Dan Lane

They are Square D and so is the panel. I called a local dealer to find out if I could replace just the terminal blocks and he said I had to replace the panel and gave the part number to me, said he would order it for me. Went the Monaco site, put in the part number and ordered for $50 less than what the dealer wanted. I should have it next week. BTW, the part number is 10106231 for the one I have.

A couple of months ago, I posted a problem about my rear AC having a fishy smell. I received suggestions to clean the fins, the filter, etc. Did all of that and it fixed the problem temporarily. I took the coach out this weekend and it smelled again. My wife did a search on the internet for HVAC fishy smells and found a site that discussed the problem with house AC’s. The site has 10 years of discussions, 31 pages, and they all said the same thing: the fishy smell is caused by an electrical problem. When an electrical part overheats, it releases a chemical that smells like bad fish. Since the smell was coming from the rear AC, I searched back in the bedroom and the smell was coming from the circuit breaker panel. I touched it and it was very hot. I turned off the generator and all of the breakers. I had an electrician look at it today, and all of the breakers had heat damage, some were significantly melted. The two breaker panels were also damaged and partially melted. Had my wife not found this info on the internet, the coach would have at some point caught fire. I will try to attach some photos that show the damage. I had never heard of this problem and, from the articles she found, many electricians are also unaware of it.

I turned on my a/c's yesterday and both had a fishy odor come out of the vents. I put the fans on high and opened all of the windows. It was better when I went out to check it today, so hope it goes away permanently. I don't know what causes that, but I had it happen a few years ago and I ended up having the interior treated with ozone for a couple of days and that got rid of it. Does anyone know what causes it and a better way to get rid of it? The a/c's had been off for quite some time. It is in storage and plugged into shore power, but had another problem where almost nothing was being powered.

I finally determined my house batteries are indeed dead and need to replace them. The current ones are Interstate 6 VDC. Do you have one you prefer?

Tom Cherry, Thanks for the very detailed troubleshooting guide. I will try it this weekend. I have a few questions: 1. Is the battery disconnect switch just inside the door also the salesman switch? Or, are they different? I Googled it and the replies could go either way. 2. For the jumper cable to connect the house battery positive to the chassis positive, how large a wire does it need to be? Is is something I can buy or do I need to make one? 3. Using the hydrometer I bought at O'Reillys on Sunday, I checked all of the cells. Three of the four batteries did not have any reading in any of the cells, i.e., they would not float the bulb. Each of the cells in the fourth battery had a reading in the red. I don't remember the reading, but it was in the middle of the red zone. The water levels in all four batteries were up where they are supposed to be. I ordered the hydrometer you recommended on Amazon and will check them again. 4. When I replaced the four batteries a year or so ago, I got the Interstate batteries they have at Costco. Are those okay or not? Are they trouble prone?

I have been fooled by that salesman switch before, so that was the first thing I checked. Cycled it a couple of times. The bigger problem is the house batteries either aren't getting charged or aren't holding the charge. The only time they appear to be getting charged is if I take it out and drive it or let it run at idle for a long time. Can I just hook up my 10 amp charger to them, and, if so, how do I connect it to the bank of four batteries? Or, based on the results of the hydrometer tests I described above, are they too far gone? They are only a year old, if that.

When I bought my 2001 Diplomat in 2006, I knew nothing about motor coaches. I had a job that took me all over the country and this was so much better than a motel. Some time after that, I was put in contact with Bill and he answered a lot of my early questions. Sometime after that, he passed me along to Rex. It was Rex who sent a very detailed winterizing checklist to me, and, when I needed new tires in 2008, he told me that the placard that Monaco posted behind the driver's seat had the wrong size, they actually needed to be larger. I still have that checklist and when i replaced the tires a year ago, i made sure i went with Rex's recommendation again i think it was two or three years ago that I had a problem and tried to call both, and found out we had lost both of them. I never met them, but had a phone and email relationship with them. So, wherever you guys are, thanks for getting me started the right way. Dan Lane

I have a 2001 Monaco Diplomat. I have it in covered storage with shore power attached. The inverter/charger is an ME2512 and I just replaced it about three months ago. It shows it is float charging the batteries, but the DC systems, like lights, the thermostat and other things don't come on. I checked the batteries with a volt meter and they all show as charged. The DC items just don't work. I am going to buy a hydrometer and check the batteries, but they are only about a year or so old.When I run the engine, everything works like it should.Is there something that, when it fails, blocks the DC power from getting to the items it is supposed to pow --------------- UPDATE: I bought a hydrometer and tested all four batteries. On one, the bulb barely floated and did not float on the other three. I have a 10 amp, 12 volt charger, can I use that to try to charge the batteries? If so, do I need to loosen the caps in case they generate hydrogen gas? How do I hook them up, since there are four of them?The batteries are Interstate that i bought at Costco. The label says RC:L 105, Ah@20 hr 210. The item number is 850284.The label on the solenoid says:White-Rodger BMType: 586-105111-3 COIL 12V D.C cont.Cust No. 586-302