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I just bought a 1976 Executive class A that is in really rough shape- not sure what all the previous owner(s) did to the poor thing, but I'm trying to get it back in running condition. Here's my current issue:
The alternator will not recharge the battery.
I have had the alternator tested, it's fine, replaced the voltage regulator and battery. I can run and drive the coach for a few hours- until the battery dies. Then the coach is a dead horse. I had the battery tested while running and it was confirmed that I'm not getting any juice back to the battery. It is a dual battery system, however, it appears that one powers the inverter for the interior lighting, and the other feeds the engine. I can hook up the battery to the inverter side and it will not start the coach. I can hook up the battery to the engine side and it will start and run, but if I disconnect the battery while it is running the engine dies. Again, the alternator is fine. Something I thought was very odd was that only the hot wires that connect to the batteries (both of them) actually go anywhere into the coach, the negative wires simply bolt to the frame as if grounding the batteries. This I can not understand, and it appears to be factory set up.
I'm clueless now as to what the issue could be- why is the alternator not feeding to the battery? I'm convinced it's a wiring problem between the alternator and battery, but heavens where do I even begin to seek that out?
There will probably be an isolator of some sort between the alternator and the two batteries. Some of them are as simple as a diode block to prevent the engine start battery from going dead from the accessories inside the rv. 1st check the voltage on the RV battery when shut off then start and check again. If the voltage goes up while running the alternator is only charging the RV battery and not the start. If not go back to looking at the alternator. If the battery on the RV portion is charging you need to trace the wiring to the Isolator. It is normally a big aluminum heat sink with three terminals on it. Check the voltage there. I think you probably have a by passed isolator or bad isolator or broken/disconected wire. Any way start by proving you have a working alternator (13.8 or more volts) and work through the system from there untill the problem reveals itself by having low or no voltage where there should be 13.8 or more. Good Luck
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