quote:

Originally posted by Moonbeam-Express:
I'm guessing you mean the 12V lights work when the converter is plugged in, but won't off the batteries alone. They are always running 12V, even off the converter.

You could have dead house batteries, do any other 12V items run off battery alone? Also, check to see if there is a house battery disconnect somewhere in the loop. You could take your house batteries out and have them checked at most any parts store. After sitting that long there could easily be one that is shorted completely out.

Nothing 12v work without it being plugged in, even with the engine running. Just replaced the rear coach battery with a brand new one (bought yesterday), and the chassis battery is in great shape too (Optima RedTop).

So unless there is another coach battery I don't know of, everything should be working.

I feel like I may be missing something with the 12v fuse panel, or a line from the coach battery to the 12v system. I assume the converter to 12v is working, but 12v alone does not.

You have an old dual-output converter. One output (when plugged in on shore power) powers the house 12VDC, the other charges the battery. A relay drops out when 120VAC is disconnected and transfers 12VDC from the converter to the house batteries.

It sounds like that relay is bad. It's not worth repairing the converter. Get a new single-output converter, whch powers (charges) the batteries all the time; 12VDC is always connected directly to the batteries. This will require connecting the two pairs of output wires.

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty:
You have an old dual-output converter. One output (when plugged in on shore power) powers the house 12VDC, the other charges the battery. A relay drops out when 120VAC is disconnected and transfers 12VDC from the converter to the house batteries.

It sounds like that relay is bad. It's not worth repairing the converter. Get a new single-output converter, whch powers (charges) the batteries all the time; 12VDC is always connected directly to the batteries. This will require connecting the two pairs of output wires.

Any idea WHERE the converter is? That is one thing I have not been able to find the physical converter... obviously it's there and working somewhat.

You think replacing the whole converter is easier than fixing a relay?

I'll read the documentation on the converter tonight and try to pull it apart if I can find it (tracing wires)?

It's about the size of a breadbox, literally. It will be somewhere dry and with reasonable ventilation. Look under the couch, fridge, bed. It will probable be between the battery and the 12v fuse panel if you have one.

quote:

You think replacing the whole converter is easier than fixing a relay?

Not necessarily easier, but if that's the original, it's survived well beyond its life expectancy, and the relay could be only the first thing to fail. It's doubtful parts are available anyway.

In the event the converter has been replaced with a single-output, the symptoms point to a bad cable or battery. If the battery voltage is good at the converter, it's a pretty good clue that you have a dual-output with a bad relay.

New converters are designed to charge the battery and keep it charged safely. Some have desulfating cycles which keep the battery maintained better than a plain float charger.

Mine is in the closet in the bathroom. There is a false floor in the closet and when you remove the trap door there is the converter. Since ours are so similar you might want to look there.

Another heads up thread hijacking?

Thank you Mary, indeed it was under the false floor in the Closet.

I also when tracing the wires from the generator battery, found another place where a battery might have at one point been hooked up, either that or they just used a battery post connection as a wire nut. I ran out of time last night, but hopefully tonight I should have some more time to get this thing back together. The documentation I have and the converter look different, mine has 4 fuses on top, so I'll have to get the part number off it and see which one it is, but it looks to be original.

So, tonight I will test the inverter's output, to see if it's also charging the battery, if it does both (provide house 12v and charge the battery, I'll just re-wire it a bit with modern relays to keep the house plugged in and let this supplement and charge when plugged in. I'll let you know how it goes. I'd rather fix this or make it work, then buy a new one at this point... not in the budget, there are other things that come first right now.

Mary,

Do you have a switch on the Barth Panel that simply says "On"? It looks to be a 3 position toggle switch... wondering if that might be the bypass/cutoff/isolator switch the converter documents talk about. Wondering if I just need to replace a falty switch?

SO testing the converter last night, it kicks out 12.8 for the lights and such when plugged in, but with it being a new battery and really haven't drawn anything off it other than about 4 starts for the Generator, it doesn't look to be Charging yet... I'll try it with the old battery attached and see if that kicks it into charge mode.

Still, no house lights or accessories without it plugged in. looking to bypass it, but only if it's truly not working, and I don't think that has been determined yet, I think.

this is the Panel I'm referring to.


I rebuilt the entry steps this past weekend, replaced the bulb and socket to get the entry handle to work again, and test polished a couple spots on the exterior... this is going to be fun!

I love the Barth so far, so many cool, fun things in these coaches! My new goal is to get my interior looking as nice as that 1970 (same floorplan!). WOW!

Started a new blog for the rebuild to the Barth, please follow along at http://73Barth.blogspot.com

Got new rear tires this weekend, got a couple great deals on Craigslist, basically updated the rims to tubeless dually with 235/85/16's. I got all 4 rears, plus a spare (I lost my spare on the trip home when the tire blew out and cracked the rim). Anyways, all this for $172 :-)

So, since we got the tires on, we decided to take her out for a spin. It was a lot of fun driving her around. Anyways, follow my blog!

quote:

Originally posted by vdubnut:
Got new rear tires this weekend, got a couple great deals on Craigslist, basically updated the rims to tubeless dually with 235/85/16's. I got all 4 rears, plus a spare (I lost my spare on the trip home when the tire blew out and cracked the rim).

Oh my...



Could you read this post and tell me what this number is?



I'm putting this here so that you'll know how old the tires were that you bought off of craigslist.

I think I see a 120...
That would be a tire built in the 12th week of 1980

if it has a triangle 120Δ...
12th week of 1990

if it says 1201...
12th week of 2001



Not that it matters now - I'm just curious how old these tires were and how far you made it on the other three?

the single was a 2009 and the 3 were 2008. I checked before buying them.

The other part these were NOT off RV's, they were off a Chevy Truck and Dodge truck... both were driven a lot, so these would go into the catagory of a full time RV'er rather than a 2 times a year'er.

All 7 tires on the Barth today are in GREAT shape, and tubeless in the rear. (Yay!) The fronts are tubeless, but are mounted on split rims, so they still have tube in them.

Thanks for looking out Bill, I'll post the 2 digit codes when I get home tonight, but I did look at them.

I drove from Yakima to Bellevue (About 130 miles)on those other 4 tires that were mounted on the rear (I have a dually). I made it about 12 miles before the driver's front blew out and the Passenger was about to as well. So we removed the drivers (Shown below) the spare that was flat and the Front Passenger tire and got the new ones installed and put on and drove the rest of the way home.

here is the one that blew out. This was at 60 MPH down hill around a corner... the tread came completely off. I had to walk back up the highway to remove it from the other lane.

quote:

the tread came completely off. I had to walk back up the highway to remove it from the other lane.

highway alligator

quote:

Originally posted by Dick Dubbs:

quote:

the tread came completely off. I had to walk back up the highway to remove it from the other lane.

highway alligator

haha, kinda but this was still whole... more like a highway hula-hoop