LXi Battery Isolator Problems

[irmagoo]

when i'm setting at home or rv park -anywhere with shore power i have combiner sw. made... when traveling its not made ...we dry camp most of the time when traveling so in the morning i get up make coffee watch the tube what ever i then start genset to charge house batts. for a hour or two depending on battery state of charge. so when i start engine the alternator doesn't peg for a couple hours to bring house batts up to par,,
well i am adding 4-235 watt solar panels to the mix so this should lower genny run time.
what a'm getting at is i run genset to not have alternator pegged until battery banks try to equalise and charge up-in the morning's.

[Double R]

I think this is where I need to ask for help. I have 1999 lxi 41 series 60 engine
Just purchase 2 weeks ago. The dash aux battery switch stays light. PO says that the battery isolator or solinoid needs to be replaced. He says he had replaced it once. Can you guys recommend a good one. I see the one he replaced it with and looked it up online. At about 29.00. Thought that it maybe not be a good one. So please help and any Imput is greatly appreciated

[GregOC]

The switch should have 3 positions rock to left I believe is momentarily combined (spring loaded , must be pressed for the combine action. Center is un combined and rock right is combined. You can test the action by watching the volt gauges even out when the banks combine. I dont believe it is an isolated, my set up is a solenoid that combines.

[Randy Dupree]

Originally Posted by Double R

I think this is where I need to ask for help. I have 1999 lxi 41 series 60 engine
Just purchase 2 weeks ago. The dash aux battery switch stays light. PO says that the battery isolator or solinoid needs to be replaced. He says he had replaced it once. Can you guys recommend a good one. I see the one he replaced it with and looked it up online. At about 29.00. Thought that it maybe not be a good one. So please help and any Imput is greatly appreciated

The relay you need is going to be spendy,a $29 relay will never do the job required of it.
Maybe one of the other guys here has a part number for you.

[Clembo]

You need an Eaton/Cutler Hammer 400 amp continuous duty 12 volt coil aviation relay. They are scarace and expensive. I saw one on eBay a while back that was new/old stock for $125, that was a deal. Yours is in your gen fan compartment under drivers seat. The battery combined switch on the dash turns on this relay as does the ignition switch. Careful as the relay gets very hot to the touch when on but this is normal. If the coil is good on your old one, take it apart and clean the contacts. That’s how I got my spare. There’s one or two more of these relays in the engine bay.
Good Luck
Dan

[Jon 1968]

Originally Posted by rrueckwald

That is an Eaton 6041H105 available for about $250. Don't substitute a cheap knock off or you will be doing it again soon.

From Post #10 . Ron listed the product you can use. Around $250 online several places

[BrianS]

My auxiliary battery switch light is always on also, when the motor is running. I believe this is what is expected and correct.

[GregOC]

Bunch of info in this thread that does not cross to a 99lxi, even early labeled images are a bit off. Could be that prior owners changed stuff. . . Post 7 shows the diagram of my 99lxi aux solenoid which is in the chassis battery side rear bay. Diagram does show three diodes.on wires going to it.??


I believe one solenoids in gen fan bay is the at switch . And something else. I plan to replace those with blue sea breaker switches so if your aux relay is mu ffed, a blue sea switch for a manual at function may free up a suitable part but you will need to check the amps duty and norm on-off makeup.

Btw those solenoid are big draws called phantom draws until you now learn their origin

[greaabb]

I have a 99 LXi and had a problem with my battery combiner solenoid this summer. I call it a combiner because the normal (power off) condition is that the chassis and house batteries are isolated from each other by this solenoid. When you activate the switch to either the momentary or "on" position, or when the engine is started, power is applied to the solenoid, it closes, and the batteries are combined. From my perspective the designers erred in having the house batteries connected to the engine generator full-time and only having the chassis batteries connected when the solenoid operates.

When my solenoid failed I had to run jumper cables from the house batteries to the chassis batteries to keep the chassis batteries sufficiently charged for engine starting. Of course I only did this when at a stop and either running the generator or plugged into shore power. With the help of this forum I eventually found that the problem was this solenoid. Like you, I found a Chinese "replacement" solenoid at a relative low price. I was also advised by owners who had tried these replacements that they would not last very long. The original Cutler-Hammer solenoid was aircraft rated, meaning it had to meet a very stringent quality control standard. This does not exist for the Chinese parts. My advice is to try and fix the original if you can't find NOS or don't want to pay that price. My problem turned out to be that one of the secondary leads between the terminal and the coil had corroded away. I carefully soldered on a new lead and the solenoid returned to its duty.

But before doing anything, you need to do some tests to determine whether the problem is actually in the solenoid or in the control circuit. Since the normal position of the solenoid is open and you indicate that yours failed in the closed condition, I think there is a good possibility that the problem could be as simple as your dash switch failing and staying "on" no matter what position is indicated. If you would like me to tell you how to do testing, respond and I will write a test procedure.

George Baker
757-927-6024
greaabb@gmail.com
Chateaugay, NY

[Clembo]

[QUOTE=Clembo;439119]You need an Eaton/Cutler Hammer 400 amp continuous duty 12 volt coil aviation relay. They are scarace and expensive. I saw one on eBay a while back that was new/old stock for $125, that was a deal. Yours is in your gen fan compartment under drivers seat. The battery combined switch on the dash turns on this relay as does the ignition switch. Careful as the relay gets very hot to the touch when on but this is normal. If the coil is good on your old one, take it apart and clean the contacts. That’s how I got my spare. There’s one or two more of these relays in the engine bay.
Good Luck
Dan[/QUOTE


I made a mistake. The battery combiner solenoid relay (also known as the Battery Parallel solenoid) is in the rear battery compartment mounted on the firewall. The solenoid mounted in the generator fan compartment under the driver seat is for the AT dash switch system.
This is on a 1996 WB.
BTW the temperature of the solenoid which has been on for months is around 160F.
Sorry for the misinformation.
Dan