Electrical Glitch

D

dave lowry

New member
Jul 7, 1998
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We noticed a new glitch today. The battery reading on our Digi-Panel began
giving a quick "red" reading (low voltage) lasting less than a second, and
accompanied by the sound of a relay cycling and a slight drop in idle
speed. This occurs at regular 30 second intervals.

Does anybody know what we're seeing, or have suggestions where we should
start looking?

We need to have this resolved before we leave 6/9 for a 4,000 mile trip.

Dave (advisor/navigator) & Dege (ALL else), '76 Royale, Santa Barbara, CA
 
>
> We noticed a new glitch today. The battery reading on our Digi-Panel began
> giving a quick "red" reading (low voltage) lasting less than a second, and
> accompanied by the sound of a relay cycling and a slight drop in idle
> speed. This occurs at regular 30 second intervals.
>
> Does anybody know what we're seeing, or have suggestions where we should
> start looking?
>

Just a guess.
IF the engine is running and the dash air is on, the compressor is
cycling on and off. if this happens in a very rapid cycle, its possible
that you are low on Freon. The low voltage could be a spike when the
clutch engages..

Need more information to diagnose.. more.....

John Szalay
73 GMC "Wild Blue Yonder"
 
>>
>> We noticed a new glitch today. The battery reading on our Digi-Panel began
>> giving a quick "red" reading (low voltage) lasting less than a second, and
>> accompanied by the sound of a relay cycling and a slight drop in idle
>> speed. This occurs at regular 30 second intervals.
>>
>> Does anybody know what we're seeing, or have suggestions where we should
>> start looking?
>>
>
> Just a guess.
> IF the engine is running and the dash air is on, the compressor is
>cycling on and off. if this happens in a very rapid cycle, its possible
>that you are low on Freon. The low voltage could be a spike when the
>clutch engages..
>
> Need more information to diagnose.. more.....
>
> John Szalay
> 73 GMC "Wild Blue Yonder"

Good guess, but air not on (and freon full). Thanks anyway,

Dave (advisor/navigator) & Dege (ALL else), '76 Royale, Santa Barbara, CA
 
funny you should say that. I had a strange thing happen when I was taking
the coach to park for the month. As i pulled in to the lot, the red light
came on and the digi-panel buzzer went off. I looked down and the battery
voltage was reading high in the red. then it disappeared with nothing
showing - then the light came came back to normal position. I don't know if
the digi-panel was malfunctioning or the gauge was reading something
strange. any ideas also welcome
al

> We noticed a new glitch today. The battery reading on our Digi-Panel began
> giving a quick "red" reading (low voltage) lasting less than a second, and
> accompanied by the sound of a relay cycling and a slight drop in idle
> speed. This occurs at regular 30 second intervals.
>
> Does anybody know what we're seeing, or have suggestions where we should
> start looking?
>
> We need to have this resolved before we leave 6/9 for a 4,000 mile trip.
>
> Dave (advisor/navigator) & Dege (ALL else), '76 Royale, Santa Barbara, CA
 
well there are no relays in the Digipanel, so that is not the noise.

The circuit breaker is a good guess, but they are hard to hear...easy to
remove one at a time and test for that.

how old is your alternator ?? I thought this might be Al's problem. Age
is really not the determining factor the regulator could go out at any time.

Were you running the dash Aircond?? The high speed fan is on a delay relay
on some coaches, if the blower motor was shorting , it could draw down the
12 volts and thus cycle.

Does it do this all the time, or just did it once ?

gene

>We noticed a new glitch today. The battery reading on our Digi-Panel began
>giving a quick "red" reading (low voltage) lasting less than a second, and
>accompanied by the sound of a relay cycling and a slight drop in idle
>speed. This occurs at regular 30 second intervals.
>
>Does anybody know what we're seeing, or have suggestions where we should
>start looking?
>
>We need to have this resolved before we leave 6/9 for a 4,000 mile trip.
>
>Dave (advisor/navigator) & Dege (ALL else), '76 Royale, Santa Barbara, CA
>
>
>
Genef -- 77PB/ore/ca
GMC MOTORHOME INFORMATION
mr.erf
http://www.california.com/~eagle/
 
Dave, My digi-panel does that when my air compressor kicks on. It is almost
instantaneous and goes out as the generator charging circuit picks up the
slack. The cycling and engine speed change means its from something
generating a heavy load like the A/C compressor. Good luck.
Bob McLaughlin

- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-gmcmotorhome
[mailto:owner-gmcmotorhome]On Behalf Of Dave Lowry
Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2000 9:06 PM
To: gmcmotorhome
Subject: GMC: Electrical Glitch

We noticed a new glitch today. The battery reading on our Digi-Panel began
giving a quick "red" reading (low voltage) lasting less than a second, and
accompanied by the sound of a relay cycling and a slight drop in idle
speed. This occurs at regular 30 second intervals.

Does anybody know what we're seeing, or have suggestions where we should
start looking?

We need to have this resolved before we leave 6/9 for a 4,000 mile trip.

Dave (advisor/navigator) & Dege (ALL else), '76 Royale, Santa Barbara, CA
 
>We noticed a new glitch today. The battery reading on our Digi-Panel began
>giving a quick "red" reading (low voltage) lasting less than a second, and
>accompanied by the sound of a relay cycling and a slight drop in idle
>speed. This occurs at regular 30 second intervals.
>
>Does anybody know what we're seeing, or have suggestions where we should
>start looking?
>
>We need to have this resolved before we leave 6/9 for a 4,000 mile trip.

Dave,

A few thoughts:

1.Check your automatic circuit breakers (headlights use one for certain).
These breakers are designed to cut of, allow the circuit to cool down, and
then turn back on. You may be hearing the breaker tripping.

2.You can also try removing the wire from your A/C unit that controls the
clutch. It may be kicking on and off due to other problems even if you
think that it isn't turned on at the dash.

3.Eliminate the house battery from the circuit by removing the connection
at the isolator. You could have a shorted cell that pulls down the
alternator. I'm not certain of the hold voltage for the solenoid but it's
possible that you hear the solenoid engaging and disengaging.

4.YOu can also systematically disconnect various circuits by pulling fuses
until you find a circuit that eliminates the problem.

Henry
 
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