No power at all, batt dead, no power from shoreline, gen won't fire

[jayandhisgals]

When we picked up our 2012 Cyclone 3712ck (late Sept. 2012) we stayed on the lot at the dealer for 4 days trying to get all the bugs worked out (we found over 24 issues that needed to be addressed with our brand new 2012 unit). We were hooked up to shoreline while there. The day we went to leave we discovered the Batt. was dead. I insisted to the service manager something was wrong. He said it was just a bad batt. and replaced it with a new one. We have been home with our rig for a few weeks now. Haven't used it at all except to go in and out occationaly to show our friends and family our new toy. Pluged it into shoreline just to keep the batt. hot and now again the batt. is dead. No power at all! Guage flashed low Batt. then went out. Not even enough power to the coach to show gages. Even pluged into shoreline power nothing will work. Can't even fire up the gen set. What the heck?? Main power cut off is on. Breakers are all fine, no indicator lights showing bad fuses. I knew something wasn't right before we brought this thing home! Now what, can't haul it back to dealer as the slides are out? Any ideias where to start, trouble shooting? Any and all coments and suggestions will be greatly apperciated. Was hoping to take it on a maden voyage this weekend. But looks like that's not gonna happen. If it's not one thing it's another with this rig. Sure wish it would just work like it should. Never expected to have so many problems with a brand new unit. Please, Please help!

P.S. sorry for all the misspellings just fustrated and typing fast!

 

[Speedy]

Jay, will the new/current battery hold or take a charge? Have you tried another deep cycle battery to see if you just got lucky and have two bad batteries? You need to eliminate a bad battery from your troubleshooting just as you have fuses and such. I would then look into the converter and see if it is charging the battery.

Keep us informed as there are many here who can guide you throughout the evening in order to get it fixed.

John

 

[JohnDar]

When plugged into shore power, do you have 120V at the outlets? If not, then start looking at the shore power cord connection on the side of the trailer for any disconnect wires. If you do, but don't have any 12V power available, find your converter and make sure it's plugged in. That provides 12V power to the rig as well as charges the battery. Another thing to try is plug the trailer umbilical cord into your truck (motor running) and try your lights inside the rig, as well as the slide motor and jacks. If the wiring is good, you should be able to run them off the truck, even if the trailer battery is dead.

My first guess is still the converter either not working or just not plugged in.

 

[cookie]

First let me say that your problem can most likely be resolved fairly easy.
First thing of to verify that the converter is charging the battery. It sounds like it is not.
You will need to use your multi meter to check voltage from it. Test it at the battery terminals while plugged on to shore power. You should see something like 13.5 volts +.
Of not, remove the basement wall and verify that the inverter is plugged on.
If if is, then verify that you have 120 volts at the receptacle. If not, reset the breaker.
Of you have 120, then you will need to check the three fuses on the inverter.
Of you don't get resolution after that, call your dealer.
IMO, the dealer should have checked all of that before swapping out the battery.
In the mean time, you can just use a battery charger so you won't have to stay home this weekend.
Let us know how you make out.

Peace
Dave

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[jayandhisgals]

Havn't had time to pull new batt. yet. That will be my next step (test & charge). So many irons in the fire. Just discovered this prob. today b/c wanted to pull the slides in before the bad weather came. Uggg. Workin' as fast as I can. Will keep you posted on what I find. Thanks.

 

[wdk450]

A couple of suggestions:

First of all, I find a quick and easy verification of AC power present after plugging in is to open the door and peek at your microwave. Most microwaves will have some sort of clock digit or semicolon lit when there is AC power.

Second of all, many Heartlands have a circuit breaker between the converter output and the 12 volt DC buss, which is connected to the battery positive. All the rest of the breakers (except the tow vehicle charging breaker) on the buss have current going OUT to loads - the converter breaker is the only other one tripping current coming in (charge current from the converter). Here is a diagram of the DC buss from the Tools/Manuals tab above: http://manuals.heartlandowners.org/Electrical/DC_Buss_Bar/Heartland/Buss_Bar_for_LM-BH-BC.pdf
This circuit breaker has a TINY red reset button. If the voltage is different on the two terminals, then you know it has tripped.

 

[Bob&Patty]

Jay, dumb question. Does your CY have a battery cut off switch at the battery that maybe shut off? If you hook up your TV to the trailer, you should be able to close your slides. Just let the TV run for a few minutes.

 

[wyleyrabbit]

Jay,

You may want to invest in one of those "Battery booster" devices. The one I bought (from Costco) was about $70 and includes jumper cables and an air compressor. With this, you should be able to connect to your battery--even if it's completely dead--and operate your slides.

My guess is that either the breaker to your converter is off, the converter has become unplugged, or one of the blade-fuses on the converter has blown.

Chris

 

[jayandhisgals]

Thank you all for your advice. I just don't have the time right now to be chasing down and fixing these problems. This morning I called Heartland Customer Service and talked with a very nice gentleman named JD. He's working on getting a mobile repair guy out here to get it up and running for us. I am totally impressed with his care and concern and willingness to help out. It is also nice that he understood my fustration about having a brand new rig and not being able to use it. Hopefully we will get all these bugs worked out before our 1 yr warrranty runs out. If not, we are very thakful for this forum and all the knowledge you nice people are willing to share. I am sure we will have many happy yrs with our Cyclone & with your all's help we should be able to keep her on the road. We bought new because we didn't want to have to do any work on anything right away. Already too busy. If I knew we were gonna have to do repairs before we ever even took it out I would have bought used and saved a ton of $$. Thank goodness we have a warranty and Heartland is a good company who honorrs it and stands behind their product.

 

[porthole]

Unplug your shore power. Then with your ears near the front basement compartment have someone plug in the shore power.

There is transfer switch behind that rear wall in the basement, a gray box about 6x6x4. When you plug in shore power you should hear a loud and firm "clunk" That is the relays transferring shore power to the coach.

No clunk? I would start there for diagnosing.

Clunk? Next easiest test is put jumpers on the battery and start the generator. Once the Genny is running for about 15-30 seconds power will transfer from the Genny to the coach. No power yet? Back to the transfer switch.

Also, that switch is Genny priority. Meaning if you are connected to shore power and then start the generator the transfer switch will switch to the generator.
Shut the Genny down and it will automatically switch back to shore power, although it may not instantly switch, there is a slight delay.

 

[jayandhisgals]

Thanks to JD (HL cust. service agent) we got our rig all fixed up today. He sent a repair man out to us, and even paid for the service call. Turns out that behind the 12v fuse box pannel the Common Wire and the Ground Wire were backfeeding eachother. Hooray!! We are up and running again, full power to everything. Working like it should. Can't wait to take our maiden voyage. Finally excited about our new purchace ! Thank you Heartland for stand behind your products. Glad we decided on a Heartland instead of another manfacture. Also a big thank you to everyone on this forum! With out your help I wouldn't have known what to ask the service man about while he was here. I was very educated and knew exactly what I need him to check to ensure everything was working properly. Heartland and Heartland Owners are the BEST!

 

[BarneyFife]

That's great news. Enjoy your future camping trips.

I wonder if JD is a new employee there?