HWH - "low battery" light

McDuff · 11-23-2010, 02:12 PM

I just got back from getting propane and went to level in my driveway, I just dump and manually put out front jacks as the slope is only frontward. It's a fully auto system, 610 if I read the HWH manuals right.

Anyway, when holding down the jacks out button, the low battery light lit up on me. I went to my power panel and checked both sets:

Chassis = 13.5V
House = 13.2V

Any ideas why I am getting a warning on the panel?

rv rick · 11-23-2010, 09:37 PM

I had some issues with my HWH automatic jacks when using them in automatic mode (would not level correctly). I then learned that the jacks use quite a bit of power and when checking the battery display (chassis on our's) while my wife was activating the jacks, I found the voltage was dropping way down. Turned out we needed new batteries. After replacing them, things worked great!

I suspect you are suffering from voltage drop when the jacks are activated.

Best wishes

MrTransistor · 11-24-2010, 02:49 AM

Hello McDuff,

With those readings, you must have either been plugged in or had the engine still running. Either way, you should not have seen a low battery light. Granted, the pump and two solenoids probably draw about 40 Amps. total, but that should not cause enough voltage drop given the size of supply wire used. What will cause that kind of drop is a corroded +12 volt supply line connection or a bad ground connection. If you have a meter and can read schematics, check the HWH control for voltage drops in the supply or ground circuits. Else just try tightening everything in the supply and ground paths.

I’ve seen this problem on our coach and it was bad enough that the unit would turn on and seem normal until a button was pressed. At that instant, the increase in current caused the +12 to drop to about +3 and all the lights would go out. Turned out to be the bolt that attaches the control box to its mount. This was also the ground point. Removed the bolt and star washer, cleaned, replaced, and re-tightened. Problem has not returned in 3 years.

McDuff · 11-24-2010, 12:36 PM

Rick - I admit, my batteries could be suspect. Previous owner said he installed new batts before we bought it 4 yrs ago, but not sure.

MrT - thanks for the good writeup. We were plugged into a 30amp(had just recently shut off engine when got home) when I got those readings, but I had turned off the charging circuit a few minutes before, thought I would get just batt readings that way.

Lately when I would drop jacks or open main slide, the radio(mounted above the touchpad area) would drop in volume, so I was kind of guessing a ground issue, but I would think the radio and HWH stuff would use a different ground point. The weird thing is, now that I think of it, the radio did not drop volume this time.

I will get my brother to check the connections around the control box(I'm in a wheelchair, can't get down there.)

Thanks guys.

94-Newmar · 11-25-2010, 05:49 AM

I had the same issue with my 610 system - low battery light would turn on, leveling would instantly stop. Turned out the electric motor attached to the pump housing was the problem. Because of how/where it's mounted under the bumper at the rear of the coach right in line with the driver side rear wheels it has a tendency to pickup a lot junk inside the motor itself. The brushes were semi-frozen in their sliders, lots of crud in the housing itself. HWH wanted something like $250.00 for a new motor. Instead we took it apart removed the brushes, lubricated their sliders, adjusted the springs and cleaned the gunk out of everything. Once re-installed I've not had the low battery light since. I can get the motor completely rebuilt locally for less than $75.00 should it become a problem again in the future.

McDuff · 01-18-2011, 03:50 PM

Hi All,

I am resurrecting this thread because I now get no action on jacks, just the low batt light when a button is pushed, just as MrT posted about. This is the first time I've moved since last post, had to get more propane for the freezes we've been having. I haven't checked the batteries, but I have plenty of power to start the engine, generator, slides, you name it, just not the jacks, so I'm thinking it is localized maybe.

Anyway, I have searched the online wiring diagram for my coach, and I'll be darned if I can find any wiring shown for the HWH system. I would like to have a starting point to at least start checking. Anybody have any ideas? I guess figuring out where the control box that MrT talked about would be a good start. My coach is a 2003 UA 40E.

cbeierl · 01-18-2011, 10:06 PM

One thing to try is to try operating the jacks with the engine running. That should make sure that you have sufficient voltage available. If it works with the engine running that would indicate that your batteries may have a problem--if there is still a problem then it's likely that you have a bad connection in either the ground or power leads to the HWH system.

DAN L · 01-19-2011, 01:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by McDuff

Hi All,

I am resurrecting this thread because I now get no action on jacks, just the low batt light when a button is pushed, just as MrT posted about. This is the first time I've moved since last post, had to get more propane for the freezes we've been having. I haven't checked the batteries, but I have plenty of power to start the engine, generator, slides, you name it, just not the jacks, so I'm thinking it is localized maybe.

Anyway, I have searched the online wiring diagram for my coach, and I'll be darned if I can find any wiring shown for the HWH system. I would like to have a starting point to at least start checking. Anybody have any ideas? I guess figuring out where the control box that MrT talked about would be a good start. My coach is a 2003 UA 40E.

my 2 hwh motor solenoids are mounted to the PAINTED motor with a large hose clamp.

guess where the solenoids get their ground. yea, the painted motor.

i installed a short length of #10 wire to each solenoid mount and ran the other end to the grounding lug welded to the chassis about 12'' away. no problems since.

McDuff · 01-19-2011, 08:32 AM

Cbeierl - I forgot to mention, I fired both the engine and the gen up on one of my tries. As you say, another reason I believe it is not batt related.

Dan L - sounds like engineering at it's finest there. Wonder if I will find something similar.

Went back out to the coach yesterday for another reason and while turning on the radio, I got distracted(easily done for me

) by playing with options on radio. This is not stock radio, previous owner put in a Panasonic with GPS Nav. Anyway one option was system stats and it listed incoming power at 10.7 volts. Say what? The radio is mounted vertically over the HWH panel, makes me wonder if there is some shared ground problem going on here. Just something else to puzzle me.

McDuff · 01-19-2011, 11:00 AM

Hmm, guess I better check batts too, jacks can draw 200 amps, holy crap. Also says the alternator won't provide enough power.

http://hwhcorp.com/mi9545.pdf

Anybody know how many amps a Cummins ISC350 starter pulls?

"007" · 01-19-2011, 11:21 AM

ALL the solenoids white wires go to a common point on frame of chassis. Could be just a bolt or as on Workhorse chassis a ground bolt welded to frame of chassis.
High resistance grounds are not needed when battery 12v's are concerned.

geekwithout · 04-12-2016, 03:38 PM

Resurrecting this issue. I have it on my 97 Newmar now.
Pump/solenoid is mounted in the back left, in front of the rear bumper.
Batteries are good, good voltage. As soon as I push the retract or extend button, the low battery comes on and nothing happens. Used to see the jacks extend about halfway and slowly.. now that doesn't even happen anymore.

How do I get good access to the pump/solenoids ? I can reach back there but it's dark dirty and very hard to see what wire goes where. Do I need to take the rear bumper off ? Any tricks to it ? Seems the bolts are on the inside of the bumper.

thx

JFNM · 04-12-2016, 04:02 PM

I don't have the HWH model number at hand but the instructions with my coach are very clear. The engine MUST be running when using the jacks. A little digging on this forum will reveal a good number of folks who have damaged their system by not complying. If memory serves, the low voltage damages the motor (can't recall the exact specifics but I do not remember it being a cheap fix).