Community Forums

smasiello · 07-24-2019, 10:16 PM

Hi All,

I am a newbie class A owner. Last week I came home with a 2020 Thor Challenger. For the past few years I have owned a Coachmen Freelander Class C.

My question is how I can keep my chassis battery from draining. With my class C, it doesn't seem like anything really drained the chassis battery when it was sitting in front of my home and plugged into house power. After the Challenger sitting in front of my home and plugged into house power for the past 24-48 hours, I walked out this evening to find that the chassis battery was dead as a doornail. The house batteries were fine, but I had to get my jumper battery to charge the chassis battery. The rig has an inverter (New to me. Didn't have one in my Freelander) and a solar panel, which I thought was supposed to keep the batteries charged, but apparently I am not clear on what the purpose of the solar panel is.

If I am plugged into house power at my home, is there something specific that I should be doing in order to keep the chassis battery charged? Or at least keep it from draining? At this point i have just unplugged from house power and turned off the main power switch.

Thanks in advance!

--Sam

Mnoel · 07-25-2019, 08:36 PM

When plugged in, do not turn off the main power (use/store switch). If it is not turned off, you may have a problem with the relay in the power control center. Sometimes called a BIRD. There are lots of threads you can search to help you figure it out.

smasiello · 07-27-2019, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mnoel

When plugged in, do not turn off the main power (use/store switch). If it is not turned off, you may have a problem with the relay in the power control center. Sometimes called a BIRD. There are lots of threads you can search to help you figure it out.

Turning off the main power while plugged in isn't possible. The rig won't let you.

bsheet2 · 08-08-2019, 08:32 PM

I am new as well. Just bought a new to me 2017 Challenger 37YT. Have had it plugged in to 120 volt here at the house a few days. One thing I noticed was that I had to keep the inverter turned on for the house batteries to charge from shore power. But I did not have a problem with the engine battery. I was running the generator a good bit so we had air-conditioning. Maybe that kept the engine battery charged? I know this does not address your specific issue.

FYI, I did see one feature in the owner manual. You can use the house batteries to start the engine if the engine battery is dead. There is a switch on the dash. I think I read that correctly.

KC · 08-18-2019, 12:30 PM

I added a shut off switch in the battery compartment to make sure the batteries don't lose a charge.

KC

bsheet2 · 08-19-2019, 05:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bsheet2

I am new as well. Just bought a new to me 2017 Challenger 37YT. Have had it plugged in to 120 volt here at the house a few days. One thing I noticed was that I had to keep the inverter turned on for the house batteries to charge from shore power. But I did not have a problem with the engine battery. I was running the generator a good bit so we had air-conditioning. Maybe that kept the engine battery charged? I know this does not address your specific issue.

FYI, I did see one feature in the owner manual. You can use the house batteries to start the engine if the engine battery is dead. There is a switch on the dash. I think I read that correctly.

Update. The above was not correct. You do not need the inverter turned on to charge the house batteries. My bad. Sorry if this confused anyone.

bsheet2 · 08-19-2019, 05:49 AM

I am new as well. So take this with a grain of salt. The engine battery is supposed to be isolated from the house batteries. So plugging in to shore power should not charge the engine battery.

marcdohc · 10-10-2019, 04:59 PM

Hoping your problem is not Thor manufacturing related, which it very well might be.
Is there any chance you're leaving the radio on the dashboard on or maybe your over dashboard lights? I believe those run off the engine battery.

van-gogh · 10-11-2019, 07:53 AM

Welcome to the IRV2.com FORUM(S).

When you first enter this group, a new Member may feel a bit overwhelmed by all the forums you can find here. First, you need to set up your USER CP
Once you open and start a menu will open on the left side just take it all in the step-by-step top to bottom.

NEXT, you will find this forum is made up of 14-Forums broken into four-part forums. First is the HOME, top left above the member's menu. This forum is very helpful to new members to learn and become more familiar with overtime.

NEXT TO HOME is FORUMS on the top left covering Community, RV Lifestyles, Regional and RV Camping. and to the right of this is RV Forums.

RV FORUMS on the top left covers a lot about TRUCKS, Conversations, MVT's, HDT's, Travel Trailers/5th Wheel Chassis & TECH stuff, Chassis CLUB, RV SYSTEMS, Powertrain Garage.

Then you have the OWNERS FORUMS Covering Registry, A-M, and N-Z.

Now if you pan down to the bottom of the page you will find other FORUMS and if you know or have a Class B, you can direct or join the CLASS B FORUMS at Class B Forums And if you get down to Florida this link may be very HELPFUL http://www.CampFlorida.com Enjoy the Roads.

So welcome you again, I hope you join in the fun and share your knowledge by helping new members find their way in this forum as you would in, any RV Park. Again, make sure to set up your USER CP as this is helpful to you and other members. Again if you enjoy or think of starting your own RV Blog you can do that here as well above on menu bar is BLOGS Enjoy and safe TRAVELS. You can also find RV PARKS above in CAMPGROUNDS.