solenoid acting up

[Wayne Kotila]

Michael:

Do you mean that when you have one of the heavy guage wires taken off the solenoid relay that you no longer have an apparent stray voltage reading at the smaller relay coil terminals?

I would suspect that the unusual symptoms your havingwith other dash components may be related like you said but your bedroom clock probably isn't. Wanderlodges have so many different fuse/breaker panels and use a mix of protective devisesfrom the self resetting breakers to glass fuses. In your bedroom panels make shure you check to see if your getting 12 volt power past all of your breakers and fuses. Also does your coach have two 12 volt power main shut off switchs? On my PT40 one of the main 12 volt shut off switchs isin anoverhead living room cabinet and it shuts off power to the front and rear clocks and a few other things, you may want to also check that shut off if you have it.

When you say you have no 12 volt power to your rear carrier AC unit, what do you mean? If you are talking about the bedroom roof or central air conditioner, thoserun on120 volts ac only, (there is no 12 volt control circuit on them).

Wayne

1985PT40

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From: Michael <michael3536@...>
To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, June 9, 2009 9:44:38 PM
Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] Re: solenoid acting up

Wayne

I may have not worded my question right---

I am having trouble with the Anti/Theft switch on my dash that controls a solenoid/relay in the lower generator fan bay. It is a 200 Amp sp st Cutler-Hammer solenoid that when turned off still has 3 or 4 volts running thought it to the dash. When that happens my step extend switch light flashes and some switch chatters and only completely shuts of when I activate a switch like the heated mirrors with a large draw.

When the cable is disconnected and a meter is attached the solenoid works every time showing 12vdc and the o or .01 vdc when off.

The solenoid either has feedback? or is broken? I'm not that swift on electricity.

I have 3 components that are not working and may not even be connected, My dash clock, bedroom clock and I've lost 12vdc to my rear bedroom Carrier AC unit. I think my bedroom clock and AC unit may be connected They seem to be powed from the old
dometic control wires.

Thanks for your help and I apologize for not being clearer.....

Michael

--- In "WanderlodgeForum%40yahoogroups.com", "Michael" <michael3536@ ...> wrote:
>
> How do you test a test solenoid?
>
> my A/T switch does not completely shut off the power to the dash
>
> I got out my meter and performed these tests;
>
> #1 found it had 3.8 to 4.5 volts still passing through the relay when
> switched off and went to "0" only when I activated another switch with a
> larger draw like the (mirror heat) The step extend switch just changes
> the tone of a low voltage chatter.
>
> #2 with load wire disconnected from the switch, it seemed to
> workconsistently, showing only .01
or.02 VDC on the meter.
>
> I'm not sure what that means or how I should really test it.... why
> would it work without a load?
>
> I've checked temperature of the relay when left on and gets up to 120+
> degrees. Is that normal? I hate to lose all that energy to heat.
>
> Thanks for any help
>