1981 Winnie Warrior charging wiring

fleamarketer · 10-06-2011, 11:51 AM

I just had a theft of the starting battery while it was in outdoor storage.They cut what looks like the ground cable.Also before this I had a shop move the starter battery to behind the rad support on top the forward well area so I could add a second deep cell to the house batteries.

I am not seeing a second smaller wire from the Alt to the positive connection of the battery for recharging the battery.Am I missing that wire??.Or is recharging the battery done in the wiring harness somewhere else??.

I am in the middle of what is called "The Big Three" upgrade for my daily driver which is a lager cable for the battery to chassis ground,engine to chassis ground and a larger cable from the output of the Alt to the battery.It's that is got me to question if I am missing the charging cable on the RV.I do somewhat remember older harnesses like this one that had only one cable too,but I don't remember how those circuits worked.

fleamarketer · 10-07-2011, 01:02 PM

Tap-tap-tap.Is this thing on??.

I thought someone would have some input.

Well I got it started again yesterday,but did not have my meter with me.So I guess I got to go back to my shop and bring that out to meter the battery while the engine is running to see what's what.

Dave78Chief · 10-07-2011, 01:35 PM

fleamarketer,
I saw your post but didn't have an answer for you. All I know is the Warrior was initially on some form of a chevy chassis which I seem to recall was front wheel drive. Later models were diesel.

Good luck,
Dave

dgapilot · 10-07-2011, 04:03 PM

Email Winnebago, they will send you the wiring diagrams for your coach. They just sent mine for my '87 a couple weeks ago.

JimM68 · 10-07-2011, 04:06 PM

Your meter will tell the story.

If I was to make a guess based on simple logic, there is a mechanical disconnect switch somewhere. 1 wire from the battery to the disconnect. Any wires from the chassis or house would go on the other side of the disconnect.

fleamarketer · 10-08-2011, 11:01 AM

Well I am going to meter it running on the starter battery and might just run a number two wire from the output of the alt to the + side of the battery.

Wallaby Dan · 10-08-2011, 09:43 PM

Gary, The Alternator has the power coming from it to the connection on the starter. If you had a isolation switch the Alt. wire would go to it and then the engine power would come off one of that lead and the other lead would feed the coach battery. Hope that helps. Dan

fleamarketer · 10-09-2011, 12:41 AM

Dan-the house batteries does have a solenoid in line.I am guessing that if I find the starter battery doesn't show the alt charging it,I could rely on the alt's regulator and feed that battery direct from the output of the alt with a number 2 wire.

Wallaby Dan · 10-09-2011, 11:32 AM

You can but would loose the charge for them. it would only charge the engine battery. Don't try and hook up both battery banks together as when you are using the house battery's it will also discharge the engine battery too. Sometimes the relay goes bad. That could be why you seem to have any power. I doubt if they stole that relay. I am not sure why they took the ground wire unless they were having trouble with there vehicle and yours was just sitting there waiting for them with a new battery. You know what kids are like. Hope there isn't too much damage. Will check in later if you still have any questions. Dan

fleamarketer · 10-09-2011, 06:41 PM

What I think happened is when the shop I had add a second house,they never ran a second charging wire to the starter battery.I was beating my head against the wall thinking I had a short when what was happening is the engine was running off the starter battery without recharging it killing the battery.I'll know more in the next couple of days when I get back to it.Taking some beach time on the last good days left.

Wallaby Dan · 10-10-2011, 08:04 PM

Enjoy it as it is getting colder now here. We are getting 40's to upper 70's. Winter snowbirds are showing up. We have three new ones and one older one so far. He comes back every year. Another is coming in as well. Our "liars" club will be back again! Have a good time, Dan

fleamarketer · 10-11-2011, 09:44 PM

I went back to it this evening.The one remaining house deep cell which has not been charged in sometime showed on my digital meter 6.75.The starter battery showed 12.75.Running the engine the house battery showed 13 and change and the starter battery showed 14.75 or so. So it is charging both circuits.Just above the alt is a solenoid on a bracket and then there is a second solenoid on the rad core support passenger side which runs to the house batteries.Below that is three small boxes that I am guessing is the relays.

So indirectly I am disappointed that I didn't find the reason why the starter battery over a short period of time goes dead.I know now through that I can drive it to the shop from where it is being stored.