Community Forums

BarryN514 · 07-18-2014, 02:36 PM

This has been an on going problem since I bought the MH back in Nov.

If I don't go start the rig up at least every 2 weeks, the battery will not start the engine and house battery will not either. EVERY time I leave the coach, I check everything at least twice and always make sure the power switches are in the off position. Tod

ay is the 3 time, I have had to jump it.

Have checked the water in all batteries and the house batteries were a little low so topped them off.

Any thoughts?

cwit · 07-18-2014, 02:45 PM

Have you checked your compartment lights?

jerichorick · 07-18-2014, 02:48 PM

Hi Barry. Sorry you are having so much trouble. Your description sounds familiar. Two things come to mind: Your charger (But I guess you already checked it) and your B.I.R.D. relay. Many of our coaches have this problem child on board. It isolates your battery banks and is the relay used as the AUX start. It can be functioning mechanically but have bad contacts. See if you can find this in your wiring diagram. They usually cost about $35 and replacement is from easy to gut wrenching, depending on your coach build.

I hope this helps.

Rick Y

cwit · 07-18-2014, 02:50 PM

I take it you are not plugging it in 2 weeks is just about right for dead batteries. Do you have a main battery disconnect?

BarryN514 · 07-18-2014, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Do you have a main battery disconnect?

The above pictures I thought was the battery disconnects.

Quote:

Your charger (But I guess you already checked it) and your B.I.R.D. relay. Many of our coaches have this problem child on board.

Charger? Sorry, don't know what the B.I.R.D. is?

jerichorick · 07-19-2014, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BarryN514

The above pictures I thought was the battery disconnects.

Charger? Sorry, don't know what the B.I.R.D. is?

You do have an inverter? Most of them charge the batteries too - both house and start. The relay is used by Winnebago to select the bank to be charged. This is done automatically by the way the relay senses the bank voltages. It may not be called a B.I.R.D but that is what the industry calls the devise. You need your wiring diagram to see if you have or have not this devise. Also, do you have a Fleetwood hotline to call? That would be a good way to go.

The post about the basement lights is a valid one to follow up on. But, both banks going down tells me something else is a problem. Two weeks for the start batteries to fade is not good. Either you have some unknown devise turned on, one on each battery bank, or you have a serious equipment failure.

We all look forward to hearing of your resolve.

Rick Y

BarryN514 · 07-19-2014, 06:14 PM

Thanks for the replies. I will check to see if I have the wiring diagram and will call FW this next week.

Quote:

Have you checked your compartment lights?

No I haven't but have checked other things and when I switch the battery disconnect, everything went off.

jerichorick · 07-20-2014, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BarryN514

Thanks for the replies. I will check to see if I have the wiring diagram and will call FW this next week.

No I haven't but have checked other things and when I switch the battery disconnect, everything went off.

That is good about the battery disconnect sw. At least that relay is working.

Keep us posted.

We all love a good mystery to be solved.

C-PHartley · 07-20-2014, 07:53 AM

Have you had the batteries tested. They may be old enough to be getting weak.

macgyver · 07-20-2014, 08:02 AM

Barry, On most RV's the co/lp detectors are fused straight from the batteries ( always on) there are other parasitic draws that can be problems as well. Dirty batteries will go dead as well. Also if there is a battery minder for the chassis batteries and is connected but not plugged in it will discharge the batteries. That disconnect switch in the coach has to get power from somewhere to turn off and on the power so the batteries are never disconnected are they? the only true disconnect will involve installing a manual switch at the batteries or disconnecting the battery cables. If your coach has a RV fridge it is probably fused around the disconnect as well

JohnBoyToo · 07-20-2014, 08:11 AM

I feel your pain as our new 5er has been plagued with that since theday we took it home.
Seems like some genius thought it was a good idea to leave some things always live on our particular brand.
The battery disconnects do not disconnect. Us and others with my brand have that issue
Hope your mfg didn't hire the same bright person :-)

Skip426 · 07-20-2014, 08:17 AM

A 2013 , I would hope your not looking at a bad battery , but it is possible; particularly after multiple discharges, start batteries don't like that.
Questions.
After you get the coach started, how log do you run it to charge the batteries? Fully discharged , particularly if both banks are low could take 6>8 hours of driving time for a full charge.
You say the coach won't start even with the aux/emergency start switch.
Have you tested the coach batteries when this happens?
Could be the switch and relay are only powered from the chassis battery, in that case they won't activate.

nothermark · 07-20-2014, 08:23 AM

All the newer truck chassis have the same problem so the MH chassis probably do too. There are enough monitoring and computer loads on the system to bleed a battery down over a few weeks. Leaving a GPS or anything similar plugged in exacerbates the problem. Best bet is a battery minder/float charger type setup that keeps the chassis battery topped off.

SarahW · 07-20-2014, 11:41 AM

Barry, do you have an inverter on your Bounder? Seems like I read someplace that the inverter causes a parasitic draw even when not operating, though I don't know if that's the case. We turn our inverter off when in storage--we don't leave the RV plugged in and there's no "inverting" going on.

We have a 2012 model and we have never had our batteries draw down when the mains are cut off, even after months in storage.