post 1 .422AMP post2 .86AMP

Not sure if this was a legit test of isolator bc I had the both batterys connected to isolator. Should there be nothing connected
To isolater when testing it?
thanks
Kurt for advice

[booster]

Originally Posted by THEBRAIN

I thought GM used organe as a exciter wire (what you referred to as sense wire) the small wire coming out of alternater. Not sure what the small piece is on firewall to left of isolator it maybe a combiner. The organ wire connects to the right of it, to left there is a what appears to be red wire not sure where they are routed to.this organ wire is connected to the isolaters Alt.post

The white wire that is in front of the isolator disconnected and no lug doe’s route to the alt.

White wire inside convoluted loom.
I thought the frieg was left on either control knob was off.

Results of preliminary testing frieg on or off had no effect on changing values.
Amp draw
1.w/ red key on or off draw at start battery is 1.62amp zero draw at house batt.

Isolator test (need to buzz out the house batt. need long wire to extend MM test leads)
Doe’s pleasureway lable the house battery positive at isolater w/ white tape?

2.MM neg at Alt.(small post) pos.at post 1. .6AMP post2 0AMP
3.MM pos at alt. (small post) neg at post 1 .422AMP post2 .86AMP

Not sure if this was a legit test of isolator bc I had the both batterys connected to isolator. Should there be nothing connected
To isolater when testing it?
thanks
Kurt for advice

I think, but not certain, that the Chevies of that era (we have one but I don't recall exactly the wiring diagram from when I did our alternators) don't use an exciter wire as that would normally refer to the wake up signal for the regulator or the wire to excite windings and vary the output. The sense wire that is being referred to that goes back to PCM or BCM would just control the in dash gauge. The Chevies have internal regulators so they don't need external excitation in most cases. I think a one wire alternator with internal regulator would even work in out vans. I think I just put our sense wire on the output of the alternator so the gauge worked right.


What the isolator is looking for with the small wire to it is a signal that the engine is putting out power from the alternator so the isolator turns on. That wire is not needed for a separator (automatic charge relay) as they sense the actual voltage on the both sides of them, which are the engine side voltage and the coach voltage. If either is in the "charging" range they close so all the batteries get charged. Personally, I think separators are much superior in function when compared to isolators.


In 2008 it all changed when GM took the voltage regulator function and put it into the PCM and removed the internal regulator in the alternator.

[THEBRAIN]

Originally Posted by booster

I think, but not certain, that the Chevies of that era (we have one but I don't recall exactly the wiring diagram from when I did our alternators) don't use an exciter wire as that would normally refer to the wake up signal for the regulator or the wire to excite windings and vary the output. The sense wire that is being referred to that goes back to PCM or BCM would just control the in dash gauge. The Chevies have internal regulators so they don't need external excitation in most cases. I think a one wire alternator with internal regulator would even work in out vans. I think I just put our sense wire on the output of the alternator so the gauge worked right.


What the isolator is looking for with the small wire to it is a signal that the engine is putting out power from the alternator so the isolator turns on. That wire is not needed for a separator (automatic charge relay) as they sense the actual voltage on the both sides of them, which are the engine side voltage and the coach voltage. If either is in the "charging" range they close so all the batteries get charged. Personally, I think separators are much superior in function when compared to isolators.


In 2008 it all changed when GM took the voltage regulator function and put it into the PCM and removed the internal regulator in the alternator.

thanks Booster that's all good infor.
1.what is the small piece that's to right of the isolator?
2.when testing a isolator must all the wires be dissconnected from it?
3.if the friegs control buttons aren't pointed to off can I assume the frieg is on? thanks