Engine Battery dead??

[stearn]

We've been parked almost a month. I decided to start the MH, to retract the jacks. To my suprise the Battery was dead, I had to use the battery boost switch to start the engine. I did check the battery water and was ok. I thought all the batteries were on a slow charge.Is there something I'm missing??


"I like to operate the Gen, jacks, and engine once a month."

[stearn]

We've been parked almost a month. I decided to start the MH, to retract the jacks. To my suprise the Battery was dead, I had to use the battery boost switch to start the engine. I did check the battery water and was ok. I thought all the batteries were on a slow charge.Is there something I'm missing??


"I like to operate the Gen, jacks, and engine once a month."

[John-D]

More than likely your chassis battery is on no charge, and your house battery is on slow charge

you need either a 2nd battery maintainer, or a Trick-l-start, or an Echo Charger or service for your battery control system depending on what system you have (not all dual charge, some only charge both sets of batteries when the engine is running)

[Joe Gilbert]

You need to do some homework on your coach. Many motorhomes, as strange as it seems, do not maintain both the coach and chassis batteries. My motorhome does charge both however, many do not.

[Jeff H]

If that's the original Workhorse battery, it could be about 4 years old now depending on how long it sat around before being installed when your coach was built.
Our coach was built 9/05 and the Workhorse battery had to be replaced a couple of months ago. Luckily we were in warranty still by a week!

[DriVer]

Remember there will always be a parasitic draw on the engine battery and there's no positive cut off switch like in the case of the coach batteries.

Quite a few techs that I have spoken with have recommended that a knife type switch be installed on the automotive side to disconnect the automotive battery when in storage. If your battery was fully charged when you put the MH away when you close the switch you should have enough residual charge to crank the engine over. Aways attempt to start the engine first. Some folks will work their slideouts or jacks first and that may pull the battery down below the minimums where you need to be to crank the engine over.

If your battery is 4 or more years old and it's the "original" battery, I'd be looking for a new battery.

[Tom N]

I have a 38R and this is what I do and have done since the coach was new.

I placed a fully automatic battery charger in the basement compartment to the left of the door. There is a 120v outlet in that compartment. I then ran the wires out the wire port in the compartment floor and to the chassis battery located under the entrance steps. I leave the charger plugged into the outlet and connected to the chassis battery all the time. When I'm plugged in to shore power or running the generator my chassis battery is automatically charged as needed. The coach is 47 months old and has all original batteries. Works for me and the Smart Vector fully automatic 2/6/10 charger cost me all of $16.50.

Batteries are like tires. Take care of them and they'll take care of you.

-Tom

[MikeT]

What we need is someone to post a sticky that alerts folks to the fact that some coaches only charge house battery(s) on shore power, and chassis are not charged.

Or a list of things you ought know ---

[DriVer]

Tom,

That's excellent advice. A Battery Minder type device on the automotive battery will definitely extend the service life of a battery. I run one on my battery continuously.

If on the other hand an owner hasn't treated his battery with TLC all those years it is possible that the battery may be going away. Getting a new battery and a Battery Minder type device would be a good time to both in service at the same time.

[MikeT]

Who showed ya where to hook it up ????

[DriVer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by MikeT:
Who showed ya where to hook it up ???? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>U did .... now go back to the Dark Side.

[MikeT]

Merry Xmas

Dark side is dead tonight ---

[stearn]

Thanks to you all for sharing your knowledge. I like the battery tender idea, that will be my next project!
I forgot to mention I had the batteries checked, before trip. The two coach batts, checked ok,but engine bat had to be replaced. I'm sure it won't belong for the other two. Thanks again!

[DancinCampers]

My approach was to wire a toggle switch between the house and chassis batteries. When the coach is parked at home I leave the switch on, house battery disconnect switch off, and the solar panel keeps all the batteries charged. If I am parked somewhere longer than a week I will turn on the switch several days before we leave.

My Optima batteries are 5 years old next month, so far so good.