MyronTruex

Frank is getting right to the heart of it. Get to the wires on the back of the generator. Showing 12.7 volts on them without the generator turning over is nearly useless information. Not quite though.

IF your voltage as measured right in the middle of the bolts holding the wires drops, then you need to get your voltmeter negative lead to a clean ground and put your positive lead in the middle of the negative bolt on the generator. IF any voltage shows up while cranking and you are measuring the ground post, you have a bad ground.

Don't use the wire terminals of the wires to make the measurements. You need to dig the meter into the bolts ends. I actually sharpen my voltmeter probes to nearly a needle sharpness. Yes this can play heck with my fingers but it really assures me of getting a good measurement.

IF you can't find a decent ground for the meter. Use a wire brush or sandpaper and make one. You need to be sure your measurements are valid.

14 hours ago, cbr046 said:

If the fuse checks out ok consider this jumper I just found today inside the steering housing. 

The burnt part is the headlight jumper.  The other jumper is for parking and marker lights.  Just something to consider.

- bob

Time to consider a headlight relay kit to get rid of the heavy load on light wires and old connections.

19 hours ago, John C said:

No sure if it was because of the temperature, Here in So California, it is about 67 degrees when I was doing it...

Notice that even the big engine has a grid heater or something of the like. Diesel pickups have a wait to start. Or the ones I recall. So the failure of one or more glow plugs could easily lead to longer starting/warm up times. I experienced this while living in Northern Ca. with similar temps. 

Watching the video of pushing the switch I see nothing wrong. Depending on the temperature the glow plugs have to warm up. There is a chart for the approx time.

When it is cold or cool I often cycle the switch for a few seconds, then do this a couple of times before just holding it down. It can seem like it takes forever to turn over and start.

I did find one or two glow plugs bad a long time ago. There is a fuse behind the radiator filler. You have to do some tugging to get to it. 

I suspect your taking it apart was enough time for things to warm up and just a coincidence using the voltmeter. 

This is assuming the flashing light and fuel pump noise was always happening.

If not, there is a harness along the outside on the left as you face the generator that has given problems. Often it just needs to be exercised by pulling it apart and putting it back together a few times. Dielectric grease is fine or a light shot of WD40.

When I replaced my bad glow plug I replaced all three because it is a real pain to get to them as you noted. Sure glad we have the slide out. 

pre-heat times Onan Generator.pdf

Box end or a big pipe wrench. 

Don't tell anyone about using a floor jack and 4x4 to provide a little persuasion to the wrench. Not safe at all, no no no. 

Quote: When I turn on the headlights the The marker lights and brake lights are on bright as if the brakes are applied. 

So the running/marker lights are likely feeding the brake light due to an internal bulb short. 

Remove your running/brake light bulbs and test your marker lights and headlights. If they seem normal, put one bulb back in. If the problem comes back, switch to the other bulb. 

I can't say for sure but this has happened before, or someone has replaced bulbs with the wrong part number. 

If things are or were not mounted then the ground part of the RCA jacks might have been touching some other ground which has the possibility of causing a ground loop hum. Bouncing around may have caused the touching to come and go.

Chasing electrical noise such as this can be really time consuming and frustrating. 

As things age and grounds become poor or modifications are made (new stereo), or things like fluorescent lights change their habits with aging components, you may have to attack it from a (fix the obvious first), method. You obviously know the lights are causing an issue. So take the plunge by gutting them and adding led strips. It is a easy project as things grow and your battery usage will drop dramatically if you boondock. 

I am curious what a "power resistor" is based on your usage. A resistor of any sort that I am aware of will drop voltage/current.

A choke, or coil will not drop the voltage but will "resist spikes" such as electrical noise from a light fixture.

Where did you get power and ground for your system? The further away from the batteries the more susceptible to electrical noise being picked up.

There are some powerful noise filters you would put nearest the stereo equipment. Some even filter the ground side but a good filter can help reduce things. 

With your stereo OFF, and electrical noise coming in, that indicates you have an amp that is still powered. The main power feed for example versus an ignition control line. In some cases you have to put all electrical feeds through the filter and then control that via a switch or relay.

This will take time to sort for sure but the recommendation to change to LED is by far the easiest solution. 

This simple plastic flip over latch has worked for years on ours. It flips flat when not needed. A simple flip and it goes into a 90 degree angle and blocks the one door while holding the other. 

latch Sliding Closet.pdfCloset latches supplier.pdf

Just for good measure if you have not diagnosed it yet. Open your AC breaker panel and post a picture of it. 

I hope you get it straightened out.

As a suggestion, a small piece of chain with a hook will hold the flap up so it is less likely to get crushed. The short piece of chain can be left in place with the hook if you use a carabiner or something like it. 

I am surprised your voltage injector has enough umph to run the motor. My motor is supplied via a self resetting breaker.

The breaker is inside the large plastic box on the back of the battery compartment. I suspect we have very close models.

IF, that breaker or wiring is defective the  voltage may be dropping too low. Messing with the wiring may be temporarily "fixing" the problem, or the breaker is self resetting.

Tap into the  feed wire on the motor side of the connector to run a pair out to where you can access them. 

Now find a good ground for your voltmeter. Run an extension cord close to the meter/toilet. Use the ground hole of the cord for your meter ground.

With this known ground, measure the voltage on each of the wire you just ran out while the toilet is either flushing or attempting to flush.

Measuring any voltage  on the ground wire will tell  you the ground path is bad. Finding low voltage on the hot side while trying to run will indicate a poor feed line.

You may be experiencing a low voltage/ground issue and when it stops and kind of gets jammed a bit, there is not enough power to overcome the lightly stuck motor. 

My wife lets bleach in hot water make them shine white like new. The corian can be brought back like new. Changing the sink looks like a real chore to me as well. 

A picture of the battery compartment would be very helpful.

Getting the echo charger as near the battery banks as possible will help with voltage loss in a long run. However, it is not a deal breaker.

Looking at those heavy wires in the picture, if you are able to determine that there is one for each bank then connecting there is an option.

I would be interested in the model of the charger to see how much current it supplies. 

I wish I had a list of each model year and what factory charging setups they have. These snowflakes changed a lot over the years as technology and experiences improved. 

I am a bit concerned with the spade connection on the circuit board. My issue is the heat may have traveled through into the circuit board but fixing the connector is the first place to start. I have no idea on how difficult it is to get to the circuit board without more pictures. I do have a video on my youtube page. It is not my video but one from someone else. It is very technical and interesting. 

Are you plugged into shoreline?

Do you know how to use a voltmeter?

You likely have four batteries for the (house), and two for the engine/chassis.

Post a picture of your battery compartment for a much better response. 

Without batteries and plugged in you should have house lights if you turn on the house/salesman switch somewhere near the entry. This will activate/connect your battery bank. 

Remind him to take some pictures for posting when he is under there repairing his battery box.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usiP4myzxxU

I just uploaded this to my youtube page. If you think this is worthy of uploading it to the videos section please feel free

By failing, you mean you lost voltage on one circuit?

If so, find the panel on the inverter and see if you have voltage coming out there. 

If you have lost power at that power strip inside the inverter, turn off your batteries and 30 amp breaker that feeds the inverter and remove the cover of the inverter. (or disconnect shoreline for safety) Look at the wires going  to the pin switches as well as looking and smelling for  any clues.

Beyond that, a replacement with a pure sine wave one would be a good option. 

I would not recommend combing the circuits but it is your RV. 

With the manual, you will likely find a small power strip behind a cover on the Magnum. There you can see if you are getting 120 volts out on each line. 

I had a wire melt off one of the pin breakers. This left me with just one leg. 

Without a meter I'm guessing 0.250 amps. That is 1/4th of an amp. 

It would be easy to check. Put an ammeter across the snap disc when the fan is NOT running. The meter will pass enough current for the fan to run (or should), if you have it set up properly. 

I would not worry about the little current draw as long as I have some bit of charging such as solar. 

If it was running in storage all the time without a charging source it would be a problem.

Surface mount conduit is available in various colors or can be painted. I have a run across the top of my long kitchen slide and no one notices it. 

Good on ya! Your confidence will grow each time you chase one of these down. 

A standard electrical cord that has a hot/neutral/ and the roundish hole that is the ground. The grounds throughout the RV are tied together including the DC circuits.

So you can run your own long wire to a known good ground, or grab any extension cord that has the ground lug and plug it into an outlet. 

I bought a standard replacement plug and ran just one wire inside it. So the plug goes into any outlet and the long wire has an alligator clip on the end to connect to my voltmeter probe.

Finding a reliable ground for testing in any vehicle can be a problem, an RV can be a nightmare. I have two dedicated places on mine with dedicated wires to connect to them when needed. However my simple plug is my go to device now.

I did not suggest you are looking for 110 which can be associated with a gfci or a breaker on an inverter because I have mostly seen 12 volt fixtures.

Electrons are color blind and don't care what color the wires are. White can be hot or the black. Snow flakes and sometimes just out of necessity. 

Sometimes they switch the ground side of devices which can really throw you a curve. 

A couple of pictures of the fixtures would assure us of being 12 volt or 110 volt. 

It might be as simple as having bumped the "salesman switch" on one of your entrys or exits. 

I might add that you should test your voltmeter setup on a known good circuit. Since you tested some fuses with a test light (checking each end of each fuse), touch your meter positive probe there with the meter grounded as mentioned. Once you have a confident measurement there, move back to the light problem.

How did you check fuses?? Visually or a test light on each end of them?

How did you measure the voltage at the wires?

Grab an extension cord, plug it into an outlet and then plug the negative lead of your meter into the ground hole of the cord. An alligator clip is very useful for this as well. 

You may have lost a ground or the hot lead but the only way to be sure is having a good known ground for your meter.