1986 Winnebago Chiefton - dead house batteries

[S☉L_starr]

I am a new owner of a old sweetheart. I did just recently purchased two new brand new fresh deep cycle batteries I did come back to the vehicle today and everything is dead. I did leave the switch on for dual on the control panel and I realize that was a mistake but should the batteries be dead only after a day or so, but I guess I could have something draining the batteries that I'm unaware of trying to understand what is going on with her . Thank you so much for your help. Also, I imagine I put the switch in dual and then start the engine up and that should charge it from the alternator. I am new to RVing.

 

[creativepart]

I did leave the switch on for dual on the control panel and I realize that was a mistake but should the batteries be dead only after a day or so, but I guess I could have something draining the batteries that I'm unaware of trying to understand what is going on with her .

Yes, absolutely. Your 40-year old motorhome has plenty of 12v loads that will drain your batteries "a day or so" if you leave the house battery disconnect ON. In fact, even with the disconnect off your batteries are also likely to die when stored for as little as a week or two. Even with the power "off" there are a number of small loads that are always on and those will drain your batteries over time in storage.

There is a lot to learn about batteries, charging them, storing them and using them - probably a LOT more than you ever have considered before. They are not like your car's batteries and need lots of care.

Of course, given the age of your RV there could also be something wrong with your electrical systems that you are not aware of... yet. That's always a possibility.

 

[S☉L_starr]

Where is the battery disconnect? I don't know where it is in the RV. Yes they are completely dead. I also need to check to see if or what is pulling power and then track it down. Do I put some kind of meter at the batteries?

 

[klook]

You need to get a professional out there and learn all you can. It will be worth it. Then people here can help you better when you know more about what you have and can describe it well. Just my .02

 

[S☉L_starr]

Hey, I get what you’re saying about learning the system.

That said, the whole reason I posted here is because forums like this exist for people to help each other troubleshoot and learn from shared experience. If everyone had to hire a professional first before asking questions, the forum wouldn’t really serve much purpose.

If you or anyone else has insight into diagnosing dead house batteries on a Winnebago Chieftain—things like common failure points, charging issues, isolators, converters, or parasitic drains—I’d really appreciate the knowledge.

That’s exactly the kind of information these communities are great for sharing.

 

[Morich]

I snipped some details but they are from the 1990 model, so they may be right or totally wrong??? But maybe a place to start the looking?

In this area is where it shows on the 90 model. Left side like in front of driver but I can't say if under hood or under floor??? I have a snip of what to look for and maybe you can find the starter on the engine? That will have a big finger size battery cable that goes to this part and that may help find it???

A different way that may/may not help is to listen for a thump when somebody presses the momentary side of the dash switch. This is a big set of contacts and if kind of quiet, you may be able to tell where it is when it moves to close?? Thump, thump thump every time it is pressed to momentary?
They call one a solenoid and the other a relay but just different shapes! This 90 model shows there should be a shiny metal can shape that makes the connection between coach/AUX and chassis when the button is pressed. Several big battery cables go to it!
Chassis bat on left and coach bat on right big lugs! Inside is kind of like a silver dollar on a metal shaft. When it connects the silver dollar slaps again the ends of the two big lugs! Thump!
Then somewhere close is the relay that disconnects the coach battery. Often a black plastic looking item and this drawing is pretty much what they do look like whenyou find it.
Both may not be turned like this drawing shows but the same shape? When in driver's seat and press the button, do you hear a thump down around your knee? But it does need battery to make it move!
This shows 5-6 battery cables going to much the same spot, so maybe find cables and follow them?
If you find this relay, there should be several small wires that run from a switch inside to control opening/closing this relay. Maybe if you find the switch, you could hear this move but it is no0t nearly as big and noisy as the other . But I do expect them to be close together, so find one, maybe find the other? Anything like this just under the hod on the left side in front of driver?

 

[klook]

Oh, I have plenty of them, I have been doing it for a living. But the same questions come up time after time and we have to explain things over and over. And it is a fact that when I visit people with problems, I spend more time explaining how the camper works, new and old, then actually fixing things. Driving an hour, after trying to explain how to check fuses, and getting flack for what I charge because a 10 cent fuse is blown is annoying. These forums are great and I learn things also, particularly about specific models that work differently. But I have a basis in all the functions in these things. You can't get it without schooling or lots of personal experience. YMMV

 

[Morich]

I think you are on the right track to try to get the batty issues solved before anything else, as those are what make so many other things work as the 12VDc is control for most of the other things. But how those batteries are worked is often different on different RV or even different years.
Your 86 is a hard one to work becasue it is a few years too old for the online info we get from Winn but it also has a different way to do the battery charging. One of the big things they did solve in the leter years is what tirpped you. When they left it a manual operation to flip the switch to connect them while driving, it was also very easy to forget to take it off dual! so later they got around to using a "mode solenoid" that got battery to operate in two different ways. There was a boost switch on the dash to push if we had a weak starting battery. A handy way to get a jump start but it alos had a second handy trick because they added a connection to the chassis battery point they called "ignition hot". Like the name implies, when the turn the ignition on that point sent 12VDC down to the coil on the solenoid to close it and connect the two bat groups.
Good as it did it automatically and then when we turn the engine off it drops the connection. No room for memory failures.
But that is also one of the things that turns out to be a frequent failure on that age group. The solenoid contacts arced every time we started the engine and wore out way quicker than we liked!
Want to see why I think you might be able to hear it to find it? Here is a post with info on what is inside:

Want to know what's in a solenoid?

We get lots of trouble and discussion of the mode solenoid on our RV. The name may be confusing so maybe a small point there will help. Many know what a relay does but the difference is simply the shape and how the contacts move. For simple speak, relay contacts move left/ right while solenoid...

www.winnieowners.com

If I had the older type operation and knowing how bad I remember to do things, I might consider wireing that solenoid to be automatic -----but only on down the road when things get working a lot better! Maybe someday?

As my kids used to say when they couldn't do things that cost too much?
Ya! Maybe someday when we get rich!

 

[S☉L_starr]