Community Forums

Jbgrams · 11-03-2013, 09:29 AM

Well, here I am on the Newmar page, previous Winnebago owner. We traded for a 2014 Dutch Star in July. We have been so impressed with the coach and the Newmar factory thus far. But ran into a little problem this weekend, and I thought I might get a little input before calling Newmar on Monday.
After a short weekend outing about a week ago, we parked the coach in our storage shed. Did not use battery disconnect, we have plans to travel next week, so thinking things would be fine for about a week. Prepared to pull it out to clean it for our trip, chassis batteries totally dead. House batteries fine. So we used the battery boost to start the motor. Good so far. Hubby cranked it over, started fine, but the warning and indicator alarms and lights started going crazy. We figured it was due to low voltage issue. After a minute or so, everything cleared up except the check engine light stayed on Amber colored, and in the driver display screen, it says, COLMUN DRIVE OFF and !!!HIGH VOLTAGE!!! We continued to let it run to charge batteries, thinking all would clear. But it didn't. We ran it about 5 minutes or so, shut it off. The moniter says batteries 12.9. The coach sat for about 2 hours, batteries still showing 12.9-13, restarted it, still same messages. Backed it back in storage and used the battery disconnect this time. I have searched the freightliner manual, no reference found for HIGH VOLTAGE! Or column drive off.
Any suggestions?

GaryKD · 11-03-2013, 10:49 AM

Hi Jbgrams,
When batteries go dead, weird things will happen for some time. The chassis batteries will need a considerable amount of charge to bring them back to something the computers will be comfortable with. Consider putting a battery charger on the chassis batteries for 24-48 hours. The VDC reading you are now seeing is a surface charge that will not last. Column Drive is, most likely, Comfort Drive (Newmar's name). For me, discount the high voltage message until you get the chassis batteries fully charged.

The larger problem is why did the chassis batteries go dead after a short time? For me, after getting the chassis batteries fully charged I would do a load test on them to see if either battery is bad. Once you are sure the batteries are good, one must then go through the process of finding the offending circuit(s) that are drawing power when the coach is off.

dennis45 · 11-03-2013, 11:24 AM

The newer the coach, the more circuits on the chassis that draw current even when the rig is switched off.
When I park for any length of time and do not have access to shore power I turn off the Chassis Master Disconnect Switch in the Engine Compartment.

"007" · 11-05-2013, 12:24 PM

Welcome Jbgrams to the forum.
Here are a couple of links to maybe help you out 12v battery system and 12v wiring system.
The battery cut-offs mentioned by Gary and Dennis need to be operated if you have no 120v shore power at your storage location so Bird System can maintain your battery systems, the small solar panel will not help while under cover in storage shed.
To charge any battery bank a good voltage charger will charge faster than your Gen or alternator.

Jbgrams · 11-12-2013, 01:16 PM

Update: We took our coach in for repairs, it was indeed a bad alternator, causing the high voltage. We first stopped at our dealer, who sent us to Cummins dealer. My mistake was not calling Newmar prior to going to our dealer. After the coach at Cummins for 3 days with no answer, I called Newmar, who conference called Freightliner, (where we should've went). Freightliner called Cummins and all the problems handled from there. Part ordered and replaced, we picked the coach up on Monday, and today headed for Homestead Speedway for a little Nascar action! All in all everything was handled with great service from Newmar, Freightliner, and Cummins! So far, every issue, large or small, has been handled by the great customer service at Newmar! Thank you also for the input I received on this forum!

wa8yxm · 11-12-2013, 05:24 PM

"A little NASCAR action"

You need to google "World's Fastest RV"

Which by the way it is not. but the fastest one doubles as an office and laboratory so perhaps it does not qualify.

See if you can figure out which one that is.

(or should that be VEG)