Electrical Issues

[ATCVet]

Just bought a used 2016 Coachmen Mirada on a Ford Super Duty chassis with the V10 engine. Took it out for its maiden voyage, and all was well until the return trip. Battery warning light came on, but vehicle didn't die within a couple miles like a normal vehicle would. Then all warning lights on the dash came on. Pulled over at a rest stop, shut the engine off and lost absolutely everything. Went into nearest town and purchased new chassis battery and installed. Started motor and no warning lights at all. Five miles down the road battery warning lights came on. No other warning lights came on. We were close to home so we limped it on in to our storage facility.

Mobil mechanic replaced the alternator and still getting the battery light immediately after starting. Replaced the 250 amp bus fuse. Initially no battery light upon start, but after 30 seconds battery light comes on.

House batteries are completely drained as well.

Does this model have an additional fuse on the fuse panel by the driver's seat? Anybody else have this issue or have an idea what it could be?


Michael Fox

[wolfe10]

Need to troubleshoot your charging system-- lots cheaper than throwing parts at it. Battery isolator is a good place to start.


And emergency work-around: Start generator. That will power the converter or inverter/charger which will charge the house battery bank. With boost/battery combiner switch on, that will then charge the chassis battery. You could drive cross country like that if you needed to.

[Lt Dan]

Your house batteries being completely drained sucked too much power from the alternator where it could not keep up once the battery merge kicked in. As suggested, start the generator to charge the house batteries or they may be so far depleted it will require a heavy duty battery charger to bring them back up.