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KJRitchie · 07-01-2015, 02:00 PM

Your LP leak detector draws power even in Store mode and will run your batteries down after a couple of months. I always disconnect the negative battery cable while in storage. I rewired the LP Leak detector to the other side of the relay switch so I should have no draw when in store mode but I still disconnect the negative battery cable in storage.

Well cell batteries usually need a charge close to 14.8v then ramp down as they approach 80% then it takes a long time to get to 100% as chargers will ramp down the amps. With 13.8v with the OEM charger the batteries probably don't ever get fully charged. When the shore power is disconnected the voltage will ramp down to a steady state. My Interstates (grp27) seem to settle down to 12.6 then will come down to 12.4v and stay for there for a long time. Yours are probably grp24 which have less capacity. I always measure at the batteries. I have a cheapo battery meter in a 12v socket and depending what is turned on; lights, fans etc it will always read lower than the batteries. I'm assuming the battery meter on the monitor panel is similar.

My Use/Store switch doesn't have click on/off. Its a self centering switch. The light comes on when pressing one way and off the other but the switch returns to center. When on shore power the light is always on so you can't tell if the batteries have been disconnected. If on shore and and the switch is on Store then the batteries could've discharged more than expected.

You might want to check the battery voltage while the tow vehicle is connected to see if they are getting a charge. You should see north of 12.8v. My trailer, preowned, had the charge line disconnected from the batteries and they never got charged while towing. Fixed that.
Kelvin

Plasma800 · 07-01-2015, 08:09 PM

Interesting, thanks!

The click I was referring to was the click of the relay engaging or disengaging.

rgwatkin · 06-09-2019, 04:27 PM

Question, is there a relay between the use/store switch and the solenoid? I took off the switch to look at it and it appears to be a small board. Is the latching occurring on that board or somewhere in-between?

rmkrum · 06-09-2019, 11:23 PM

Latching is done mechanically within the big solenoid/relay contacts assembly. The switch briefly energizes a solenoid cool in one of two possible magnetic polarities to move the internal parts and either latch or unlatch the power contacts. If it’s latched, the power lows through the heavy wires on the lugs. The skinny wires control the direction of current through the coil.

The circuit board behind the switch is just to connect switch, LED an wiring, no real brains in there.

The LED only indicates there is 12 volt power available from batteries or the converter. It DOES NOT tell you if the relay is latched(on) or unlatched (off).

Blue Sea Systems makes better battery relays, but they suck power to light the LEDs on the switch panel to tell you the relay is turned on.

rgwatkin · 06-10-2019, 06:20 AM

What you said is pretty much the way I thought it operated, whereas the latching is being handled within the solenoid (unlike a car solenoid where no latching occurs). Here is the part I still have to figure out. Without shore power I can activate the use/store switch and it will connect the batteries to the interior system normally. But when everything is off and shore/generator power is supplied it intermittently fails to latch the solenoid. I can toggle the switch back and forth about 10 times and eventually it will latch. Have to keep in mine that I have already replaced the solenoid and it does the same thing.

rmkrum · 06-10-2019, 08:54 AM

At this point I would be looking into the converter and all the other wiring with a multimeter to see what’s going on with voltage in the assorted parts of the circuit.

Try googling the numbers on the use/store switch plate to get the schematic of the use/store relay and switch. I think there is a couple of diodes on the circuit board behind the switch. There could be a bad one.

IIRC, the circuit uses the diodes to get voltage from either the battery or the converter side of the relay through a couple blade fuse holders near the relay. This is how it can operate the relay from either source.

One side of that may be having an issue. If the relay is new, I’d suspect something in the switch plate area or switch wiring on the converter side.

Unfortunately my AS is in storage 70 miles away at the moment, so I don’t have that data handy.

pteck · 06-10-2019, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rgwatkin

What you said is pretty much the way I thought it operated, whereas the latching is being handled within the solenoid (unlike a car solenoid where no latching occurs). Here is the part I still have to figure out. Without shore power I can activate the use/store switch and it will connect the batteries to the interior system normally. But when everything is off and shore/generator power is supplied it intermittently fails to latch the solenoid. I can toggle the switch back and forth about 10 times and eventually it will latch. Have to keep in mine that I have already replaced the solenoid and it does the same thing.

While rmkrum is correct and that the real latching occurs at the remote large relay...

The switch itself has been known to fail and cause the sticking behavior you're describing. I debugged a very similar problem about 3 years ago with mine, where it literally would not switch. Would engage the relay only as I held the button down, and as soon as I released, it would be back in the same starting point.

If I remember correctly, the solution was to get some electronics cleaning spray and clean the mechanicals/contacts behind the momentary switch. As easy as that.