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FLYING BUTCH · 08-03-2010, 07:53 AM

I called Wal-Mart and sounded like a young girl answered the auto dept phone. Told her I needed 6 six volt batteries for my motor home. I told her twice to make sure they were six volt!! Went to pick them up and no markings about voltage on them. The model # did have a -6 in it. Installed them and went to look on my voltage system in the coach to find out there was 24 volts!!! not 12. After several calls to Monaco and checking wireing (several hours gone by) I checked the voltage of a single batery. 12 volt not 6!!!!! Thank God the inverter stopped EVERYTHING from frying. The Trac Vison TV would not work-again several hours on phone and was able to hot wire it but it will not have any futher protection. NOW I found out the HWH air bag system will not work. I called them and tech told me the board was fried $1200. We may have it hot wired so it will level trying to get 2000 miles back home. Went to Wal-Mart and filed a claim but manager didn't think I had a case!!! Like I said I just need to vent. Headed to FMCA ralley and hope I can get hooked up with a HWH tech to maybe look at it???

RoadRohrers · 08-03-2010, 08:22 AM

How many caps on the battery? Six caps = 12v Three caps = 6v. Have taken this to be universal, but there are usually exceptions. Hope damage is not more severe.

JohnLori · 08-03-2010, 08:58 AM

I sure hope this all works out ok with no further damage. When you went to the store, did you deal with the same person who answered the phone? Was there an auto technician around who could have verified the voltage of the batteries? Unfortunately, since they didn't do the installation, I doubt you have a case against Walmart.

Ed-Sommers · 08-03-2010, 10:41 AM

This should probably be under the heading "Mistakes I have made", and heavy on the I.

Ed

RoadRohrers · 08-03-2010, 11:11 AM

If there is a mistakes "I" made club, I would be a charter member. Most amazingly, I have only damaged things and not myself..............yet.

**NLOVNIT** · 08-03-2010, 11:15 AM

Wow, how unfortunate. As usual, dealings with Wal-Mart aren't dealings with product knowledgeable people. WM isn't liable for this situation & I'm sure they have a policy, somewhere, that states that. I hope you are able to get your systems fixed for a reasonable fee.

Lori-

DutchStar38 · 08-03-2010, 05:29 PM

WOW, that hurts. When it's time for me to change batteries I will pay closer attention.

doc · 08-03-2010, 07:24 PM

YOU put them in? and WalMart is to blame? Hmmmmm!!

DGShaffer · 08-04-2010, 03:37 AM

Just because we're able to do things our selves doesn't mean we should. And if we do, we should be willing to accept the consequences of our efforts. Live and learn, not act and blame.
I've done some pretty dumb stuff but I understand if I need to assign blame I first need to find a mirror.

chasfm11 · 08-04-2010, 06:15 AM

In project management, there are a couple of key phrases that we live (or get burned) by.

"Trust but verify"

"Expect what you inspect"

First, I'm very sorry for your problem. MHs and other RVs manage to break enough on their own without our doing things which further complicate matters.

In general, I make a habit out of directly and carefully comparing anything that I'm replacing. Does the old one look like the new one? If not, why not? I suspect that you would have found a difference in cap configuration between your old and new batteries. When I bought new tires, I was there during the installation and physically and personally checked the DOT code on each tire before it was installed.

On anything electrical, and especially since you knew there were different voltage batteries, I recommend having a meter and knowing or learning how to use it. Why the engineer types scoff at it, Harbor Freight sells a small VOM for less than $4 that would have been fine for you to verify the battery voltage on your new batteries. I isolated a start failure on our Cummins yesterday with my HF meter.

If it is any consolation to you, a friend of mine had a beautiful Dutch Star. He took it to a professional shop to have the batteries replaced and they did the same thing as you did. Unfortunately, he didn't check his jack system right away and had to pay the bill for the repairs himself.

Mistakes can happen. We all make them. The easiest way to prevent most mistakes is to have some sort of a quality check of what is happening. If you think about and then try to prevent the most common mistakes for any given situation, you should be able to prevent repeating those common mistakes like this one.

Elkhartjim · 08-04-2010, 06:25 AM

Flying Butch, I hear your frustration and I'm glad you got to vent.

I also read that you never specifically blamed WM even though you filed a claim that you are pretty sure will be denied. We all have made mistakes and usually its out of inexperience rather than ignorance.

I'm sure you've kicked yourself multiple times about this so I don't think we need to continue with you should have known advice.

FLYING BUTCH · 08-04-2010, 08:57 AM

lets see-I called and asked for 6 volt-asked are you sure, got there and again was assured they were 6 volt NO markings on the batteries at all as to the voltage NO different filling areas (TWO) on each battery, same as my 6 volt. how in world would ANYONE know how they were not 6 volt? does everyone get a volt meter and check voltage of battery before installing?? I really doubt it

fkloster · 08-04-2010, 09:20 AM

Sucks so bad. I would be mad at the world & myself.

Hitchhiker · 08-04-2010, 09:32 AM

The two caps on a 12 volt battery would each cover three cells, hence a total of 6 cells which is a 12 volt battery. Pull them off and you'll see. A six volt battery would likely have three caps on it, each covering one cell or one long cap covering all three cells.

I don't understand why your old 6 volt batteries would have two caps on them, you might want to elaborate on that one.