Community Forums

kerrbe · 11-27-2013, 09:01 PM

On our 1998 Seaview our engine battery is being drained when we are not hooked up to shore power. We have to push the switch on the dash to draw from the house batteries to get the engine started. Took it to the shop and he said it was a bad relay or something. It has been 5 months and they still cant find the part. Any ideas on what he was talking about? He disconnected one of the cables from the battery but then of course we had to reconnect it to have any power in the coach. As long as we are plugged into shore power everything is fine. So should we just put some sort of disconnect on it and shut it off if we are not going to use it?

chboone · 11-28-2013, 12:36 AM

How long does it take for the battery to go dead? Is this something that started recently? Do you know how old the battery/batteries are? If they are over 5 years, you should have them tested. Walmart or any auto parts store can test them. If my MH sites for about two weeks without being connected to shore power the chassis battery will go dead because of parasitic power drain. If you don't have any power to the coach with the cable off the tech disconnected, he disconnected the wrong battery. If yours is like my Dolphin you should have three batteries, one 12 volt for the chassis and two 6 volt for the coach.

Chuck

donhoward49 · 11-28-2013, 06:03 AM

#1, find a new mechanic. One that can find the relay and test it.
#2 buy a knife blade switch ( Camping World) and install it on the negative side of the battery. If unplugged open the switch. I just did this because their is power drain when it sits unplugged and unused. I paid about $30 for the switch and $5 for a negative cable at O'Reilly Auto..

kerrbe · 11-30-2013, 03:24 PM

Put the switch on the negative side of the chassis battery?

donhoward49 · 11-30-2013, 06:18 PM

yes, negative side. I did respond to your private message.

donhoward49 · 11-30-2013, 10:19 PM

Lets look at this some more.
how fast will the battery drain, two days, two weeks? Is the battery good? if you charge it fully (maybe at home) will it hold charge, while disconnected, several days. As stated before if it takes a few weeks then a switch might fix it, if it goes dead overnight then lets rule out a bad battery before moving on. If a relay is needed someone will know where to get one.
Hang in their, lets figure this out, may we can all learn.

chboone · 11-30-2013, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chboone

How long does it take for the battery to go dead? Is this something that started recently? Do you know how old the battery/batteries are? If they are over 5 years, you should have them tested.
Chuck

That is one of the questions I had, "how long does it take for it to go dead". If the battery has been drained completely dead several time, it may not have much life left in it anyway.

Chuck

DaveG39 · 12-01-2013, 10:21 AM

How old is the battery? I would take it out and take it to a garage to have it load tested. Sounds like dead cells and needing a replacement. Only a load test will tell. if load test passes then start looking at charging relays.

kerrbe · 12-01-2013, 12:51 PM

Battery is 3 years old. It takes about 2 hours to drain it when we are not using the couch. House batteries are fine, just the chassis battery goes dead. While sitting without any lights or anything on, and the house switch is on you can hear a clicking in the compartment where the fuses and the power tek board with the fuses are. I was told that the switch you use to start off the house batteries when the chassis battery is dead is this little box with power tek disconnect written on it.

donhoward49 · 12-01-2013, 03:48 PM

take out the battery. If you have a charger at home charge it up, two days. Take it to Auto Zone, O'Reillys, or any good auto store. Let them test it. If its a bad battery, then you need a new one, but I am not sure I would leave it hooked up if You think their is a drain on it..
You might want to start a new post, Good Rv repair in (your town)... Let them find if you have a short, or no charging on it.

"007" · 12-01-2013, 07:48 PM

You may have your LP Detector working off the chassis battery, if no switch, pull fuse for it and it will drain your chassis battery in short order.

jacksongster · 12-02-2013, 12:53 PM

Hi...I am a new member and have been reading the thread about this. Today, after sitting on a site, connected to 50 amps, I went to start the MH and the chassis battery was dead. I checked out the battery control center in my 04 Dolphin 5355 (which is in the basement under the passenger seat) and compared the configuration with the layout shown on the cover for the BCC. Having traced all the components, it would appear there is no provision for charging the chassis battery with the converter/charger. In other words the situation for the chassis battery is no different whether the rig is connected to a power source or not. This comes as quite a surprise when you consider starting the generator requires chassis battery power. A couple of questions: 1. Is my research as shown above correct;
2. Is it possible to simply tie the chassis battery into the converter/charger (in the same way the house battery is conntect) to correct the problem?

Thanks in advance

jacksongster

donhoward49 · 12-02-2013, 09:56 PM

jacksongster
I hope someone more knowledgeable come on to answer you.. On mine the chassis and house charge when plugged in or from generator. On mine the generator starts from the house batteries.. This is also what they call hijacking the post.. So start a new post and see how many guys come on to help you.

chboone · 12-02-2013, 10:57 PM

My 12 volt panel does charge the chassis battery once the coach batteries are fully charged. From what I have read here and on the Yahoo groups National RV group, National ordered the boards with the charging feature. Two things can cause your chassis not to be charged, 1. The interconnect relay is not working, 2. There is a problem with the circuit board. The circuit board was made by RV Custom Products in Santa Fe Springs, CA. give them a call at 562.921.8353 and ask for all information that is available for your board. They will need the product number of the board, they will tell you where to look for it. Also tell them that your board is not charging your chassis battery.

Chuck