Community Forums

MarkofSJC · 11-27-2012, 12:19 PM

I posted this on the Class A forum, but thought readers in this forum may have additional insight.

Need your collective insight.

We're looking at a Country Coach (Magna) that was in excellent shape, but on the dealers' lot (for the brief time it was there), they allowed both the chassis and house batteries to go completely dead. Apparently couldn't even get a "click" out of it and had to charge them for a long time to get enought to start engine or generator.

It's a 2008 coach, but just standard batteries (not AGM), and they insist that the battery's health/cranking power wouldn't have been affected...but I'm suspicious.

Also, there seems to be a few gremlins as a result of it (blinking ATC light) they their tech said could be fixed with a "reboot".

In this scenario...what would you advise? We're newbies to this.

Mark

Sandpiper270 · 11-27-2012, 12:47 PM

While it is not a good sign that they let the batteries go dead, I would let a decision to buy the unit be significantly affected by the battery condition. The house batteries, if they are true deep cycle and wet cells, will probably not be affected too much. The start battery will, I just read they have about 15 deep cycles in them before they are dead. And that means you stop the discharge at about 10.5 volts. If these ran clear down to near zero, then the start battery will definitely be affected. Still, these are expendable items.

I would be more concerned about why they went dead. Unless the rig has been sitting for many months and not started, I would not expect the batteries to go dead. However, I have a 5th wheel, not a class A, so maybe they need plugged in unless you have a battery cutoff switch to disconnect any devices that normally have power always. This might be a propane detector or something like that.

jofo777 · 11-27-2012, 08:20 PM

Just factor in a new set of batteries in the price. They are likely to be original and would be very questionable even if they were charged. But if you are mainly staying in full hook-up situations then you could maybe keep them going for a while. If you do try to revive them it will take several "equalization cycles" to get them working better. That takes a special charger to force them to close to 16 volts for several hours. They will use a lot of water doing that. Bottom line, zeroing them out, with an older battery can be very hard on them.

SteveLevin · 11-27-2012, 09:03 PM

My opinion is that any batteries in a coach from a dealer are suspect. it's just too easy for someone to leave a fan going, or lights on, etc., and flatten the batteries like a Sunday morning crepe. I'd go for getting a discount for the value of the batteries and then go get your own top quality new ones.

Steve

deandec · 11-28-2012, 11:09 AM

As I replied on RV.net, it is likely at most you would have a battery problem that would require replacements. The rest of the coach would be a greater concern at purchase decision time.

You will have the ability to equalize your house batteries through your inverter.

If the rig had been undisturbed on the lot with the house battery switch on, the house batteries could be dead in about 5 days.

The chassis batteries should last about 4 weeks but would die due to chassis power draws if the chassis battery switch were left on.