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Old 03-06-2019, 08:08 PM   #1
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Itasca Battery replacement

Has anybody replaced their house batteries in an Itasca Ellipse? The compartment is in the middle of the coach with limited space to manuever. The batteries weigh almost 70 pounds each. Is there a trick to lifting them out of the tray?
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Old 03-06-2019, 08:11 PM   #2
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yup...it's called let the pro's do it.
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Old 03-06-2019, 10:09 PM   #3
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I’ve wondered the same thing. Luckily my batteries are still in good shape. Since they are AGMs you can lay them on their sides one at a time and pull them out.
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Old 03-07-2019, 05:27 AM   #4
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Certainly easier to have someone else do it, but I still like doing stuff myself. Taking it on today, I will let you know how it goes. May just be time to man up.
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Old 03-07-2019, 09:05 AM   #5
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Good luck! Don’t get hurt and let us know how it goes.
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Old 03-07-2019, 07:03 PM   #6
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Well, replacing the batteries was not bad at all.. My arms are tired, but all six have been replaced with less drama than I anticipated. Definitely a project an average do-it-yourselfer can handle. Hardest part was brushing jumper terminals with wire wheel on drill. If you take this on be sure to use dielectric grease on terminals.
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Old 03-08-2019, 07:02 AM   #7
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What did you replace them with? What battery?
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Old 03-08-2019, 07:37 AM   #8
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I bought six batteries from Sams Club. They had the Duracell 31DTMAGM on sale for $158.00 each (regular price $178.00). They would only give me three at the sale price.
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Old 03-09-2019, 09:08 AM   #9
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Ironically there is just enough room on ours next to the batteries to stand on the pavement below. My daughter got in there, stood on the ground and was able to lift out those batteries in a more or less proper way and set them on some cardboard and I was able to slide them out the side.

Take a picture of the cable routing - no matter how simple it looks - it still can be confusing re-attaching cables.
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Old 03-09-2019, 10:00 AM   #10
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I looked at buying a slide out battery tray for ours, but the standard sizes available didn't fit. I'm envious of those high dollar coaches with slide out battery trays. Probably a good thing it wouldn't fit because to install it I would have to remove the batteries and I don't want to have to do that unless it's to replace them with 3 LiPo4 batteries at 1/2 the weight.

Unlike yours @Meridian42, mine sit higher in the compartment. So, they're easier to access. But there's a shelf above mine, too. Making less room to deal with them. I have only ~12" between the top of my batteries and the shelf above. But the batteries sit only 2" or so below the opening. I also only have 4 batteries.
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Old 03-10-2019, 08:47 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by creativepart View Post

Unlike yours @Meridian42, mine sit higher in the compartment. So, they're easier to access. But there's a shelf above mine, too. Making less room to deal with them. I have only ~12" between the top of my batteries and the shelf above. But the batteries sit only 2" or so below the opening. I also only have 4 batteries.
The battery access on the later Journey/Meridian and Tour/Ellipse is actually under a slide-out tray if you got the tray option. If you are in a spot such as a garage that you can't get the storage doors fully open to open that slide-out tray, you can't get to those batteries! Fortunately; 1) Winnebago installed AGMs so less maintenance and 2) Winnebago installed a remote terminals by the chassis batteries so I can trickle charge them in a garage.
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