Battery Problem

[Jon p]

My 06 Sightseer has had a battery problem since I picked it up. The chassis battery will not hold a charge for more than two weeks. I have had to jump off 3 times. I took it to my dealer last night for some minor repairs, battery inc. I get a cll today and they tell me the batteries ar not under waranty?? I picked this unit up on the 29th of december. I don't think I should have to pay for new batteries.

[Jon p]

My 06 Sightseer has had a battery problem since I picked it up. The chassis battery will not hold a charge for more than two weeks. I have had to jump off 3 times. I took it to my dealer last night for some minor repairs, battery inc. I get a cll today and they tell me the batteries ar not under waranty?? I picked this unit up on the 29th of december. I don't think I should have to pay for new batteries.

[skigramp]

If your coach was NEW in December of 2006, I urge you to call Winnebago customer service to get clarification on the warranty on your batteries.

===> 1-800-537-1885

You will need to have the information about your unit available ... model, number, etc.

[BigRedLancer]

Since the chassis battery is part of the Ford or Workhorse (??) chassis, the warranty should be included on the chassis warranty, not the MH warranty. I had a problem with the chassis battery running down due to continuous current draw from various "chassis" components that are still powered with the ingition off.

I added a trickle charger that is connected from the house batteries to the chassis battery. This helps keep the chassis battery charged when you have the coach attached to shore power. I heard that the newer coaches have this charger installed from the factory?

Let us know what you find out.

[Clay L]

If you are talking about the starting battery going down while the motor home is sitting, that's not unusual although I think two weeks is shorter than normal. It usually seems to take about thee weeks.
There are significant drains on the starting battery from the engine computer, transmission computer, instument panel computer and probably other stuff that will drain the battery.

Winnebagos don't charge the starting battery when you are connected to shore power so that won't keep it up. It only gets charged while the engine is running.

When we stop for more than a week or so I plug in a "Battery Minder" which is a float charger and can be left connected for as long as you want without hurting the battery.

[John_Canfield]

Somebody needs to do a load test on the batteries - that's the only way to be sure if they are healthy. We had a chassis battery replaced at about one year of age, but you certainly could have a defective one even with a fairly new coach.

[diesellabs]

Highly recommend the Trik-L-Start to keep your chassis battery(ies) up while parked. Of course if your original batteries won't hold a charge they need to be replaced first.

For long term storage a chassis battery disconnect switch is a good idea. Don't know how easily one could be added to your unit.

[Jon p]

Thanks guy's, will check out the trickle charger. I am supposed to hear from the dealer tommorow, will check back in.

[Jon p]

Hi all , picked up the Winnie tonight , dealer replaced all batteries due to dead cells in each one. We are taking a trip next weekend so it won't have time to sit for long. I am interested in one of the solar chargers. Do the have a system to prevent overcharging? Anyhow, got all small problems corrected and I am ready to GO CAMPING

[Gary the Wombat]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jon p:
Hi all , picked up the Winnie tonight , dealer replaced all batteries due to dead cells in each one. We are taking a trip next weekend so it won't have time to sit for long. I am interested in one of the solar chargers. Do the have a system to prevent overcharging? Anyhow, got all small problems corrected and I am ready to GO CAMPING </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

The chassis battery in my Sightseer was also going flat after a few weeks, so I bought a small solar charger from Camping World. It is only 1.8 watts (from memory) and although it kept the battery charged for over 5 weeks between uses, the battery was still a little weak when I started the coach last week. I am going to upgrade to the 5 watt version and see how that does.

My problem is that my MH is parked under a canopy, so the solar panel only gets full sun for a few hours each day. I'm hoping the bigger version will do the trick (I don't have access to electricity at my storage facility).

According to the packaging, they do have a diode to prevent overcharging. One warning, they come with both a cigarette socket plug, and a pair of alligator clips to connect straight to the battery. That's what I use because the cigarette lighter plug on the MH is deactivated by the house batteries cutoff switch, so it must not be connected to the chassis battery.