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Ground cable can cost you $$

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SILVERLINER

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Ground cable can cost you $$
« on: June 26, 2021, 10:07:43 pm »
 pyhoBeware of corroded battery cables, not the obvious ones you see in your battery drawer,  the hidden ones under the chassis especially the ground cable connected to the chassis frame. On my 2018 in only a few years that cable really hard see was the culprit. Evidently the factory used a self tapping bolt not very rust proof to the under carriage frame , when trying to remove the bolt it broke and crumbled. 
Now here's where the $$ come in . Not knowing you have a bad ground cable which will indicate electrical problems such as flickering lights,  voltage drops, gauges and battery indicators showing low voltage etc. So easy fixes first,  clean the obvious  battery cables, still the problem existed, replaced a few positive cables, same problem, tested batteries under load ( these happened to be 6v deep cycle golf cart batteries in series) checked ok problem still exists.   Well, tried a 12v portable battery set up in the coach using jumper cables system worked perfectly no voltage drops  no flickering lights No problem  telling me that there was no short in the coach.  By going Back to the golf cart batteries  problem comes back. So figuring the batteries are almost three-years old and the portable battery fixed the problem, let's go for 2 new 6v deep cycle golf cart batteries $$.install them in the battery drawer same as the original in series ,guess what problem still exists. Cables all checked and cleaned some replaced $$ them and until then the hidden ground cable,  the culprit was found cleaned replaced bolt tighten and all is working great.  Simple fix no $$, go figure YOUR  batteries are only as good as YOUR  GROUND..save $$ and go camping.  2o2

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Ron Dittmer

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Re: Ground cable can cost you $$
« Reply #1 on: June 27, 2021, 08:46:40 am »
That is an excellent warning to everyone.  Thank you for sharing that.

"FIRST" examine the ground cable connection to the chassis.  Then trouble shoot deeper from there.
« Last Edit: June 27, 2021, 08:48:58 am by Ron Dittmer »
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Engineerlt

Re: Ground cable can cost you $$
« Reply #2 on: June 27, 2021, 07:42:45 pm »
Thanks for the heads up. I would imagine my 2017 has a self tapping screw as well. I will have to check mine out before I have any issues.


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Ron Dittmer

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Re: Ground cable can cost you $$
« Reply #3 on: June 28, 2021, 06:21:30 am »
It wouldn't hurt to clean up the area, then spray some WD-40 or grease up the ground connection for corrosion protection.
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