Dash volt meter (1 Viewer)

[Snowbird]

Hi all,just a tip here and maybe a warning too.
Was moving the RV yesterday and noticed the volt meter on the dashboard rise right up. Thought it a bit unusual as had traveled back from Malvern on Sunday,so the engine batteries were fully charged. When I put the indicators on to turn I noticed the warning lights were very bright,so I then knew somthing was wrong.
Took the alternater off and had it checked and it confirmed my suspisions that the voltage regulater had packed up.
£10 to have it fixed at my friendly neighbourhood sparky and all is well again.
If there was no volt meter on the dash I would have carried on not knowing untill somthing set on fire:Sad:

 

[acting_strange]

You would probably have boiled your batteries first...Having come across this once as a motor engineer I can assure you it is a horrible experience....eyes streaming and unable to breath properly due to the sulphur dioxide?? fumes

 

[Dodgey]

The split charger failed on our old Dodge, putting an earth effectivly, or partially at least on the alternator side, idle was reading 50 ish volts DC and rev'ed 70+ on the whole hab and engine battery arrangment, and fire

There was an old rechargable torch holder on the back wall with a capacitor (smoothing?) accross the poss and neg, it went up, never moved so fast in my life, no damage thankfully, well the tourch holder melted (didn't matter) and the soot wiped off.

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[Road Runner]

I to had an alternator issue when my bus had stood for a while and reverse of your my regulator would not charge and cost me (£35) still cheap plus the mechanics fee.

 

[Snowbird]

It seems to be behaving itself now the alternater is fixed.
I have checked the obvious...blown bulbs etc, is there anything else I should check???.

 

[Dodgey]

Tricky question.

If everything is working that's probably as far practically as you can go, ideally a complete review of the wiring, switch gear and accesories (radio etc) on both the chassis and hab side, assuming you have engine charging of the hab side when running, but how practical is that on any MH let alone an RV

On the upside on the wiring front, RV manufacturers seem to err toward very thick/over rated wiring accepting the core chassis side will be chassis manufacturer spec.

Me, make sure your fire extinguishers are good and watch everything for a while and sniff, your nose should tell you pretty quick if there is a problem, or your volt guage?

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[Snowbird]

One more thing...was amazed at the output of the alternator...110amp.
That shouldnt take much of a run to charge batteries.

 

[Dodgey]

Diesel(?), big battery, heavy start load big alternator to keep it charged?

The standard one on our old Dodge was pretty rubbish, on tick over the indicators dropped to half speed with the brake lights on and I had to rewire the reversing camera to the leasure battery as again, stop lights on the picture disappeared into the middle of the screen!