Every year when I first bring my coach back to life after winter storage --- something new is broken. This year, the house batteries will not power up the coach. Probably a relay somewhere.

I left the unit plugged up over winter and the batteries check good (at the batteries) and they started the generator, but there is no voltage in the coach when the genny is off and the unit is not plugged in to a land line.

Somebody please tell me there is a quick and cheap fix!!!!!

I seached the tech talk forum on this subject with no success --- probably missing a key word.

Thanks in advance for any help.

PS: My 94 Regency has two new deep cycle 12v batteries for the house and two more 12v special batteries for the diesel chassis.

This is a WAG, but there's a possibility your converter is one of the older dual-output units.

One section (output) powers the 12VDC in the coach when on shorepower. A second section charges the house batteries.

When shore power is disconnected, a relay in the converter switches the 12VDC in the coach over to the batteries. I's suspect the converter first, if it's dual output.

A single-output converter always supplies power to the batteries, and so the house !@VDC circuits are always connected.

Finally, there should be a main switch that operates a relay to connect the house batteries, but I infer from what you said that the 12VDC house circuits work when shore power is connected.

Hi Frank, I too have a Regency and have a 12volt switch in the stair well to the left. It is easy to forget. Try that. Good luck Tom

My coach started acting up in a similar manner and to make it short, the Intellitec relay located in the engine compartment had gone bad. It cost $79 on EBay to replace it. I learned a lot, as usual, about the (Intellitec) system. Basically the control panel up front sends a low voltage signal to the relay (there is one for the house batteries and one for chassis) which connects or disconnects the batteries from the line. What is unique with these relays is they get the signal and they throw it in either on or off and then it stays in that position until another signal tells it to do otherwise.

I took the defective one apart, and it looks like a big magnet that gets energized to "switch". I tried cleaning it, but it still kept hanging up. Replacing it was the answer.

I also bought a surplus sealed fiberglass box which I plan to put these relays and the doohigee that lets you combine all batteries into one. Barth decided to mount my relays in the engine compartment where they get pretty dirty. Rather than totally rewire, I decided to create a clean environment with the sealed box.

Good luck!

Rusty, is the dual converter located in a panel at the front of the bed? If so, I'll check it out.

Tom, my unit doesn't have a switch in the stairwell but there is one on the wall on the left side of the stairwell. I hope this is the problem but I have never had it act like this. Usually when the land line is disconnected, you will here a switching noise and a delay until the batteries come on line.

Noble, my unit also has several solenoids mounted in the engine bay under the bed. I'll have to start checking them.

Thanks for your help and I'll keep you posted on the fix.

The converter on my Breakaway is indeed in that compartment under the bed, at the front.

I'm not sure if the problem has been solved. So, I'll chime in. Most of my electrical issues have been associated with a broken ground connection or a corroded connection. Have you checked your ground connections? Are these clean and tight? Is there corrosion within the crimped wire ends?

I went through the same problem To find a thread on this go to search and type in "big boy".You will get a lot of infro. I insalled mine but haven't got to getting the extra wire to the front switch by the door yet. I bought the switch and temp. wired it with the switch laying at the foot of the bed Just get the switch and wire at like Bill NY recommends.

Looks like I dodged a buller on this one ---- Tom was right, my master coach switch on the wall next to the stairwell was off.
I have owned this coach for about three years and never noticed this oddity. When plugged into a land line the master switch can be on or off and everything works, but unplug the unit and the master switch must be on. Too bad the master will not also turn off the sensors. These will slowly run your house batteries down under any conditions.

Thanks for the help! Saved me a lot of grief.

I don't understand the drain you mentioned that happens regardless of the disconnect switch.

What are the "sensors" that you are referring to that can't be turned off?

My coach has a couple of safety sensors, smoke alarm, LP pressure and a relay or two that must be on when the house batteries are being used. If you have good batteries, they will probably last a few days before running down.
I would insert a hyperlink at this point for you if I knew how --- there is a long and detailed thread on this site addressing my house battery drainage about a year ago. Look back in the 'Tech Forum" and see if you can find it. To make a long story short, my house batteries checked good but were not 'deep discharge' even though they were titled 'Marine Starting'. They would only last about four hours and then the fridge would go out. New batteries fixed the problem.

If you do a lot of 'dry camping', be sure you have good deep cycle batteries!