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Old 05-20-2007, 08:53 AM   #1
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We are having more electrical problems with our coach. Tryed to dry camp in a relative's yard. Batteries would not last overnight, and kept getting worse. We disabled the inverter, thinking that may be a problem, but it had no
effect. Even left generator one for over 4 hours thinking we would give them a good deep charge (it does show "charging" when on). Didn't help.

Moved to a campground thinking we would be safe using shore power until we get to WRV for our appointment on the 29th. This morning our batteries showed 3/4. One and a half hours later they show 1/2.

These problems seem different than the ones that some of you helped us with before (too small selenoid). We disconnect the chassis batteries, and so far the engine has started.

We have tried dry camping five times since owning this motor home (15 months), and have have problems of one sort or another every time.

In fact, we have never made one trip yet that we haven't had some kind of problem, and they have been "serious" to us. We are getting discouraged.

When we were at the Rally in Charlotte last Aug., none of the techs there could help us with our problem. It was some of you good people on the forum that made the suggestion that helped for that particular problem.

Does anybody have any ideas, or have I not given enough information to be of help.

We are less than 400 miles from the factory, but our appointment is not until the 29th.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Beverly and Buddy
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Old 05-20-2007, 08:53 AM   #2
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 307
We are having more electrical problems with our coach. Tryed to dry camp in a relative's yard. Batteries would not last overnight, and kept getting worse. We disabled the inverter, thinking that may be a problem, but it had no
effect. Even left generator one for over 4 hours thinking we would give them a good deep charge (it does show "charging" when on). Didn't help.

Moved to a campground thinking we would be safe using shore power until we get to WRV for our appointment on the 29th. This morning our batteries showed 3/4. One and a half hours later they show 1/2.

These problems seem different than the ones that some of you helped us with before (too small selenoid). We disconnect the chassis batteries, and so far the engine has started.

We have tried dry camping five times since owning this motor home (15 months), and have have problems of one sort or another every time.

In fact, we have never made one trip yet that we haven't had some kind of problem, and they have been "serious" to us. We are getting discouraged.

When we were at the Rally in Charlotte last Aug., none of the techs there could help us with our problem. It was some of you good people on the forum that made the suggestion that helped for that particular problem.

Does anybody have any ideas, or have I not given enough information to be of help.

We are less than 400 miles from the factory, but our appointment is not until the 29th.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Beverly and Buddy
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Old 05-21-2007, 02:41 PM   #3
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Yes, more info would spark better debate. What year, what appliances, and what do you think is running during this drain? Have you put an amp probe on the battery bank to see what the actual draw is? Can you read & post actual voltage at the batteries? Do you have any solar?

I suspect ESP (error some place) in the form of a bad connection, either hot wire in the charging cycle or ground completing it. Most battery "charge" meters read voltage and impute state of charge, but voltage during and after charging can be falaciously high and over-reporting charge. A high resistance connection can easily cause poor charging even while the charging volts show more or less normal. It could also be a large draw that you haven't identified, but odds of loosened connection are highest.
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Old 05-21-2007, 03:24 PM   #4
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I agree with Mike on this. If you have a coach that is 03 or older, like mine, open the battery compartment and take that stupid plastic cover off, (and throw it away) and look at the battery terminal way towards the back of the compartment. I suspect that the battery terminal with all of the wires on it is a big ball of white stuff. Wash it all off with a mixture of baking soda and water, using a paint brush. Then flood it with water. I suspect you will find that the terminal are corroded and gone. Why WRV in all their infinite wisdom put all of those cables and wires on that one battery teerminal beats me. A lot of us have move all of those wires to a buss bar up and away fromn the battery.
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Old 05-22-2007, 05:56 AM   #5
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Thanks for your posts, Stretch and E-Mike. We have a 2006 36'FDDS. We don't have the battery corrosion problem yet. We do have a 100 watt solar panel (which we realize now is probably a waste of money, since 100 watt is not much). We didn't have anything but what is a normal draw on the elec. We were sleeping (no heat on or anything else) and were awakened in the wee hours of the morning with the beep, beep,beep of low battery. When turning the generator on,they will charge (although now the light in the monitor may be out,because it will not come on at all). Then they will go down to half within an hour or two, with "nothing" extra on.

In Oct., we had batteries checked when we did our service. They were good at that time. Buddy has checked all connections. We don't have voltage meter with us now,so we haven't done that this time.

When hooked to shore power, sometimes the batteries will show 3/4 an then 1/2 charge, then back to fully charged. We'll stay totally in campgrounds with elec. until we get to WRV. Hopefully, this will be sufficient until we get there. Then we "hope" the techs can get the problem solved.

Thanks again.

Beverly
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Old 05-22-2007, 07:28 AM   #6
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Bev- The connections you can see are not all the connections. After the batt compartment, the red & black batt wires disappear thru the frame/bulkhead & have other connections (e.g. there is a switch on the left side panel of batt compartment to cut power from house batt's; connections at the inverter). You have to trace the wires to find them all. Do you have the residential fridge?
Our coach is electrically the same as yours (possibly except the RV fridge) with the 100W solar. We can dry camp using very little gen time to top off batteries. I have a feeling this is one of those simple, but livability-sapping bugs that once it is straightened out will bring great relief.
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Old 05-22-2007, 09:26 AM   #7
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It may be unrelated, but on my '06, the gen did not charge the batteries. It turned out that the inverter in the gen (didn't know it had one) was faulty and would not communicate with the Zantrax interter and was replaced by Onan under warranty.

That together with the replacement of the selenoid (fat-boy) solved the problem of rapid battery drain.
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Old 05-23-2007, 06:00 AM   #8
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E-Mike, we do have the Dometic refrig (which, by the way, is not working properly and has given lots of problems). We have not traced the wires you mentioned. Thanks for the encouraging words--you are probably right; it probably will be a simple fix once it's found. Glad to know the 100 watt solar panel is not a total waste of money if things are working properly.

Lundy, our gen. will charge the batteries. Thankfully, we don't have problem of the gen. not charging the batteries, as well.

Thanks for your posts.

Beverly
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Old 06-10-2007, 11:18 AM   #9
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Wanted to let you know that our electrical problem was related to letting the coach batteries get too low on water (Fortuately, the batteries are okay, but we know we didn't do them any good). Our battery floats had stuck. Buddy had been checking them, and everything showed okay; when, in fact, it was not. We did have them checked for size, and were told we have the correct float size. We now know to "thump" on them and also not to just depend on them totally as a gage.

Beverly
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