Engine batteries

[Mr.Cleane]

I have a 2005 Vectra and am experiencing a problem with my engine batteries. I can fully charge them and turn the disconnect knob off at the back of the coach and it will lose charge to the point of not starting in 3 weeks. Is that normal?
The batteries are supposed to be less than a year old.
Any ideas on what could be draining them?

[srh]

Get a BatteryMinder 2012. It costs about $75 and you can hook up to four 12v batteries, but don't mix the Chassis batteries with the house (deep cell). It is a great investment. It will desulphate as well as maintain the batteries charged. You can leave it plugged as it will not overcharge.
Good Luck!

[emiddleb]

Before I begin let me say that I'm not sure what you mean by the "disconnect knob" at the back of the coach. Are you refering to the 12v disconnect by the front door at the bottom of the panel by the passenger or something else?

Now, having said that... the small solar panel on the top of your Vectra trickle charges the House batteries. Ditto, if plugged in, the House batteries will charge from shore power through the converter. Neither charges the engine batteries. Those are charged by the alternator on the engine when the engine is running, just like a car. The alternator also charges the House batteries, fyi.

The 12v disconnect ("aux battery disconnect" switch by the front door) disconnects the house systems from the house battery. It does not do anything to the engine battery.

There are several parasitic drains that can draw down the engine batteries, like the dash radio, the front steps, and a couple others (I THINK one or more of the smoke/LP/CO detectors run off the engine batteries too, but I might be wrong on that.) Things like the radio will always draw a touch of power to maintain your stations etc. These can eventually run down the batteries. If you are flipping the disconnect switch by the front door, this doesn't help.

The solution is to by an after-market product like a Trik-L-Start, which will draw charge from the house batteries to maintain the engine batteries (and then either shore power or the solar panel charges the house batteries.) Winnebago eventually installed this in later models as a standard feature. Or, you can install a blade switch or other disconnect on the engine battery side.

Now if by the disconnect knob at the back you are referring to some sort of disconnect like a blade switch that has been installed on the engine battery, that should have stopped the drain if installed correctly.

Hope this helps a bit.

[amanda_h]

Nice explanation, Ed!

I believe it was the model year 2005 diesel pushers when Winnebago started installing the chassis battery disconnect switches in the rear compartment. Some 2005s had them and some didn't from what I remember reading somewhere.

However, it sounds as if Mr.Cleane's Vectra does have one. The switch should be one with a round knob located in the radiator compartment in the rear.

If that switch is working correctly, it should shut down all the parasitic load on the chassis battery, correct? If in three weeks, the chassis batteries are dead, the switch doesn't sound as if it is working.

Mr.Cleane doesn't say if he is plugged into shore power but if so, yes, a Trik-L-Charge is the way to go. If not plugged in to shore power, and if no battery minder is used, I would think that the chassis battery disconnect switch should be repaired and used when storing the coach when not plugged in.

-harry

[John Hilley]

The marine battery switch that they put on the chassis battery is pretty much fool proof



Someone may have wired an accessory to the battery side of the switch. Also about the time Winnebago added the switch they added the
Trik-L-Start.

[corvettec3]

You may want to have your chassis batteries load tested. If one of them has a dead short it will kill the charge in the good one as well. My chassis developed a dead short last summer and after sitting a couple of days it was putting out about four volts.

[YC1]

Originally Posted by corvettec3

You may want to have your chassis batteries load tested. If one of them has a dead short it will kill the charge in the good one as well. My chassis developed a dead short last summer and after sitting a couple of days it was putting out about four volts.

Ditto: It should be easy to follow the cables from the battery to the switch to be sure it is cutting off all loads. If you want to test the theory then disconnect the negative leads of the starting batteries versus shutting the switch off. Then before you hook them back up measure the voltage on each one. If either is low just connect the good one and start the RV. If it starts the RV it is good. Turn it off and disconnect that one and connect the other one and test that. A crude test but should work fine. If they are both sick in three weeks they are kaput. Age matters little on batteries. They can die in the first month.

[Mr.Cleane]

I have been working on the road for the last few days and haven't had time to check some of your suggestions. But I will and I appreciate all the help.
Thank you

[ru499]

Sounds like bad batteries to me. Just replaced mine. If this helps, you need Group31 batteries with minimum 950 CCA.

Also, unless you yourself replaced the batteries last year, I would take that info with a grain of salt!

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by YC1

Ditto: It should be easy to follow the cables from the battery to the switch to be sure it is cutting off all loads. If you want to test the theory then disconnect the negative leads of the starting batteries versus shutting the switch off. Then before you hook them back up measure the voltage on each one. If either is low just connect the good one and start the RV. If it starts the RV it is good. Turn it off and disconnect that one and connect the other one and test that. A crude test but should work fine. If they are both sick in three weeks they are kaput. Age matters little on batteries. They can die in the first month.

YC1,
While your method of testing the possible draw on the chassis batts might work, it will take time. A much faster way and full proof test for instant results is to remove both negative cables from the chassis batteries and tie them together. Then, put a 12V test light "in line" between the tied together cables and the negative of either of the chassis batteries. If the test light lights up, you've got a good draw on them. That means somethings left on, i.e. small light like a compartment light sticking on or, other type of light or, there is an actual short in a system someplace.

If there's no light-up on the test light, that doesn't mean the test has come out negative. Put a Volt-ohm meter between them next. If the needle moves at all, then there's a micro draw on the system and that's considerably harder to find the culprit. If, in the other test, with the test light lighting up, you start pulling fuses for 12V circuits, one at a time, it's quite possible that you might find the circuit involved because when you pull the fuse for that circuit, the test light will go out.

Then, all you have to do is track down that circuit and all components in it to see which one's the culprit. While time consuming, it's considerably faster than letting it sit for a few weeks to see if your test worked or not.

And yes, Winne started installing the rotary style battery disconnect in the radiator area in and around '05 along with Itasca. They, also at that time or time frame, also started installing the "Trik-L-Start" chassis battery charging system too. But, I'm not exactly sure of the start date for the install of that system.

Whether or not ANY chassis battery charging system is installed or, will be installed, is not the OPs problem. He's having chassis batteries go dead after three weeks of sitting. One needs to find the culprit of that problem prior to installing ANY chassis battery system. He can call Winne's help line or, the chassis makers help line with the last 6 of his VIN number and they'll tell him EXACTLY what was installed in terms of any charging system for his chassis batts.

Many of the Itascas and Winnes of that era used the Dimensions 2000 watt inverter/charger so, there is NO CONVERTER in those rigs that I'm aware of. I could be wrong here. Winne and Itasca became aware of dead chassis battery problems after the '04s and some '05s so, I'm lead to believe that's when they started installing the Trik-L-Start. And, in case the OP is not aware of how that works, it simply siphons off some of the battery charging of the house batteries and sends it to the chassis batteries 'till they're up to snuff.
Scott