2020 View 24D

[Bobbettyl]

Unit comes with 200W solar panels.
Questions:
1. I store outdoors. Should I be shutting off house batteries with solar panels?
2. Should inverter be turned off while stored?
3. WHAT IS THE ROUND KNOB JUST INSIDE COACH DOOR AT BASE OF SINK
CABINET. IT IS NEXT TO HOUSE BATTERY SHUT OFF. I THINK IT IS
MAIN SHUT OFF FOR INVERTER AND MICROWAVE. AM I CORRECT?

Also I only have standard issue batteries , wet cell? Thanks

[creativepart]

When storing turn off all battery disconnects. It should be clearly stated in your Operators Manual (it is in Section 11-11). And of course, you turn off the inverter as well.

Solar charge controllers are just that - chargers. They are connected directly to the batteries and turning off the battery disconnects does NOT disconnect the solar charge controller. The solar power is directly wired to the battery bank without going through any battery disconnect.

In fact you are not turning off the batteries when you use the battery disconnects - you are turning off all of the items that take power from those batteries.

I don't know what the "round knob" is exactly on your unit. It sounds like a "salesman's switch" battery disconnect. I would assume it should be turned off - but likely it's an inverter specific disconnect and turning off the inverter and all of the chassis/house batter disconnects takes care of everything you need.

When I store my RV I turn off the Chassis and the House battery disconnect and that's it. There is a separate "salesman's switch" disconnect on my inverter but it is only used when working on the inverter and it's connections to the battery bank. I'm not positive yours is the same, but I would think it is.

[Winterbagoal]

Did your 2020 unit not come with an Owner's or Operator's Manual? Many, if not all of these questions require reading these manual(s) and most of the info on the installed appliances will be described in the Supplemental Manual or in item specific manuals. These will all be located in the large Winnebago "black bag" that normally comes with new motorhomes.

Any info you get from forum members will only be generalized guesses, opinions, or "well, this is how I do it" unless stated otherwise, or in the case where someone else has the same year/make/model as yours.
So, what does it say in the manual? Winnebago doesn't normally install buttons or knobs that aren't labelled. There may be pictures in the OM that will explain what those things are. There will be a section in the OM regarding winterization and/or long term storage that will describe what needs to be done to store your motorhome.

[Bobbettyl]

No mention of knob as I described not anything on knob itself to identify. In fact I called Winn tech support not long after I got unit and they we’re puzzled too and guessed it might be inverter or battery disconnect which there is already one. Have gone thru manuals and don’t find answers to my questions

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by Bobbettyl

No mention of knob as I described not anything on knob itself to identify.

It takes a while to get aquainted with everything - even when you are reading the Operator's Manual it's easy to not know exactly what they are referring to.

I think you'll find info on "the knob" which in RV parlance is called a "Salesman's Switch" because RV sales people turn these on and off when showing RVs to prospective buyers. The info for the View is in Section 6-4 Electrical.

It's not well explained and should have been better explained during your PDI Inspection. Don't worry. Everything is new and all you'll need is time and experience to fully understand everything.

We're glad to help when we can.

[Winterbagoal]

Originally Posted by Bobbettyl

No mention of knob as I described not anything on knob itself to identify. In fact I called Winn tech support not long after I got unit and they we’re puzzled too and guessed it might be inverter or battery disconnect which there is already one. Have gone thru manuals and don’t find answers to my questions

Are you the original owners? Did you order it from a dealer, or buy it off dealer inventory?
There's no way Winnebago Support wouldn't know what it is, because they built it. No way.
Did you ask the dealer (assuming you bought it brand new) what it was?
How did creativepart find the pictures in the OM, section 6-4, and you couldn't?

[Bobbettyl]

Bought new from dealer inventory in October, 2019.
Dealer was not clear what knob did. And as I said Winn tech support was confused as to what it was even after reviewing schematic drawing.

AND LASTLY I WENT THRU ENTIRE OPERATORS MANUAL ESPECIALLY SECTION SIX AND THERE IS NO PICTURE OF KNOB !!

You tell me why my manual omits pic and Creativeparts shows it in his.

[Winterbagoal]

I downloaded the 2020 View OM from the Winnebagoind.com website last night, and the knob is in the pic exactly where creativeparts shows it in his posted pic from the same manual. Sometimes the page numbers in the hardcopy don't match the pdf version. Read through the entire Electrical Section of the version you have.

Theories/problems,
1) You have the wrong owners manuals. Or, are looking in the wrong manual.
Solutions: Ask Winnebago/dealer to confirm your edition(s). Alternately, dowload 2020 View manual from winnebagoind.com website, to get the most current version.
2) You have something other than a 2020 View with an aftermarket add on mystery knob.
Solutions: Unlikely, but verify you actually bought and own a 2020 View.
3) You apparently contacted WGO support but got the wrong person(s) on the wrong day(s). Did you call them? Or send Email?
Solution: Their email technical/customer support can be reached at
[email protected]
Include your chassis VIN and WGO serial numbers in your emails. They will literally pull up your vehicle's specific schematics and diagrams to see what you've got, before replying. I have had numerous contacts/responses with them using email and all my questions have been answered to my satisfaction.
4) Does the knob in the picture posted by creativeparts look like the one you are asking about?
Solutions: Solved. It's an Inverter/Charger disconnect switch. From the downloaded OM page 6-4...
"Further Information
See the inverter/charger manufacturer’s user
guide provided in your InfoCase for complete
instructions and charging setup directions."
The InfoCase is the big "black bag".

Also, I believe the 2020 View "standard issue" batteres are AGMs. Not wet cells. You'll have to pull the entry step and have a look, but the early info from Winnebago suggested they came with AGM standard, and LiFePO4 optional, if I recall correctly, when I was looking into getting a 2020 View/Navion myself.

This is about teaching a man to fish. I am trying to help you, but just taking a different approach than creativeparts.
You'll get the hang of this, but there's a lot of reading involved.

[creativepart]

There are Operator’s Manuals, wiring and plumbing diagrams and complete parts lists available from WBGO on their website.

Go to www.winnebagoind.com
Click on Owner’s Resources
Click on Service
Scroll down below the dealer located section

That’s where I found the section of the manual that shows the inverter disconnect. I looked up the Operator’s Manual for a 2020 View.

Hope this helps.

Dealers are notorious in their ignorance in the products they sell. It’s really a shame. I’m not surprised they didn’t know what that switch was for.

And like most things, RVs have their own terminology that support people use to answer questions. As you can imagine there are a lot of “knobs” in your RV, so the tech person you spoke with would have a difficult time knowing which knob you were asking about. You have to use the magic “RV Word” to get right to the answer.

You were on the right track in your initial post here. The “Knob” is officially called a rotary battery cutoff switch and in the RV world it’s informally known as the salesman’s switch I’ve mentioned before.

So to answer your initial question, for storage you turn off the inverter at the main inverter controller panel (which is called a “remote” - confusingly - in the RV world) and you turn off the chassis battery cut off by the steps. From what I read you don’t have to rotate the rotary cutoff knob normally. But it certainly wouldn’t hurt anything to do so. As long you remember to turn that switch back on so you can use the inverter.

I have the same switch on my RV and it does the same thing. Only mine is hidden in a storage compartment next to the inverter. I only turn mine off when working on any project that requires physically disconnecting my battery cables. Yours is at the doorway probably because your batteries are right there at the steps.

[Paloma]

Originally Posted by Bobbettyl

Bought new from dealer inventory in October, 2019.
Dealer was not clear what knob did. And as I said Winn tech support was confused as to what it was even after reviewing schematic drawing.

AND LASTLY I WENT THRU ENTIRE OPERATORS MANUAL ESPECIALLY SECTION SIX AND THERE IS NO PICTURE OF KNOB !!

You tell me why my manual omits pic and Creativeparts shows it in his.

I also have a 2020 View 24D purchased late August 2019. My manual has no mention of the "knobs" purpose. It is mentioned in the updated online .pdf available for download from the Winnebago website.

Winnebago in its hast delivered my motorhome without an updated owners manual. When I asked the dealer, they didn't have a clue.

I learned what the shutoff was used for on the View/Navion facebook page.

[AJMike]

It has been my experiencer that often user manuals are less than complete. When I have specific questions about things I try to look at downloaded manuals rather than the ones that came with the RV because I assume they might be more up to date, but often the information I am looking for is just plain not there.

As a case in point, I called Progressive Dynamics about using the standard PD9145A power converter with my new Lithium Batteries and they suggested that I use the available pendant. I bought one and saw that it used what looked like a standard telephone type jack to plug in and tried to find where it plugged into the actual unit that was installed in our RV. Could not see anyplace to plug it in, but the unit is covered in wiring and screwed down in a very inaccessible place. Took photos to see where the plug might be but that was no help, so I downloaded the online manual.

As it turned out PD makes 2 models of the power converter and they had a detailed description and diagram of only one and, of course, it was not the one I had. The manual stated it was for my power converter but the described model in the manual was for a completely different model. Sometimes things just are not as easy as they are supposed to be. And sometimes I think that is the basic rule of the universe.