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Old 03-20-2018, 10:35 AM   #1
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Unhappy 2018 Seneca - low voltage problems

Hey everybody,

First off, i really appreciate everyone who has contributed to this forum. The wealth of knowledge here is significant - thanks!

I’m out on a multi-week RV trip with family and yesterday morning a problem popped up with my 2018 Seneca. Will spell it out in steps:

1. Detached from shore power and drove a short while, parked and when the automatic steps came out they didn’t come back in.

2. Door contact was clean so it wasn’t a control issue. No noise or anything, so i turned on the generator to see if it was a power issue.

3. Few minutes later the steps retracted. Was not tied to any other event that i could determine (i was actually walking away in frustration when i heard them pull back in).

4. Got back on the road, turned over the ignition and the auto-leveling system starts beeping. The “Low Voltage” light was blinking, along with the “ignition on” and “engage parking brake”. I turn the engine off and remove the key and hit “all retract”, but nothing happens. I visually inspect the legs and they are all fully retracted.

5. Eventually beeping stops and (lights still flashing though) and we take off. I was not in a great place to debug stuff and would rather make it to a bigger city before getting too deep into things.

6. While in transit my wife decided to play some music, only to find out the pesky Garmin gizmo couldn’t produce any sound thru the speakers. AM/ bluetooth, nothing.

7. Get to afternoon destination and start debugging. Notice that a few of the circuit breakers are tripped off (the ones that are mounted to the “recreational” side of the bed) but this has happened before by incidental contact. Green blinking light in the control panel is on the one-second interval, according to documentation means the battery is between 50%-90% and its attempting to charge. I try to use the “magic button” and can’t get any response or change in the blink by going into manual mode.

8. I review the programming for the inverter, and all is well there. Battery voltage (generator off, no shore power) reads 12.6V. When toggling over to the power meter it shows that nothing is drawing power when it shouldn’t (all appliances off). I turn on microwave and it correctly shows inverter producing AC amps.

9. I turn on the generator and same problems persist.

9. I connect to shore power, and everything works fine. Leveling system works (doesn’t report “low voltage”), stairs, sound system, etc.

10. After an overnight on shore power i unplug, and things work for several minutes. Then the same problems happen.

11. Systems that work...... the cord reel motor (piece of crap that it is), bump-out motors, lights, macerater, water pump, etc. seems that the problem is restricted to the stairs, auto-level and speakers.

12. I pull out the battery rack to visually inspect it, no visible issues other than being dusty. I plug back into shore power, and approximately 2 minutes after plugging in i hear a loud click in the battery compartment, what i presume was a contractor closing. Aforementioned problems go away. Unplug, problems come back.


I have been unable to find any wiring diagram on the internet for the Seneca that’s worth a crap, but i presume that there is a transfer switch or something that is not landing on battery mode correctly. When AC is present, the switch flips to the DC source fed from the power center (transformed from the shore power).

Any ideas?

I’m perplexed why the issues are restricted to just those devices. Why no other DC systems like the lighting? It’s not a fuse issue since it works when shore power is on.

Help!

Thanks!
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Old 03-20-2018, 11:00 AM   #2
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My hunch is that your chassis battery breaker is tripped. I assume you have a 2018 and not a 2018.5 in which your chassis batteries are under your drivers side cab steps. Read the below thread and see if this is your problem.


https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...irs-53165.html
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Old 03-20-2018, 01:17 PM   #3
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House batteries

Check your house batteries - the Harris " deep cycle " batteries that Jayco uses do not exist on the Harris battery website and the part number for the battery is not a deep cycle battery - your batteries may have failed already - mine lasted almost a year before having to be replaced
Les
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Old 03-20-2018, 03:25 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alamogordo-D View Post
Hey everybody,

First off, i really appreciate everyone who has contributed to this forum. The wealth of knowledge here is significant - thanks!

I’m out on a multi-week RV trip with family and yesterday morning a problem popped up with my 2018 Seneca. Will spell it out in steps:

1. Detached from shore power and drove a short while, parked and when the automatic steps came out they didn’t come back in.

2. Door contact was clean so it wasn’t a control issue. No noise or anything, so i turned on the generator to see if it was a power issue.

3. Few minutes later the steps retracted. Was not tied to any other event that i could determine (i was actually walking away in frustration when i heard them pull back in).

4. Got back on the road, turned over the ignition and the auto-leveling system starts beeping. The “Low Voltage” light was blinking, along with the “ignition on” and “engage parking brake”. I turn the engine off and remove the key and hit “all retract”, but nothing happens. I visually inspect the legs and they are all fully retracted.

5. Eventually beeping stops and (lights still flashing though) and we take off. I was not in a great place to debug stuff and would rather make it to a bigger city before getting too deep into things.

6. While in transit my wife decided to play some music, only to find out the pesky Garmin gizmo couldn’t produce any sound thru the speakers. AM/ bluetooth, nothing.

7. Get to afternoon destination and start debugging. Notice that a few of the circuit breakers are tripped off (the ones that are mounted to the “recreational” side of the bed) but this has happened before by incidental contact. Green blinking light in the control panel is on the one-second interval, according to documentation means the battery is between 50%-90% and its attempting to charge. I try to use the “magic button” and can’t get any response or change in the blink by going into manual mode.

8. I review the programming for the inverter, and all is well there. Battery voltage (generator off, no shore power) reads 12.6V. When toggling over to the power meter it shows that nothing is drawing power when it shouldn’t (all appliances off). I turn on microwave and it correctly shows inverter producing AC amps.

9. I turn on the generator and same problems persist.

9. I connect to shore power, and everything works fine. Leveling system works (doesn’t report “low voltage”), stairs, sound system, etc.

10. After an overnight on shore power i unplug, and things work for several minutes. Then the same problems happen.

11. Systems that work...... the cord reel motor (piece of crap that it is), bump-out motors, lights, macerater, water pump, etc. seems that the problem is restricted to the stairs, auto-level and speakers.

12. I pull out the battery rack to visually inspect it, no visible issues other than being dusty. I plug back into shore power, and approximately 2 minutes after plugging in i hear a loud click in the battery compartment, what i presume was a contractor closing. Aforementioned problems go away. Unplug, problems come back.


I have been unable to find any wiring diagram on the internet for the Seneca that’s worth a crap, but i presume that there is a transfer switch or something that is not landing on battery mode correctly. When AC is present, the switch flips to the DC source fed from the power center (transformed from the shore power).

Any ideas?

I’m perplexed why the issues are restricted to just those devices. Why no other DC systems like the lighting? It’s not a fuse issue since it works when shore power is on.

Help!

Thanks!
Agree with RyRoRyan. Had this happen recently. If popped, the breaker will have an arm that you push back down. Only happened once....not sure what caused it.
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Old 03-20-2018, 04:34 PM   #5
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Check for the tripped battery breaker +2.
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Old 03-20-2018, 07:02 PM   #6
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Thumbs up Tripped DC Breaker under driver seat

Tripped breaker under driver’s seat fixed it!!!!!

Thank you everyone for your help!
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Old 03-21-2018, 07:13 AM   #7
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And this is why I love this forum. Helping each other save time and money by combining our knowledge. All while making friends at the same time.
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Old 05-19-2018, 04:02 PM   #8
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Thank you for saving me from looking like an idiot and adding this to my warranty list! The description of the problem was almost verbatim to my problems. Now, let's see where do all these other wires go I disconnected from troubleshooting.........
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Old 05-20-2018, 05:29 AM   #9
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Happened to us

This happened to us once two; a call to Jayco helped that morning!
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Old 06-03-2018, 12:34 PM   #10
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This is great info. Just had the exact same thing happen to us this weekend. BUT, I also had a wonderful surprise when I got home today. My leveler pump was hanging by the wires and hoses! The bracket its mounted to had one little, 1 inch weld holding it to the frame and the weld broke. Not surprising as there is no way this little weld would stand up to the weight of the leveler pump, especially when adding road bumps, etc. Thankfully, it didn't fall off completely while I was going down the road.
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Old 07-22-2018, 03:06 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RyRoRyan View Post
My hunch is that your chassis battery breaker is tripped. I assume you have a 2018 and not a 2018.5 in which your chassis batteries are under your drivers side cab steps. Read the below thread and see if this is your problem.


https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...irs-53165.html
Had this trip once before, but now it has been tripping daily for the past week or so. A tripped breaker is a symptom of another problem...has anyone been able to determine any cause(s)? This is becoming a big inconvenience with three small grand kids on board and no stairs. Thanks!
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Old 08-07-2018, 02:52 PM   #12
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Tripped battery breaker

Thanks to all for help on this issue. This is my first post. I’ve gotten good information from this forum. For this issue, the battery breaker was tripped just as described. All working for now. One thing I found was after loss of power and then turning the key off, exactly 10 minutes later power returned to the affected components.

The other great tidbit I learned from here was transmission reprogramming. What a difference! Still could use a little more HP, but it is livable and drivable now.

Now to vent. Emailed Jayco customer service about this electric issue, absolutely worthless response. Overall I like my 2018 Seneca 37HJ. But with all the little issues I’ve had and fixed myself, I would never buy another one. Or recommend one.

Again, thanks for all the help. From now on, this will be my first source for help.
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Old 10-23-2018, 07:58 PM   #13
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Hi, do you by any chance have a photo of the breaker under the seat? I do not see it but then again maybe it looks different than I would suspect
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Old 10-23-2018, 10:08 PM   #14
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I’ll try to get photo in morning. Breaker is on top of truck batteries under cab on drivers side.
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Old 10-24-2018, 02:52 PM   #15
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Its not actually under the seat. It is actually under the cab. Take the drivers side steps off and you should be able to clearly see the chassis batteries and the inline circuit breaker. The picture of it is in the link I referenced earlier...but this should be it...creds to Tumbleweed44 for providing it.

https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/a...p;d=1514052864
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Old 10-24-2018, 07:31 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lacy View Post
Hi, do you by any chance have a photo of the breaker under the seat? I do not see it but then again maybe it looks different than I would suspect
More on the topic is on other threads too...
https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...tml#post693149
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Old 10-27-2018, 03:24 PM   #17
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Wow thanks so much! That fixed it. I truly appreciate the help

Quote:
Originally Posted by RyRoRyan View Post
Its not actually under the seat. It is actually under the cab. Take the drivers side steps off and you should be able to clearly see the chassis batteries and the inline circuit breaker. The picture of it is in the link I referenced earlier...but this should be it...creds to Tumbleweed44 for providing it.

https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/a...p;d=1514052864
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Old 06-21-2020, 08:46 AM   #18
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this is what was the problem I had too, glad I did a search
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Old 06-29-2020, 05:04 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by javamon View Post
Had this trip once before, but now it has been tripping daily for the past week or so. A tripped breaker is a symptom of another problem...has anyone been able to determine any cause(s)? This is becoming a big inconvenience with three small grand kids on board and no stairs. Thanks!
anyone
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Old 06-29-2020, 12:11 PM   #20
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On last summer’s trip my transmission starting throwing faults and going into limp mode. I would turn it off, restart and it would be fine until the next time we sat for a couple days.
It turned out that the chassis batteries were going bad after only 2 1/2 years.
Apparently low voltage causes all kinds of issues in these RVs.
I replaced the batteries and all was well again. Your batteries are now at least 3 years old. Don’t be surprised if more gremlins start poping up.
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