Isolator?

[awschucks]

HI,
I'm looking for the isolator that provides a charging current to the house batteries from the motor when driving. I do see the emergency start relay in the battery compartment as well as the relay for the DC disconnect. The emergency start relay has 14.4 volts on one side when the motor is running.

Thanks,
Dave

[Dave T]

Mine is under the driver's seat.

[RamblerGuy]

The same relay is used to connect the coach and chassis batteries for emergency start, for charging the coach batteries with the chassis alternator, and for charging the chassis battery with the convertor when the shore line is plugged in. The relay is controlled by the "Bi-directional Relay Delay".

The "BIRD" senses the voltage of the chassis and the coach 12 volt systems and energizes the relay when the voltage of either is high enough to simultaneously carry the load and to charge the other battery.

On our 2011 Sunseeker, it was manufactured by Intellitec and is the black box located beside the relay.

[awschucks]

HI,

More info: I have a 2005 Lex 255. Last numbers on vin are Ha99572.

I pulled the drivers seat out and found a Siemens VDO box. Clearly part of the instrument panel.

My emergency start relay in the battery box, is only wired into the switch on the instrument panel. It does parallel the house and engine batteries, but you need to hold the switch by your left knee to make it work.

What am I missing here? No sign of any kind of isolation diodes, BRIC or controls to get the house batteries to charge. I have had some vision issues so it is really frustrating for me to try and trouble shoot this kind of thing.

I'm tempted to just put a 100 amp diode from the engine side of the emergency relay over to the house battery side. I don't like the diode approach, however as you loose around 1.1 forward drop in volts to the house batteries.

Dave

[Dave T]

This is a link to the bird.
Not sure if this will help. But the relay is the isolator between the 2 sets of batteries.
http://www.intellitec.com/assets/pdf...-00362-100.pdf

[awschucks]

HI,
The question is, where is this located? It's not under the front seat nor can I see it in the battery compartment. If this uses the the emergency start solenoid, that part is working as I can push the aux battery switch and this connects the house batteries to the engine battery.

I'm not getting that connection when the motor is running and I'm trying to find out where the bird is located. Maybe if flew away.

Dave

[Dave T]

My guess you don't have it. The emergency start relay should operate when the engine is running. I'm not sure how that happens on your model? I had a Winnebago where the relay was bad.

[RamblerGuy]

Apparently I gave you incorrect information. I just looked at a generic wiring diagram for the Sunseeker/Forester/Lexington and saw that it is dated April 2007, so it predates your Lexington. It has a description "Standardize Wiring All Models", so yours could be different from the current design. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

If you can't get the BIRD working correctly, here's a easier way to work around it than installing an isolator diode:

During our two month trip this past spring, I found that the BIRD was not charging the coach batteries as we drove, although it was charging the chassis battery when we had shore power. Since we were driving every three or four days, I didn't need the shore power to keep the chassis battery charged, so I simply disconnected the 12+ wire from the relay and ran a wire from that terminal to the cab. I put a cigarette lighter plug on the cab end of the wire. When we were driving, I would plug it into the cigarette lighter to energize the relay, which charged the coach batteries. Normally, the BIRD will monitor the chassis battery voltage and denergize the isolation relay when the chassis voltage drops too low it doesn't overload the chassis system, but you can keep an eye on the chassis's voltmeter and unplug it if you see a problem. The cigarette lighter fuse provides overload protection for the temporary wire to the relay.

PS The correct terminology is "Accessory Socket", but it's still a cigarette lighter to us gray hairs, even to those of us who never smoked.

[awschucks]

HI,
Thanks for all of the help, but I am still looking for my missing bird. When I say looking, there is a difference between looking and seeing. I was blinded in my left eye by an inept retinal doctor in Las Vegas and I have Fuchs Dystrophy in my right eye. Neither of these are good. I have taught electronics and helped GM solve the original 'check engine' light issue when they first put a computer in their cars, so I really have fun tracking down things. But now I'm doing it with some difficulty. I am getting straight 'A's' in my braille driving classes, however

To solve the problem I could do a couple of things:
1) I have 14.4 volts from the engine at the emergency start relay when the motor is running. All that I need to do is just put jumper on the emergency start relay so that the engine would charge the house batteries while I am driving. I have used this kind of a jumper in the past so that when I was on shore power, the converter would charge house and starting batteries.

2) I can also easily install a normal RV isolator which is nothing other than a set of large diodes, but I guess I would like to fix the original problem with the Lex. (When you use a diode, you have a forward voltage drop of 1.1 volts so if the alternator is putting out 14.4V you end up with 13.3V at the house batteries. Better than nothing)

3) Buy a 100 amp diode and use that from the engine hot lead to the house batteries. (Same problem as 2)

Here's a picture of the DC disconnect relay and the emergency start relay in the house battery compartment. The emergency start relay is on the bottom with the right hand side being a 'hot' lead to the engine start battery. Left side is the house batteries.



http://s6.postimg.org/48oirl0n5/bird.jpg

Thanks for the help,


Dave