Process on dry docking my 07 Itasca Meridian

[bebopboer]

Hi All,

I just purchased i very good looking G36. Everything works flawlessly, low miles, no rust, C7 and tranny in great condition, etc.

The older gentleman that i bought it from hasn’t used it for nearly two years and he could not really give me good procedural guidance on some of the functions.

First question,
If i dry dock (50/30/20 amp service), why do i need to turn on the aux battery switch to get thongs working? Only once I turn Aux batt on will the control panel light up giving me access to select amp source etc.

Am i missing something??

thanks

[CWHTRAINS]

The aux battery switch is what turns on the 12 volt power system in the interior of the coach. Many things inside the coach work on 12 volts. For example, if you still have a propane refrigerator (Norcold) it takes 12 volts to run the control system for that refrigerator. Almost all the control panel systems in the coach, along with all the lights, are 12 volt based as well and run off what many refer to as the "coach or house batteries". For many of the Winnebago 36g models, the house batteries are 3 12 volts batteries on the upper battery tray on the passenger side, and the lower two 12 volts batteries are the batteries used to start the engine.

You may have another rotary battery disconnect switch located outside the coach above the radiator that disconnects the batteries that start the motor home (often referred to as the "chassis batteries") and allow the automatic door locks and storage bay locks to work from the key fob if your motorhome came with that option. Generally speaking you should have both of these battery disconnect switches on at all times you are using the motorhome.

When I put the motorhome into storage, I empty the refrigerator, leave the doors open and then turn both switches off so that the batteries stayed charged when stored and not connected to electricity.

[bebopboer]

Wow! I appreciate your detailed response and guidance and this will help me a great deal.

One more quick question; the first House battery is “hissing” a little and it for sure has more heat to the casing than the other two. Any ideas?

thanks again sir!

[CWHTRAINS]

Check the water level in the battery and make sure the water is above the lead plates. Generally speaking batteries making noises are not long for the world and need to be replaced. If you still have the standard three house batteries set up, should you have to change out one battery because it is bad, it is recommended that all three be replaced at the same time so that the relative charging levels are equal across all three batteries. You can take all three to a battery dealer and they can load test them and give you an idea of the health of them. If the coach sat for the last 24 months or more unused, they could have sulfated and gone bad.

Heat is an indication that something is probably shorting out internally and you should disconnect them and get them tested as soon as possible.

[bebopboer]

That is what i needed! Appreciate the help!

[GaryKowal1]

A hissing hot battery is trash. Necessitates changing all the batteries that are on that particular circuit. If you just try to change the one hot one, the other ones will constantly try to drag down your new one it greatly shorten the life.

[Morich]

A big point often missed when changing Rv is that we have parasitic drains from things like the radio, ignition and small points that will gradually drain the start battery if we don't make some plant to keep it charged. Be aware that running the battery totally down like that is one way to really nearly ruin a new battery, so some thought needed to keep both strings charged.
Needs a bit of thought to what is the best for your situation when stored.

[Oldchinahand]

Clayton, Gary and Morich have all given you good advice. Since you are new at this, I recommend you start building a relationship with repair folks you trust. (in addition to us)

Regarding batteries, I have been dealing with our local Interstate distributor for a number of years prior to trading our tent for a Journey. (not shilling for Interstate - buy what you like) And he is a fellow DPr. I've gotten long battery life following his advice.

As Clayton alludes, drydocking w/o electric is different from drydocking with 50/30amp.

We keep our rig plugged into 50amp all the time when home. Batteries do not like to be over or under charged. Keep a few amps load on them and they won't. In addition to parasitic draw, I do that by leaving the bath exhaust fan and the main cabin exhaust fan on all the time. Been doing it about seven years now, no they haven't burned up. A plus is that fresh air is constantly flowing throughout and that closed up "stank" doesn't happen.

Even if an exhaust fan fails, they are pretty cheap, relatively.

Fair Winds and Following Seas

[bebopboer]

Great info! I see the sense in running a fan whilst plugged in any home.

Thanks!

[Morich]

Small point that may or may not make it easier, depending on what power you have where you store the RV. If you only have a 15 amp plug/service nearby, it can do all we normally need to keep the batteries and a small fan or two running, if that is what you decide to do. We keep our Rv at the house and have an adapter for the 30 amp cord, so that we can use an outside GFCI protected outlet to power the charge system as well as pre-cool the frig when we want to go. We can't use the air conditioner but that's okay for the convenience of having it stored at home and without doing extra electrical work to get higher amp power.