Batteres: Chassis Battery Disconnect Switch, Ground to Starter

[Bilmac36]

Good morning fellas and gals,
Some of you may have seen on FB where a couple months back I moved my chassis batteries into my engine bay in order to make additional room for two more house batteries in the battery tray. The move was successful and everything operating normal, aka as things should or so I thought. At the time of the move I did not relocate my chassis battery local disconnect switch. But went back in and did this yesterday. The following note is where my question for your experiences and knowledge comes into play.

So I have a puzzle to solve. I went back in and moved my switch and put it in the battery negative circuit path. Here is the head scratcher for me. Maybe one of you will recognize it and tell me I've had a "duh" moment. Connie starts with chassis battery cutoff/disconnect switch in off position and with the ground removed from the chassis batteries. Verified the positive lead does go to starter, as when removed it nothing. All dash lights off. (Had coach Disconnected from shore power as well had the house batteries disconnect switch off. ) The starter is still making ground even though the chassis batteries are isolated. Removed my white wire from negative terminal and this is the ground for the Do Not Shift Transmission light beside the parking brake light. The light no longer lit when wire was removed. Yet starter was still able to turn over.
Head scratcher. Gotta go back and review pix and read some TS tips.
Possible clue to issue:
Also, when the inside Heart Interface switch is in the On position the lights will come on for a bit (via Inverter) then go off. This is with the house batteries disconnect switch in Off position. I know this disconnect is working as the battery monitor no longer lights up with this switch in off. Wondering if the isolator between house and chassis, aka via the momentary battery switch at drivers seat is shorted and no longer isolating????
Thanks for your thoughts.
r/Willie
'95 Continental, 8.3L, Allison MD3060

[TDJohn]

Willie,

For starters, your disconnect switch should be located on your positive side, not your negative side.

I don't know how your disconnect switch for your house batteries is wired, so please post some pictures. Please make sure you take some shots at a distance, so we can see more of the wiring and can orient ourselves to your setup.

Also, if you could please post the photos and the write up of your battery relocation project on this site. Not all members belong to FB, so it would be really helpful, and greatly appreciated.

[Bilmac36]

Hi John,
I sincerely Appreciate the conversation today and you taking the time to respond.
Few things to note regarding your opening statement about a disconnect and about how you state it should be wired. There is plenty of debate regarding disconnects on the negative or positive post. Here are a couple links from various professional sites noting some discussion points and tutorials on the issue. https://www.rvtravel.com/rv-electricity ... isconnect/ states and provides pix on using the negative post and this site has a bit more debate about the issue: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche- ... itive.html One of the individuals sums it up like this:
"there are two different kinds of switches being discussed.
-One is commonly used with engine already shut off to prevent the battery draining when not in use or when you are working on electrical system. They are cheap and sold at any auto parts store. Those should be put on negative for the reasons stated (less risk of shorting battery accidentally).
-The other kind is a switch used to shut off engine in an emergency (like wreck during a race). Those should be wired per the manufacturer's instructions, and may include something like a diode and additional wiring used to prevent alternator damage."
This said, mine will stay as they are for now. As Connie has one wired each way. My Chassis disconnect is via the negative post, where as my house battery is via the positive lead. Ok, lets put a pin in this discussion. No need to try to convince me either way at this point.

The topic at hand is my chassis disconnect not preventing me from starting the engine. UPDATE: After bit more trouble shooting, measuring voltage and continuity of a few items, various terminals, solenoid post, buss bar terminals, etc I've come to a couple conclusion.
1) My Boost solenoid appears to be isolating the voltages as it measure open between the two post with out being triggered by the momentary boost switch.
2) I have multiple sources of DC voltage coming in and forgot about my solar until after wrapping up this evening.
3) Appears either I wired a positive lead to the wrong battery bank or I have feed through from somewhere else as I disconnected one of the two positive battery cables going into the various wiring harness networks and with it removed, my chassis disconnect switch did as it should. It prevented enough current draw to prevent the motor from starting. Though, my dash still had power trickling in.
4) I've got pictures to review tomorrow and older schematics I drew way back when to find. That's a this weekend project.

In regards to posting this so others can note, I'll try to dig up the post from Mr. Bill Edwards, as that is where I originally brought my idea full circle. Believe it was a post in our old Yahoo emails.

Finally, it is date night with my fiancee and I'm beginning to get the stink eye, so gotta run. Thanks fellas for your time and thoughts.
r/wm
'95 Safari Continental, 8.3L, Ally

[Bilmac36]

Good morning, Thanks to John, Bill, Mel, Charles, et al, for all your input and time. I traced my positive cables yesterday and found my culprit. I had mistakenly connected the two positive cables that run to my boost solenoid to the house batteries. After hand over hand verifying where they ran I realized one should have been connected to my chassis battery bank. Again, appreciate all y’all taking the time to respond!
I have to transfer some pix and or log onto my phone so I can upload a few pix of this job. I'll try to recap the battery move so others will have a visual of this project.
Y'all have a good day and safe travels wondering the good ol U.S.A.
r/wm
Willie, '95 Continental, Cummins 8.3L, Ally