"It just goes to show you, it's always something--if it ain't one thing, it's another."

Just like Roseanne Roseannadanna would say.......It's always something! So the time changes Saturday night/Sunday morning and now it's light when we wake up and dark by 5pm. Joan and I like being up and out early....better chance that we might see some wildlife and we will get home before dark from our volunteer jobs. So we decide that we'll start getting up an hour earlier at 5am so we can make it to work by 6. It's Sunday night and I'm already snuggled into bed; Joan's brushing her teeth and all of a sudden we hear an audible 'click' and the overhead light in the bathroom goes out. And it's really dark....darker than usual when the lights are out. As I look around I notice all the small LED lights throughout the MH are dark. HHMMMMMMM....wonder what that's about. So I slip on some clothes and start checking things out. All of our 110v outlets work, but none of our 12v lights or 'cigarette' outlets work. I go outside and check the inverter/charger...it appears OK and the remote says it's charging the batteries like it should. I check the surge protector and it shows 'E 0" No Errors. Well it's late and I'm tired...so since the 110 works, we can survive until I figure it out. I'll just sleep on it. I slept well; even had a dream that the problem was fixed....felt good when I woke up and then remembered the 12v was still not working. I checked the 12v fuse panel and none of the fuses were blown. I read through the owners manual and got nothin'. I check the inverter again and it's fine as is the surge protector. I check the fuse panel itself and there is no 12v coming into the panel.

In the great words of the Bard...."O, woe is me, T'have seen what I have seen, see what I see!"(William Shakespeare, Hamlet). What to do, what to do. So I fall back on the tried and true......IRV2. Before we leave for work I fire off a quick note asking if anyone has any ideas on what may be causing my 12v to fail while leaving my 110v alone. It doesn't take long and within a couple of hours I've got 2 responses, both of which indicate I should check the Battery Disconnect Solenoid. Oh yeah! I've read about this several times before. As soon as we're home from work I start checking. 

Front Compartment
I Don't See Nothin' But Fuse Covers

OK, where is it located? Let's try the battery compartment. OK, there's a solenoid....let's see if this is it. Check it with a VOM and I've got 12v on both sides....so that's not it. Check the inverter compartment....no solenoid in there. There were some fuses in the front driver's side compartment, so I check there and no luck. Nothing that looks like a solenoid. Now what? It's starting to get dark and I've run out of ideas. We'd be OK without the 12v for a few days except that the switches that turn on the hot water heaters are 12v...so all we've got is cold water. Well I better make a service appointment to have it checked out. I call a local RV dealership and speak with Al in their service department. They close in 5 minutes and the earliest appointment available is almost 2 weeks away.....that won't work. Al help me out here....do you happen to know where the battery disconnect solenoid is located on my model? No, that's not one of the models I'm familiar with....Hold on a minute.........I hear him speaking with someone in the background......try the drivers side compartment; it should be in there. OK I'll look again. So out I go, looking everywhere in the compartment when I see a black cover with 3 wingnuts...spin off the wingnuts and 

Behind Door #1.....There It Is...
The Little Yellow Thingy Bottom Left

HALLELUJAH! in and amongst all the wires and connections is a solenoid....the solenoid....and there's a small slot on one side with a 5A fuse. I pull the fuse and sure enough it's blown. I pull out a spare fuse...plug it in.....and all the new LED lights and 12v outlets come to life. Thank You AL! You're the MAN!


It's always something. If you're an RVer....especially a full-timer....you will find out it's always something. Kinda like life.....you will definitely encounter obstacles along the way. What's important is how you handle them. When you run into that brick wall...don't beat your head against it...look for a way around it. If you haven't already, check out IRV2. Bookmark it as it is a wealth of information and members who are more than willing to help you when you encounter trouble. 


And Kudos to Al at Johnny Walker RV in Las Vegas. With a little help from Al and IRV2 I managed to fix a problem with a $.50 fuse instead of a $50 (or more) service call.




Stay Tuned. More to Come