Community Forums

Spiderwoman · 06-29-2017, 02:02 PM

Hello All.

Looking for some advice to resolve our starting problem. We just brought the RV back from the Factory the end of March and it has been stored inside and plug in to a 50amp and used for Guest Purposes. We tried to start the Engine today and it is completely dead. The Cummins Gas Generator is working and doing a monthly maintenance run with it but the engine will not turn over. We had Batteries replaced by Newmar because we had a similar problem after our Hail Damage to the Coach and had to stop each evening and plug in to keep the Coach going on our way to Indiana. We drove home with no problems and now trying to run the engine we have no battery power. The Battery Booster will not work either. Any suggestions?

Traxless · 06-29-2017, 04:37 PM

First I'd try to charge the battery with a battery charger. Secondly, I'd have the battery tested for a bad cell. If the battery tests show that the battery is good, then there is a good chance something is draining the battery while it's stored.

Tetonchief · 06-29-2017, 08:19 PM

You could have a bad B.I.R.D and/or battery charge relay. I had to replace mine as the relay was stuck open. When on shore power my chassis battery would drain dead. Newmar can send you the test procedure for this via email. It was easy enough for me to figure it out but to be safe I had a mobile tech come do the installation. They change the relay switch since my original so the new one needed some finesse to get it hooked up.

Spiderwoman · 06-30-2017, 06:56 AM

Thanks for the info. Will try your suggestions and for any other Forum members who have had similar issues please continue to provide suggestions.

BPoland · 06-30-2017, 07:58 AM

Also, you need to realize that the battery boost button simply connects the chassis and house batteries together. You will need to hold the switch down to allow power to go from one bank to the other. Momentarily holding the battery boost button, isn't enough.

Mike and Cha · 07-01-2017, 09:34 AM

We had the same issue with ours last year. At first it seemed that my whole electrical system was out of whack as once I got the battery charged enough to start the engine, it didn't show the correct readings while charging on any of the sources. Then once shut down the chassis battery would drain, in a matter of 30 minutes, too low to start the engine. The house batteries held a little better, but using the battery boost did nothing. I like to start with the simplest thing first so I replace the chassis battery. I found the same exact battery at Costco for $89, and it has a 48 month replacement warranty no matter what vehicle you put it in. Once I replaced the chassis battery, all the systems returned to normal, charged at the correct levels from all sources, and the float levels were back to the original levels. That was over a year ago with no further battery issues. Our battery was only two years old at the time, but even though we bought our MH new you never know how the batteries were maintained prior to the purchase.

vsheetz · 07-01-2017, 09:41 AM

A check of charging system can be done by putting a meter on the battery with charging disabled. Then enable charging. You should see an increase of about 1 volt. If no change, not charging.