Phooey

For reasons beyond my control, Pumpkin hasn't gone anywhere for quite a while.  So, a couple of weeks ago I went out to do something out there, hit the "unlock" button on my key fob and...nothing.  I unlocked it with the key and got in.  When I put the key in the ignition, nothing happened.  Usually, the instrument panel lights up, but nada.  Dead battery.  No problem, though.  Most motorhomes, including Pumpkin, have two sets of batteries.  One is the main engine or chassis battery, the other is one or more deep cycle batteries for the "house" portion, the power for "stuff" in the back.  Because motorhomes are often parked in the boondocks for a while, having a dead battery when you get ready to leave can be a major inconvenience.  So, in their vast wisdom, the RV makers decided to put a special "Battery Boost" switch on the dash that, when energized, connects both battery sets together which effectively boosts the chassis battery enough to get the engine started.  It's like a built-in jump start.

So, finding a dead battery, I hit the Battery Boost switch to give it a jump start...nothing.  Well, almost nothing.  I could hear the solenoid click that indicated the Battery Boost solenoid was energizing.  When that happens, the house batteries should be connected to the chassis battery for a boost.  But, nothing.

The house batteries (there are two connected together to act as one big battery) were fully charged.  Pumpkin had been plugged into power from my workshop.  When plugged in, the house batteries are kept charged by the converter.  But, not the chassis battery.  For whatever reason (cost, no doubt), most manufacturers don't include the charging of the chassis battery in that process.  But, they do include the Battery Boost switch to take care of this...when it works.  Pumpkin's Battery Boost switch did not work.

I put a charger on the totally dead chassis battery.  It took about 24 hours for my 10 amp charger to get the battery back up enough to start the engine.  After I got the battery charged, I tackled the no Battery Boost problem.  It wasn't too difficult to determine the problem, but getting to it was another story.

The Battery Boost solenoid has to connect a big heavy battery cable from the house batteries and a big heavy cable from the chassis battery.  Its location is hidden under the front passenger seat.  So, first, I had to remove the seat.  Of course, Mercedes used unusual bolts.  Well, at least, unusual enough that it sent me to O'Reilly's to buy some special sockets.  They are called Torx heads, but I don't think Mercedes calls them that.  I had a large Torx bit set, but not a Torx socket set.  That's all I need, more tools.

Seat removed.  Once I located the four bolts and also realized the seat had to be swiveled a little to come off, it was done.

Now to expose the Battery Boost solenoid.  The solenoid is the round silver thing with the battery cables connecting to it.  When it is energized, the two large terminals on either side are shorted together - or, at least, supposed to be.

Here's what the solenoid looks like.  The smaller center terminal is where the wire connects that comes from the dash Battery Boost switch.

Here's a photo of an "exploded" view of the defective solenoid.  The copper bolts are the heavy terminals.  One bolt (on the right) has a black coating on the side of the bolt head while the other (on the left) I have cleaned up.  The round thingy with the spring on it is the plunger with a copper washer that was also blackened (I have already it cleaned).  For normal operation, when the solenoid is energized, the plunger is pulled down so the copper washer connects with both bolt heads.  I probably could repair this solenoid by cleaning it up good, but since it is not easy to get to, I'll install a new one.

Now it's time to start reassembling.  I received the new solenoid in the mail yesterday.  But, what about the original problem - chassis battery run down?  Well, there's a gizmo available that is connected across the two battery systems and will maintain trickle charging for the chassis battery so when the RV is plugged into "shore power", the chassis battery is trickle charged.  The device I got is named Trik-L-Start.

A convenient place to connect the Trik-L-Start is right there on the Battery Boost solenoid, so that will be part of my reassembly process.  I've elected to mount it on the outside of the seat base where I can see the three monitor lights on it.  I'll run the three wires from it through a hole in the seat base into the area where the solenoid is located.  Easy-peasy.

Here's the finished product.  Trik-L-Start mounted on the outside next to circuit breakers.

The solenoid is mounted and connected with the Trik-L-Start yellow and blue wires connected to appropriate sides of the solenoid and the black wire connected to ground.  The two heavy battery cables coming together on the right post of the solenoid are the house battery cables.  The short one of the two going to the right connects to the battery disconnect solenoid which is controlled by the Aux Batt (battery disconnect or "salesman") switch in the coach.  This solenoid disconnects most of the devices that use 12-volt power in the coach, but not all (co2 sensor, LP sensor, etc.).

The Battery Boost switch works and so does the Trik-L-Start.  Will wonders never cease?

Now to reinstall the seat and it's done.  But first, a nap.

Okay, that's done - both a nap and seat reinstalled.  But, before reinstalling the seat, I made one more voltage check.  While plugged into shore power, the coach battery measured 13.86 volts and the chassis battery measured 13.31 volts.  The measurement of the chassis battery indicates the chassis battery charge is being maintained by the Trik-L-Start.  Otherwise, it would measure 12.7 volts or less.  Now if this dead battery episode hasn't done too much damage to my chassis battery.

Day 20

Beautiful morning.  However, it had been a chilly night and our little electric heater got a workout.  Sure would have been cold if we hadn’t had power.

I was sitting at the table having coffee when I saw the park ranger pull up.  He got out and checked the registration tag that I had placed on the site post last night.  Then he headed toward Lil Pumpkin.  So, I grabbed the envelope and hopped out of the RV.  The guy acted more like a cop on a night-time traffic stop.  He questioned me like I was doing something wrong, all the while looking around like he expected to see some contraband, drugs or something bad.  Almost made me feel like I had done something wrong.  He took the envelope and felt it, then asked if I had provided correct change or if someone needed to bring some change back.  His question sounded more accusing than simply asking if I needed change.  I told him it was a check and he just turned and walked back to his SUV and left.  The guy may be the nicest guy in Pennsylvania, but he sure seemed to me to be a little prick, angry because he was a ranger and not a real cop.  First impressions are usually correct.

Today’s trip was interesting.  We let Gypsy guide from Worlds End to Lake Raystown.  The route was supposed to take us down Hwy 15 to Hwy 220 most of the way.  But, Gypsy or Joyce (I don’t remember who) sent us off down State Hwy 64 which turned to 26 just outside State College.  It was a nice drive, one of those with the dots all along indicating a scenic route.  That took us smack dab through the middle of State College, right alongside Penn State University.  The traffic was stop and go so we had a lot of opportunities to watch the next generation (kids were everywhere!) staring at their phones.  Those not staring at phones were riding bikes.

Shortly after leaving State College, Gypsy wanted me to take Hwy 45.  After a few miles, it took a quick, almost hidden left turn and disappeared.  I rounded the turn and right there just a few feet ahead was an old stone railroad overpass with a big sign…8’2” clearance!  We failed to take a photo of it, but Google Earth was there before us.  So, here's a shot from Google Earth.  Our vertical clearance is 9'7".

I stopped just a few feet past the intersection.  I had to back up into the intersection so I could head on straight down another road.  But, there was a lot of traffic.  It was afternoon rush hour and it seemed half of Pennsylvania was rounding the turn behind me…the other half was coming out from under the underpass heading right at me.  All I could do was wave cars on from behind me when traffic thinned coming at me.  Finally, I was able to back up enough to head on straight.  What’s that?!!  Down the road a few hundred feet was another overpass with 8’6” clearance!  I managed to get turned completely around and we back-tracked until I spied Hwy 45 truck route.  I figured, if a truck can make it, I can make it.  Finally, we reached Hwy 22 which took us to the turn-off to Lake Raystown and Seven Points Rec. Area.  So, now, after a long but interesting day, we’re camped by the lake…well, we did see it, but not from our camp site.  But, another nice Corp of Eng. Campground which means ½ price for us old farts…and we have Internet and phone access.

Day 19

After checking with many campgrounds in the northeastern states and Canada, I found that our early side trip to Tom and Julie’s at Altmar had made us too late.  Most campgrounds closed just about the time we’d get there (we had originally intended to stop at Altmar after Nova Scotia).  So, C'est la vie.  We decided to just run up to the 1000 Islands area, cross into Canada and spend one or two nights then cut down across New York through the middle of the Adirondacks.  From there we’d decide what to do because hurricane Matthew might throw a kink in our east coast plans.  But, all that turned to worms before we left Altmar.  I had prepped Lil’ Pumpkin for the trip and the last thing I did was test the generator.  Many of the campgrounds in Canada and the eastern states that were still open were “dry” camps, which mean no power.  Lil’ Pumpkin has enough battery power to get through several nights if only lights and other minor current draws are used.  But, it’s getting cold at night and the furnace would probably be needed and the furnace blower would drain the batteries much faster.  We would need the generator.  But, it wouldn’t start.  It was doing the same thing as earlier this year.  The generator is fueled with propane and the propane regulator was not feeding enough gas to run the generator.  This will be the 4th regulator since we bought Lil Pumpkin in 2013, but that another story.  In the meantime, we now were faced with no generator and cold nights.  It just wasn’t worth it.  We headed south into Pennsylvania.  We stopped to camp at Worlds End State Park just west of Hwy 220 at Forksville, Pa.

Worlds End is a beautiful, well-kept park on the Loyalsock River.  It was mostly vacant except for a few campers sprinkled throughout the park.  No one was manning the office when we arrived so I grabbed a self-pay envelope and we drove on in to find a sight.  Interestingly, they had a special section for campers with dogs.  I’d never seen that before.  The “dog” section was just as nice as the rest of the park, so we weren’t treated as 2nd class campers.  We were just across the road from the river which was beautiful noisy rapids in that area.

I was tired and hit the sack early.  The self-pay envelope stated the payment could be made the next morning if we wished…and I wished.  Joyce filled out the requested info and wrote a check which she stuck in the envelope.  It was ready to drop off as we leave tomorrow morning.

Day 14 thru Day 18

We're at Tom and Julie's in Altmar, NY now.  I'll pick back up with the blog when we leave.

Day 13

We continued northwest to I-81 and headed on toward Altmar.  It was a nice drive and we arrived at Tom and Julie’s about 5 pm.  It was a beautiful evening.  The scene from Tom's backyard was breathtaking.

Day 12

We left Turkey Swamp with little planning for our next stop.  Yesterday, we decided to change course and head on over to Tom and Julie’s at Altmar, NY.  We were relatively close and in need of a long rest stop anyway.  Our original plan had us continuing up the coast through New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.  But, since we had to head west a little to avoid New York City, we decided to go to Altmar.  Now I’ll have to plan a whole new northeast leg of our trip.

Finding a campground wasn’t as easy as it had been.  We decided to stay at a Passport America campground because others in the area were quite expensive.  But, when we arrived, the office was closed and the gate was, too.  There was no easy way offered to register, so we just kept going.  I found Valley View Farm and Campground a ways off so we headed there.  The only problem was it was way off in the middle of rural whatever and I had to depend on Gypsy (GPS) to guide us there.  She did, but it was the long way around, I’m sure.

We finally reached the campground just about dark.  What we found was a nice little park, but nary a level spot in the place.  We drove around and tried several spots, but no luck.  Finally, the lady that ran the place showed up and told us we could park in the parking area for one of the occupied sites.  No one was in that camper and she didn’t expect them until the weekend.  It still wasn’t level, but at least we didn’t roll out of bed.

The campground was not much more than a cow pasture.

Day 11

We got up and around, had breakfast and headed out.  I stopped and dumped the waste tanks on the way out then stopped at the main gate to pay for our night’s stay.  No one was there, but they had self-pay envelopes, so I picked one up and got back in the RV.  We were about to write a check when I noticed, it said “no checks or credit cards for self-pay”.  All I had was $20 bills and the price was $25.  Hmmm.  Sorry, Delaware.  Guess we owe you one.

We headed on up around Delaware Bay and crossed the Delaware River on US Hwy 40 on the Delaware Memorial Bridge.  From there, we wandered the back roads up through New Jersey.  I’m not sure just how we got where we are now because I more or less let Gypsy lead the way.  Joyce tried to figure out where we were on the Atlas but gave up.  Interestingly, while wondering around, we passed the McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Joint Base.  I didn’t know we were anywhere near it.  I’d heard of Naval Air Station Lakehurst years ago while in the Navy, but never thought about it except to know it was in New Jersey.  It used to be the Navy's main derrigable base and is where the Hindenburg met its end. 

We kept truckin’ through the backwoods and stopped at a private campground, but couldn’t find anyone to check us in, so we kept going.  It was about 4 pm then.  We finally made it to Turkey Swamp Park up near West Freehold.  What?!  You don’t know where that is?  Look it up.  Google knows.