Battery Boost FAIL

dmwoody · 01-01-2016, 07:16 PM

Parked my 2014 Legacy 340KP the 28th of Nov. Went to pick it up for a trip to the shop (warranty work - slide plates and other) the 15th of Dec. and the chassis batteries were dead. Nothing! No instruments or ignition power. House lights were on. I started the gen and let it run for a few minutes (13v on the meter). Pressed the boost start button until it "lit up". The light in the button stays dim until there's enough juice in the start system, then it goes bright. Keeping the boost switch down I turned the ignition on and waited for the "wait" to go out. Turned the key to start - and it killed everything. Chassis power, house power, and gen. Everything. Freightliner 24/7 said it was a FR issue. Called CoachNet and talked with a FR tech (great guy) and did some troubleshooting. Found the 150A 32V mounted blown fuse in the house bay. The first fuse on the house side (not battery side) of the shut-off switch. Sent a note to Mitch at FR. He responded stating it's a known issue and there's a retrofit kit that does some rewiring and adds some additional fuses in parallel to handle the load demanded. He's sending it to my local shop.
Anyone else have this issue? Are there any other retrofit kits anyone has been sent? I find it unacceptable FR isn't notifying all owners anytime there is a need for a retrofit kit.

captnrick3 · 01-01-2016, 11:54 PM

Thanks for posting, had not heard of this issue..

DrJAG · 03-26-2016, 08:28 AM

Any more info available on this? I had some work done on my unit last fall; when I picked it up I noticed that fuse had been replaced. No real explanation other than it blew.

2015 Legacy RB, Soon to be 2013 CRV toad. Retired USAF. Sent from my iPad using Forest River Forums

dmwoody · 03-26-2016, 07:07 PM

The story I got was when the coach batteries are REALLY dead, even using the boost to jump them, when you try to start the rig the amperage draw is still too big for the fuses to handle. You end up with the fuse after the shutoff and the one at the battery terminal being blown. The retrofit kit adds a fuse in parallel to the one blown and does some rewiring. Here's the drawing. I haven't tried it (no need) since the fix. Sounds to me like your shop killed the coach batteries and tried to use the boost - with the same results I had.

cgpalmer · 03-26-2016, 09:04 PM

I have the same issue. Thanks for the info on the retrofit

Blacknchromehd · 03-28-2016, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmwoody

The story I got was when the coach batteries are REALLY dead, even using the boost to jump them, when you try to start the rig the amperage draw is still too big for the fuses to handle. You end up with the fuse after the shutoff and the one at the battery terminal being blown. The retrofit kit adds a fuse in parallel to the one blown and does some rewiring. Here's the drawing. I haven't tried it (no need) since the fix. Sounds to me like your shop killed the coach batteries and tried to use the boost - with the same results I had.

can someone send this to me as an attachement so I can blow it up and still read it...eyes suck

dmwoody · 03-28-2016, 02:52 PM

Here's the PDF of it. Dan

DrJAG · 03-28-2016, 03:34 PM

Thanks! I was having trouble reading it too. Will be getting my unit out of storage this weekend so I can compare it to the drawing.

2015 Legacy RB, Soon to be 2013 CRV toad. Retired USAF. Sent from my iPad using Forest River Forums

dmwoody · 03-28-2016, 06:31 PM

I didn't compare this new drawing to the one that's on the inside of the battery bay door to determine the delta. Nor did I check to see if the drawing matches the actual wiring.

DrJAG · 04-02-2016, 02:44 PM

Got our 2015 Legacy RB out of storage today. Was very happy when it started without any problem. It does have the modified electric in the house battery bay, although the diagram on the coach bay door does not match it.

2015 Forest River Legacy RB. Soon to be 2013 Honda CRV toad. Retired USAF.

dmwoody · 04-02-2016, 08:25 PM

Picked up my coach from the shop Wednesday after a week and a half, and the chassis batteries were dead. Used the newly rewired boost - and it started right up! Coach was in to have the slide controller and slide tracks replaced (failed controller and track getting chewed up). Now to figure out why the batteries die in such a short time.
One think after another.
Dan

dmwoody · 04-15-2016, 08:26 PM

Here's a pic of the retrofit installed. Notice the 300A on the left wall and the two fuses in parallel on the back wall.

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