Chassis battery going dead
 

I have a problem with the chassis battery on my 2004 seabreeze 1341. Last week I mentioned this on another post and mentioned that it went dead over a couple week period. Well I ran motorhome for 30 minutes 2 days ago to charge it up, and low and behold 2 day later - DEAD. Not enough power to crank. Barely moved volt meter on dash when key turned on. Now since new to me, I just tapped the toggle switch for boost from house bank, and then it started right up. I did not hold the button as instructions in owners manual (consulted later) indicated. Is this unusual? Where do I search out the drain on the battery? This battery is only about 6 mos old. When I bought MH about 1 month ago, I went on trip and had no issues, but was either running or on shore power the whole time. What is up?

Does the generator charge the chassis battery and the house bank? I will look later and see what kind of charger and battery management "stuff" is in the compartment if that will help. Only thing I can think that is parasitic drain when parked is the radio memory, hard to believe that would drain battery in 2 days. Help........

Don't start w/the assumption the battery is good, or that the connections are good. Its easily possible bad connections are not allowing proper charge or not allowing proper starter draw, and possible the battery was damaged by deep discharge.
Start by removing connections on starter batt(s) & load testing. Clean all posts & clamps or stud/spade connections. If batt's are good, replace connections & tighten. Start engine, note status & post results.

First I would check the battery to see if it might have a dead cell. You say the battery is only 5 months old and you have only had the coach for a month, so the po bought the battery, right? If the battery is bad you should be able to replace it under warranty.

30 minutes is not nearly long enough to charge a battery. You are just putting a surface charge on it. To fully charge a low battery, it takes up to or more than 6-8 hours with a good three stage charger. You should check it with a hydrometer to see if all the cells are taking a charge.

Chassis batt is probably now shot. Have your local battery shop load test it.

Your SB does not maintain the chassis battery while on shore power or generator, just like my Dolphin. Mine will go dead in a week and never heard of a MH that did not have parasitic loads. Starting batteries will only take a few full discharges before they are shot.

I bought one of these a year ago or so and is the best single thing I have added to my coach. Just install it and forget it.

https://www.lslproducts.com/TLSPage.html

We camp for months at a time and it keeps the chassis battery fully charged with a maintaining 13.2 volts. I had also upgraded my converter/charger to a Progressive Dynamics 4 stage smart charger. Now I keep the coach plugged in 24/7 at home and the batteries are always happy. I see no new batteries in my future for at least 7 more years. :thumb:

I once had the same problem on my Fleetwood/Revolution. The problem was in the battery control center. A solinoid was bad, allowing the coach batteries to charge up, but not allowing the chassis batteries to charge up, therefor the parasitic draw on the chassis battery's were discharging them. Some coaches are different. The BCC will only charge up the coach batteries and not the chassis batterys. I replaced the solinoid and everything has been fine for 1 year now. Good Luck, hope this helps. As mentioned in other post's. Clean all grounds, check battery status, etc.

Disconnect the battery and see if it holds a charge that way and make sure it is fully charged before doing so even if you have to disconnect it first and use an independent charger. You may just have a bad battery and have had new ones that were defective.
Radio should be and mostly likely is supplied by the house batteries.
As for the boost switch, it has a time delay on drop out, so it's good for maybe 1/2-1minute with just one push, then you have to initiate it again.
Converter/Charger should also charge the chassis battery, once the coach batteries are up. I have recently changed my unit to one that is much more efficient and weighs only 5lbs vs the 25lb OEM Converter.

Dead Chassis Battery
 

I had the same problem last year. Was at a campground 4 days, went to go, batteries dead, had to get a jump. Problem, batteries shot. Anyway, to prevent any drain on my batteries while parked at home, I disconnect the neg side completely, taking the cables off . I found that even turning the disconnect switch off, power still goes to the steps, and if that is going on, might be going to other power hungry things!

Newer NRV units will charge the chassis battery once the house batteries are fully charged.

We have been stationary for two months and both systems batteries are at 13+ volts.

fred

Your are certainly correct Fred regarding newer NRV units. I have a local friend that has an '04 SB on a workhouse and he reports his does not. If memory serves, others have reported their '03s do. It would be interesting to know for sure in what year and models NRV made the switch.

Dolpins, at least in the era of mine did not come with twin beds (according to the brochures), yet mine did, go figure.

Mine does, but my buddy has an `04 LX and his does not charge the chassis batteries while on shore/gen, but it is on a WH chassis. I hate Fords, but at least mine has anti-sway bars, while him and his wife complain that theirs is all over the road.

Mine came with the RV Custom Products BCC. Don't know what his has.

Chassis battery going dead
 

I installed a Xantrex echo charger, once the house batteries are charged it trickle charges the chassis battery, works fine. Only thing is, those parasite drains, one being the steps even if the chassis master switch is turned off. I was just "rolling it around" about putting in a switch to cut all 12v off to the steps while sitting for months at a resort or even in the driveway. There are other electrical culprits, I'm sure, feeding on 12v also, got to trace them down.

Put a BatteryMINDER 12248 on and forget about it. I did.
Actually, what I did was mount it in my garage and ran a
10 gauge "umbilical" cord to my MH.

https://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

Go to my thread "is my converter broken" Lots of info, in the end though it was the wire running to my converter. Someone had spiced it between the battery and the converter and it came apart and we couldn't see it. I spent almost 2 months trying to figure it out. Finally called a mobile repair guy and he found it in 15 mins. :banghead:
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