Community Forums

skyking421 · 03-09-2015, 12:03 PM

I have a similar problem with my gas powered Adventurer and used an ammeter to check the different chassis circuits.
This should be the easiest way to diagnose the drain, but one has to be careful when connecting the ammeter.
I noticed that mine had a greater than 10 amp drain, when first connecting the meter, but dropped down to 1.5 amps after about 5 seconds. I guess the electronics charged up, then went idle.
After the drain stabilized, I pulled each chassis fuse (near the brake pedal), until the drain dropped. I used small jumper wires with alligator clips, to extend the leads of the meter. On mine, the drain was the "instrument panel fuse", so at least it is narrowed down to that.
Be careful not to turn on any high current items, or the ammeter will pop its own fuse.

pokgunner · 03-10-2015, 03:42 PM

To all:
I found the problem!! There is a 1/0 cable that runs form the chassis battery disconnect to an isolated stud and on to power the slide outs. That wire was laying on the exhaust pipe, at a place where there is about an inch of clearance, between the exhaust and chassis. There is some kind of thermo wrapping around the pipe but it was not enough to keep the insulation from melting apparently it was enough to prevent a dead short. But when I move it off the exhaust (abut 3 inches of the plastic insulation was melted) my battery drain is down to less than one amp)

I suspect that this poorly located wire is a problem only on the rare Freightlinner chassis.

pokgunner · 03-10-2015, 03:52 PM

Aauummm:
I am new to using a forum so I do not know how/if you get my resolution. So I am trying this way to let you know I found the problem.

But yous seem quit knowledgeable and I have a related question of curiosity. It turns out that the wring, connect to the chassis battery disconnect relay that is not on the drawing is about 8 gauge and is Red. It runs into a loom that includes an equally sized wire that is black with a white stripe and is connect directly to the negative battery post. I tired to follow where it goes but gave up, too much work for a non problem. The starter will not engage unless this wire is hooked up, but it does NOT go to the starter solenoid. Any ideas as to what it is for?

puttin · 03-10-2015, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pokgunner

To all:
I found the problem!! There is a 1/0 cable that runs form the chassis battery disconnect to an isolated stud and on to power the slide outs. That wire was laying on the exhaust pipe, at a place where there is about an inch of clearance, between the exhaust and chassis. There is some kind of thermo wrapping around the pipe but it was not enough to keep the insulation from melting apparently it was enough to prevent a dead short. But when I move it off the exhaust (abut 3 inches of the plastic insulation was melted) my battery drain is down to less than one amp)

I suspect that this poorly located wire is a problem only on the rare Freightlinner chassis.

Good work, maybe the Freightliner chassis forum would be good to post this...I'll bet there are a few FRED owners there. 1 amp is still a bit high for a parasitic load I think. You might want to buy a Trickle Start. It will keep your new batteries topped off while your rig is plugged in or on generator.http://tricklestart.

aauummm · 03-10-2015, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pokgunner

Aauummm:
I am new to using a forum so I do not know how/if you get my resolution. So I am trying this way to let you know I found the problem.

But yous seem quit knowledgeable and I have a related question of curiosity. It turns out that the wring, connect to the chassis battery disconnect relay that is not on the drawing is about 8 gauge and is Red. It runs into a loom that includes an equally sized wire that is black with a white stripe and is connect directly to the negative battery post. I tired to follow where it goes but gave up, too much work for a non problem. The starter will not engage unless this wire is hooked up, but it does NOT go to the starter solenoid. Any ideas as to what it is for?

pokgunner-first let me congratulate you on finding your big problem!

Next, I subscribed to this thread so that I get an email notification whenever anyone posts in it. Nifty little feature of these forums. Now for your other question on the red wire. I can only guess. It might be connected to some solenoid that will not let you start the MH if the slides are out, steps are down or your leveling jacks are not completely up. I didn't download your wiring diagram so I'm just guessing.

Thanks for updating us on solving your problem. It gives us a bit of peace of mind knowing that you're good to go and, in addition, your thread may help out some other RV'er.

If I get a chance I'll take a look at your wiring diagram but I can't promise much as I am in the middle of changing out all of my batteries and refurbishing the battery tray!

PS-if you want to be notified of people posting in your thread, click on "Thread Tools" above and then select "subscribe to this thread" and then select "instant email notification".

pokgunner · 03-10-2015, 06:50 PM

Here is the funny one I was using a trickle charger. I think at first it was barely producing enough to handle the drain. Then latter the check battery came on a few times, until I tried to change the battery and found that I have a big problem.

I am going to buy a higher quality amp meter, I have two but neither is digital readout. All that I know now is that the drain (sans the bad wire) is less than one amp but I do not know how much less.

Good guess on that other wire, being some kind of safety, but I find it weird that they wired it directly to the battery (assuming that the red wired and the black with white stripe that are in the same loom (by them selves) go to the same place. I was actually trying to find where they go when I found the melted insulation on the 1/0.

Also thanks for the tip on how to get notified on the forums. I suspect I will be using it more often.

TQ60 · 03-10-2015, 07:02 PM

Locate a disconnect device or fuse.

That is not safe...

There could be a large fuse and the short you had was more of a leaking issue that would not have blown the fuse.

Check it and make corrections.

Check rest of unit for other such things and make repairs.

aauummm · 03-10-2015, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pokgunner

Here is the funny one I was using a trickle charger. I think at first it was barely producing enough to handle the drain. Then latter the check battery came on a few times, until I tried to change the battery and found that I have a big problem.

I am going to buy a higher quality amp meter, I have two but neither is digital readout. All that I know now is that the drain (sans the bad wire) is less than one amp but I do not know how much less.

Good guess on that other wire, being some kind of safety, but I find it weird that they wired it directly to the battery (assuming that the red wired and the black with white stripe that are in the same loom (by them selves) go to the same place. I was actually trying to find where they go when I found the melted insulation on the 1/0.

Also thanks for the tip on how to get notified on the forums. I suspect I will be using it more often.

Yep, a good meter is worth it. I saw that you posted your experience on the Freightliner Forum. That's great, you never know who'll read that and save themselves a lot of trouble!

pokgunner · 03-14-2015, 02:51 PM

To Asuummm
Turns out I was half right the wiring link you sent me does not include 12 volt wiring diagrams only installation information. That is what Winnebago said to use 2009 as being mostly correct

aauummm · 03-14-2015, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pokgunner

To Asuummm
Turns out I was half right the wiring link you sent me does not include 12 volt wiring diagrams only installation information. That is what Winnebago said to use 2009 as being mostly correct

If you go to the link and click on "Wiring Diagram Help" it says to click on "Wiring Identification Guide". The Guide then gives you the codes that are printed on each wire and the "location to and from" for each wire. This info would correlate to the installation diagrams given for the 2010 models.

I see that the 2009 diagrams are pretty detailed-I haven't looked at them for my unit to see how they match up.

pokgunner · 03-22-2015, 09:00 AM

After about 11 hours of finding, removing and replacing, the problem is resolved. Attached is what happens when Winnebago routes a 1/0 cable nest to the exhaust pipe.

I do not know about other models, but with mine Winnebago seems to have gone out of its way to make it much more difficult than it needs to be to work on the unit. In fact my anger over how hard it is to either make repairs or to improve unit to how it should have been designed to begin with has usurped my anger over the fact that nearly every time I use the RV something breaks or I find a piss poor design issue.

puttin · 03-22-2015, 09:13 AM

I think you should try to take another picture or two of this wire's location and the burned section you posted and then send it to Winnebago. I beleive this is a serious issue and if the problem is with Freightliner then Winne will inform them. If you feel like it, also communicate with NHTSB.
https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/Vehicl...nt/index.xhtml

aauummm · 03-22-2015, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pokgunner

After about 11 hours of finding, removing and replacing, the problem is resolved. Attached is what happens when Winnebago routes a 1/0 cable nest to the exhaust pipe.

I do not know about other models, but with mine Winnebago seems to have gone out of its way to make it much more difficult than it needs to be to work on the unit. In fact my anger over how hard it is to either make repairs or to improve unit to how it should have been designed to begin with has usurped my anger over the fact that nearly every time I use the RV something breaks or I find a piss poor design issue.

I agree with puttin, that is a serious issue. The owners of the other nine units that were built with the FRED option should be informed about it and get it fixed before a fire is started or something else happens.

Also, since it does appear to be a design flaw, Winnebago/Freightliner should pay for the fix and for your new batteries, etc.

pokgunner · 03-23-2015, 08:09 AM

I agree with the two of you. In fact I sent a picture to Winnebago, before posting it on this site.

I very much doubt that they will offer anything. My experience with Winnebago standing behind its product has been terrible. Heck they have yet to respond to two earlier related emails. One was when I asked what the normal battery drain rate is (that is what caused me to turn to this site). The other was when I asked, where dose the four wires on the non battery side of the Chassis disconnect go (only three show up in the drawing).

I do not know if I got a lemon or not, but based on my experience I would never buy another Winnebago product (within 20 minutes after I took delivery it started to rain and when I tried to turn on the windshield wiper the switch fell out of the dash). But I also bought it when the RV market was at its lowest point so perhaps I am a victim of cost cutting measures.

I had a much more expensive, issue where the bolts holding the middle slide out ram were broken, causing the slide-out to bow so much I could not open the lower compartments, The dealer "fixed" the bow problem twice under warranty. Camping world "fixed" the bow once after warranty. I finnally decided to try to fix it myself and found that during the prior "fixes" the heads of half of the bolts, holding the ram to the slide out had been snapped off and where therefore holding nothing. Those bolts are made with a soft alloy that Winnebago won't identify.

So I decide to try to get the headless bolts out to replace them. After carefully cribbing the slide out, I removed the bolts with heads. Imagine my surprise when the ram then fell down! The two main bolts (not the headless ones) that hold the ram up were broken! That is the slide out was holding the middle ram up, instead of the middle ram holding the slide out up!

No wonder it kept bowing. (When bolted to the slide out the broken bolts look perfectly fine, and that is why the other fixers did not see the problem, although they should have wondered when it kept bowing)

To get to those bolts the slide out must be removed. I got two estimates for repairs. one at $7,000, the other for $9,000. The extended warranty does not cover broken bolts and Winnebago wouldn't offer as much as an apology.

But I like the suggestion of sending my picture to NHTSB, I sure do not owe Winnebago any favors.