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Old 05-05-2017, 11:17 AM   #1
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New House and Chassis battery dead

It seems as though I've been dealing with battery issues from day one.

I own a 2012 Georgetown 378ts, pre-existing problem, house battery was always dead, unknown reason other than something was left on or maybe something was leaching power when the batteries were not placed in the disconnect position via switch. I learned to except this as the nature of the beast as a Motorhome owner. Which eventually, over time weaken the battery to a point it would no longer hold a charge. Chassis battery no problems. Time went by, 4-5 years pasted and now it's time to replace all the battery's. During this period, the electric stairs broke mechanically, which turned into a recall repair and now are fixed. Following this repair and a six month deployment I return and replace all the batteries.

Fast forward to this day, the current problem. I find all three batteries dead with in a week. I put them on the charger, chassis first, then run the Motorhome for hours to recharge the house. Check the voltage with a multi-meter, good to go. Then proceed to check every possible source that could drawl power, all the compartment lights, trailer brakes LEDs, remove the power brake assist module with LEDs, everything is checked, with the exception of literally disconnecting the cables from the batteries. All seemed well.

Another week goes by. All three are dead again.

Has anyone else experienced this problem? What am I missing?

The stairs could be key, because the technician said he wired them up differently, which effected the function. At the time, I told him I didn't think it was a problem, they worked of course and I was eager to get it back. Before they would be actuated via a switch in the RV, steps moved when the screen door is either opened or closed. As a safety feature, aways retracted when placed in gear. With the new rewiring, the doors open and close with the screen door, but can no longer be overridden by the a switch.

Again, the stairs could tie into the chassis electrical system because they are designed to actuate when placed in gear.

What do you think?
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Old 05-05-2017, 11:40 AM   #2
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There is something running the batteries down. Does the unit have battery shut off switches? If it has them do the batteries still run down if the switches are turned off? I am not a motorhome expert but there should be some kind of isolator to keep the house batteries from running down the chassis battery. I think that whatever is pulling down the house batteries is also pulling down the chassis battery. Please post mre info. Jay
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Old 05-05-2017, 11:50 AM   #3
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The only way to insure that no current is drawn is to either add a battery disconnect switch ( at battery) or disconnect neg cable. In the coach, there are parasitic draws from CO/Propane detector, Radio and anything that operates via a remote receiver. They are not large, but over the course of a week or so will draw down the battery. Usually factory installed disconnects do not disconnect everything.
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Old 05-05-2017, 12:16 PM   #4
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Did I read this right. Used to be that the chassis battery was OK but the house would run down. Eventually you replaced "all three," presumably 2 house and one chassis. Now ALL THREE run down in a couple of weeks.

If this is correct, your stair mechanic either changed the wiring to put the stairs on the chassis...or your battery isolator solenoid in your battery control center is welded closed. There are many ways to run down a house battery bank. You could leave things turned or, there could be parasitic loads that stay on even when the disconnect switch is turned off, but to kill the chassis you need to maintain the connection between the two banks. This is the purpose of the battery isolation relay. it connects the house to the chassis when something is charging either, but disconnects them when the charging source is removed.

I would start there as there is no good reason that your chassis isn't staying good all the time (unless like you left your headlights on or something like that.)
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Old 05-05-2017, 12:47 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by Jay2504 View Post
There is something running the batteries down. Does the unit have battery shut off switches? If it has them do the batteries still run down if the switches are turned off? I am not a motorhome expert but there should be some kind of isolator to keep the house batteries from running down the chassis battery. I think that whatever is pulling down the house batteries is also pulling down the chassis battery. Please post mre info. Jay


Yes the house battery has a disconnect switch ( shut off switch). Yes when disconnected barriers still run down. Your theory that the chassis and house are isolated should be correct, I'm not an expert either, but to my understand they are two separate systems. Yes, I agree, it does seem likely both batteries are being pulled down together. Thinking maybe they stairs.
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Old 05-05-2017, 12:57 PM   #6
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Did I read this right. Used to be that the chassis battery was OK but the house would run down. Eventually you replaced "all three," presumably 2 house and one chassis. Now ALL THREE run down in a couple of weeks.



If this is correct, your stair mechanic either changed the wiring to put the stairs on the chassis...or your battery isolator solenoid in your battery control center is welded closed. There are many ways to run down a house battery bank. You could leave things turned or, there could be parasitic loads that stay on even when the disconnect switch is turned off, but to kill the chassis you need to maintain the connection between the two banks. This is the purpose of the battery isolation relay. it connects the house to the chassis when something is charging either, but disconnects them when the charging source is removed.



I would start there as there is no good reason that your chassis isn't staying good all the time (unless like you left your headlights on or something like that.)


Yes you read this correctly, all three run dead now. The only known change would be the recall work done to the stairs. The technician speaking something about wiring it differently and it functioning differently than when I purchased the Motorhome.

This problem may have been easy to see the cause and action. But because of the length of time passing before seeing the pattern, I didn't know what was going on except batteries were dead and blaming the kids, lol, is the most probable cause. But for the chassis to be dead too, makes no sense.

I'll check the battery isolated in the battery control panel and look for something out of the norm.
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Old 05-05-2017, 01:17 PM   #7
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That isolator would be in the black box on the chassis above the batteries in the battery bay. It has 3 lugs, one for the chassis, one for the house batteries and one for the power panel. I have attached a wiring diagram. Yours could have different sized dc breakers as the drawing is from 2009, but it is still generally correct.

The isolation solenoid is behind the circuit board and the two "feet" are actually copper bus bars that go to the two battery connections on the side.

Good start at least.
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Old 05-05-2017, 01:20 PM   #8
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The only way to insure that no current is drawn is to either add a battery disconnect switch ( at battery) or disconnect neg cable. In the coach, there are parasitic draws from CO/Propane detector, Radio and anything that operates via a remote receiver. They are not large, but over the course of a week or so will draw down the battery. Usually factory installed disconnects do not disconnect everything.


I would like to add a disconnect switch of my own on the battery cable.

Do you have a particular disconnect switch in mind? I bet I can find something to wire in to the existing cables, maybe at an automotive store. Right?

As for my unit, you are correct, I agree their has to be something sucking power. Although, when I open the disconnect switch for the house power, I can hear the propane system click off, the LED on the CO monitor goes out and as for the radio, it has an isolating off switch of its own for turning off the radio and screen lights. However, I'm no fool to think all these systems work like the consumer would believe. If it were a more sophisticated, there would be better troubleshooting manuals and wiring diagrams. These expensive Motorhome's are cobbled together with all sorts of parts intended for other purposes and then covered up with finished trim and furnishing.
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Old 05-05-2017, 01:24 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by ScottBrownstein View Post
That isolator would be in the black box on the chassis above the batteries in the battery bay. It has 3 lugs, one for the chassis, one for the house batteries and one for the power panel. I have attached a wiring diagram. Yours could have different sized dc breakers as the drawing is from 2009, but it is still generally correct.



The isolation solenoid is behind the circuit board and the two "feet" are actually copper bus bars that go to the two battery connections on the side.



Good start at least.


Great info, I'll look at it and left you know if I see anything suspect.
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Old 05-07-2017, 12:53 AM   #10
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Your replacement steps are wired up differently but the difference is confined to the step controller and the magnet switch activated by the screen door. If I remember correctly, the way the switch works was changed from a NO to a NC so that if the switch fails, the steps get left out. This prevents opening the door and stepping out with no step there.

As suggested, your "boost" relay may be stuck in the closed position. This would keep all three batteries hooked together and the parasitic drains will drain all of them. THe easy way to test this is to remove the + lead from the chassis battery and check to see if there's voltage (12V) on it. If it has 12V, then the relay is stuck.

There's drain devices hooked to both the house and chassis batteries. Your radio's memory, the computer for a motorized front shade and possibly other things are hooked to the chassis battery. The house batteries have their own set of permanently attached devices. I believe the leveling computer uses power from the house batteries for its memory.

If you have a VOM, you can unhook the + or - lead from the battery and use the meter, set for amps to look for parasitic loads. Wnen I do this, I always start with the 10A scale then switch to a more sensitive one as needed. Eventually, you'll find the device that's draining the batteries.

I just replaced the house batteries in my 2011 Georgetown. The two 12V ones were replaced with two 6V golf cart batteries wired in series to give me 12V. I estimate that I have at least 30% more amps available from these than the original hybrid (starting / deep cycle) batteries. The 6V battery posts were too short to hold all of the + wires so I purchased a battery disconnect switch ($10), attached that to the battery's + terminal, then hooked all of the + wires to the other end of it.

Phil
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Old 05-07-2017, 01:33 PM   #11
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I had the same problem. I found that even with the battery disconnect switch turned off, the propane alarm and monitor are hard wired so that it will go off in the event of a leak even if the disconnect switch is off. There is a solenoid at the propane tank that is open when there is no leak detected, I found this solenoid to be hot to the touch, so it is obvious that it is continually using power. I installed a switch at the propane tank to turn off the solenoid and it fixed the battery drain problem. So when the coach is parked for a long time I turn off the propane solenoid power and turn off the propane supply for safety and I can go about two months without charging the batteries if I need to.
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Old 05-08-2017, 04:30 PM   #12
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May be a dumb question but should the disconnect switch be on or off when doing a trickle charge on the house batteries. When my Kwikee replacement steps were installed they were incorrectly wired andthe step light stayed on. Now they are 99%dead!
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