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Old 11-20-2015, 02:39 AM   #1
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Shore power and bad batteries

Another Berk pulled in at the park where I'm currently parked.
During setup, he was operating the jacks at the same time his wife was operating the slides.
Everything died on them. They are sitting there with no leveling, one slide all the way out and 3 in.
A mechanic came by and decided it was probably his coach batteries had died so they are waiting on a new set of batteries to arrive.
Would the coach not get power from shore if the batteries are bad? That doesn't make sense to me.
He's got full power to the chassis and if he runs it a few mins, he gets power to the coach.
No power to the gen ( is it powered by the coach batteries).
Also, he's got a 2014, but no idea where the chassis batteries are located(unlike mine where they are on a shelf directly above the coach batteries)



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Old 11-20-2015, 04:55 AM   #2
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On my 2014 the coach batteries are rear drivers side 3rd compartment from the back end I believe. Chassis batteries located all the way to the rear compartment with the inverter in the compartment in between the batteries.
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Old 11-20-2015, 07:17 AM   #3
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I would start checking some fuses and/or reset breakers. Running both at the same time is a pretty big drain, although they've probably done this before. The batteries would be easy to check to see if there is a dead one in the group. I would check this before buying new batteries at $100 a pop.
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Old 11-20-2015, 12:18 PM   #4
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To answer your question, if he was plugged in at the time to shore power it should not have lost power. Sounds like something else is the culprit.
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Old 11-20-2015, 12:44 PM   #5
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They found the problem. When they operated jacks and a slide at the same time, it blew a 150a fuse that's located in the battery compartment on the back wall above the batteries.


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Old 11-20-2015, 01:13 PM   #6
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Why would anyone operate the slides and the jacks at the same time?

Why would anyone operate the slides and the jacks at the same time? The RV should be leveled with the jacks before any slides are deployed. You can damage the slide mechanism if your RV is not level when you deploy or retract the slides.

Also if the RV is set up to run the jacks and/or slides from the coach batteries and the batteries are dead being plugged into shore power will not help. The batteries have to have enough charge to operate unless the jacks and/or system is designed to switch from 12V to shore power.

My jacks run off of the engine battery and the RV has to have the engine on when jacks are being deployed to keep from getting into a low voltage condition. My slides run off the coach batteries.
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Old 11-20-2015, 01:20 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jegstrup View Post
They found the problem. When they operated jacks and a slide at the same time, it blew a 150a fuse that's located in the battery compartment on the back wall above the batteries.


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150A sounds like a Welder Fuse! Youroo!!
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Old 11-20-2015, 01:47 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mjpallone View Post
Why would anyone operate the slides and the jacks at the same time? The RV should be leveled with the jacks before any slides are deployed. You can damage the slide mechanism if your RV is not level when you deploy or retract the slides.

Also if the RV is set up to run the jacks and/or slides from the coach batteries and the batteries are dead being plugged into shore power will not help. The batteries have to have enough charge to operate unless the jacks and/or system is designed to switch from 12V to shore power.

My jacks run off of the engine battery and the RV has to have the engine on when jacks are being deployed to keep from getting into a low voltage condition. My slides run off the coach batteries.

What you said about your jacks is interesting.
My jacks won't operate with the engine on, they are locked out. A nice safety feature. Don't know which batteries power them


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Old 11-20-2015, 01:58 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mjpallone View Post
Why would anyone operate the slides and the jacks at the same time? The RV should be leveled with the jacks before any slides are deployed. You can damage the slide mechanism if your RV is not level when you deploy or retract the slides.

Also if the RV is set up to run the jacks and/or slides from the coach batteries and the batteries are dead being plugged into shore power will not help. The batteries have to have enough charge to operate unless the jacks and/or system is designed to switch from 12V to shore power.

My jacks run off of the engine battery and the RV has to have the engine on when jacks are being deployed to keep from getting into a low voltage condition. My slides run off the coach batteries.

You don't have a Berk, do you?


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Old 11-20-2015, 02:45 PM   #10
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not a Berk owner

No, I'm not a Berk owner.
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Old 11-20-2015, 02:53 PM   #11
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If "IF' you have a set of coach batteries that are bad it can stop everything, people need to understand when you are on shore power "It does not run off that for 12 volts system" it only charges the batteries! So if one or two of the batteries blow the other batteries will try and level the power between all the batteries now, so you could only have 10 or less volts, and most high need circuits (slides, leveling etc.) will stop running. They need a full 12 volts from the battery. Hope this helps you and other Happy Camping. P.S. will high need circuits it is always netter to do one at a time to stop blowing fuses and batteries up with the very high load on the system.
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Old 11-20-2015, 03:48 PM   #12
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On a Berkshire, at least mine anyway, the jacks and slides run off the coach batteries. Not the chassis batteries.

silverback I believe you are correct on that when it's on TTs & 5ers.

I believe (not 100%) that on a moho when plugged into shore power it will run all 12v systems even if the batts are dead. I had a dead batt situation once and as soon as I plugged in I was able to run slides, jacks and all 12v were fully operational.
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Old 11-20-2015, 06:24 PM   #13
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On my Dynamax DX3, the engine MUST be running to operate the jacks but, can NOT be running or the rear slide will not operate. The front slide can work with the engine running or not.
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Old 11-20-2015, 06:57 PM   #14
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On my Dynamax DX3, the engine MUST be running to operate the jacks but, can NOT be running or the rear slide will not operate. The front slide can work with the engine running or not.

Hmmm... Wonder what the logic in one slide works, one doesn't is?


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Old 11-20-2015, 08:11 PM   #15
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I expect it's some kind of a safety interconnect on the rear slide. Like the entry steps will retract when the engine starts (but will deploy if the door is opened). I believe that the two slides use different forms of actuation.



Quote:
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Hmmm... Wonder what the logic in one slide works, one doesn't is?


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Old 11-21-2015, 08:21 AM   #16
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I believe it to be a bad idea to operate the jacks and slides simultaneously. First is the excessive current draw. The Berk cabin is not a rigid box. It distorts a little when the jacks are trying to get to level. This could be racking a slide mechanism. Last of all, the chassis and slide-outs tilt sideways during leveling. If a slide is close to a tree, it might bump it. IMO
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Old 11-21-2015, 07:09 PM   #17
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That wasn't something they normally do, but with division of labor, if you don't coordinate closely, you can step on each others toes a bit.
But, when that breaks you down for 2 days, it's less likely to happen a second time


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