Confused and frustrated

On going saga here with the dealer on my Cyclone. Long story short, with my battery disconnect off my LP sensor goes emits a steady tone. The dealer troubleshot it down to a bad disconnect and eventually changed it only to have the same issue.

I went to pick it up yesterday not knowing that the new disconnect did not fix the problem. The dealer found that there is a solar panel installed and is putting out around 4V. They are not familiar with this and assumed that I added it myself. Anyway, rather than fixing the problem they chose to install a master disconnect for the solar panel .

I refused to take it and suggested that they fix the problem instead of eliminating the solar panel.

A couple questions now. Should a solar panel produce 12V? Does it make sense that the LP sensor would go off if only fed 4V from a defective solar panel? Should the solar panel be running to the other side of the master disconnect to trickle charge the batteries when not in use?

Any input would be welcomed.

before I installed a DC cutoff switch on my battery, I kept hearing this sound a few days after we parked the 5th, finally I opened the door and the detector was sounding,...evidently the thing goes off when the voltage drops to a certain level to alert you that you are not protected..
maybe this will help.. seems like if your panel is giving off 4 volts, maybe thats below the happy spot...

The sweet spot should be somewhere close to 12V. Everytime our battery gets low the sensor sounds off. Me thinks that the solar panel might be set up as a trickle charger for the battery. I am confused though, you did not know the the solar panel was there?? Now for the charging part of the solar panel, it would have to be wired around the shut off the work. Bob

It took me a long time to figure out, but in our last rig the detector would go off when the battery got low. Drove me crazy until I figured it out.

Sensor

Same thing happened to me on my old rig. As soon as the battery went to the red zone on the meter the LP sensor started chirping like a bird. My Cyclone has a battery shut off so when I am done using my rig I just shut her off. No problems. D.

The dealer did not know the panel was there and is unfamiliar with them or how it ties into the charging system.

When I turn off the disconnect, that is when I get the tone. It doesn't make sense how an LP sensor can run without power. When you turn the disconnect back on it stops.

I wonder if the sensor has back up batteries like a smoke detector . I have never taken one apart to see. A possiblity. Bob

If I understand all of the symptoms here, you're trying to power the lp detector with approximately 4V from your solar panel. I surprised it can even chirp its low voltage warning at that level, but its doing what its supposed to do.

Now on to this solar panel thing. If its not putting out at least 13V, its not going to charge anything, trickle or otherwise. If this is just one of those small trickle-charge panels, like the ones that sit on top of your air conditioner, then just throw it away. Its unlikely any repair is possible. If you have a larger system with a decent size panel and a charge controller, then you should take it to someone who understands it and let them do some troubleshooting.

looking at the picture of your rig and cyclone 5th wheel, I'd say it's not a safe mounting for your hitch, it should be over the rear wheels not that far back as it seems in the picture, that is unless you have a slider hitch and it's just back there temporarily..make sure you don't travel with it in that position..regards, ED

The Solar panel should be attached to a Charge Controller, then to the battery so it can feed a charge to the battery. If there is a battery cut off switch installed, be sure the wire from the Charge Controller is between the Battery and the cut off switch... so it can keep the battery charge will be topped off. Yes Low Voltage can cause some sensors that are attached to 12 Volt to signal an alarm.

Hey Ed and SmokeyBare,,,, look at the last post date...this thread is over 15 months old....so you probably wont get much response here. But thanks for the help anyway just in case someone else is looking.

Jim M

Yep... Guilty not looking at the Date of the 1st Post. Thank You Jim.