Correct Battery Setup for 1986 Winnebago Chieftain 31

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A new RVer with a 1986 Winnebago Chieftain 31 sought advice on replacing all batteries, initially believing three were needed: two for starting and one for house use, with specific EverStart models in mind. Experienced members clarified that the original Chevy 454 engine setup used a single starting battery (Group 27 preferred for higher cranking amps if it fits) and one or two deep-cycle house batteries (Group 24 or 27). The consensus was to use one Group 27 starting battery and up to two... More...

S☉L_starr

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Hi all New Rv owner here! Need to replace the batteries In the ole girl wanted to run by the pros first before I buy tomorrow. Not trusting Chatgpt here for good reason.

From my research I will need 3 total batteries
Is this correct?

2 for starting
2 × EverStart Maxx 24F (preferred)
or
2 × EverStart Plus 24F (budget option)

1 for house
EverStart Lead Acid Marine & RV Deep Cycle Battery, Group Size 27DC 12 Volt, 750 MCA*
or
EverStart Maxx Lead Acid Marine & RV Deep Cycle Battery, Group Size 29DC - 12 Volt - 845 Marine Cranking Amps

Starting


House


Thank you for your help in advance!
Im In Brookln ny if that helps maybe autozone or some other battery place I am unaware of? low budget.
Eagl3 8 Sol Starr
 
Good Evening SoL_starr,

I reviewed your brochure on the second-to-last page:

and your Owner's Manual on pages 25 & 28:

The Chevy 454 in3 engine came with a single 80 amp starting battery. That would be 600 MCA (Marine Cranking Amps)

The house batteries would be 90 amp (one battery was standard, and two batteries were optional) so each would be 650 MCA.

Because the 454 is a large engine to crank-over, I would recommend the larger group 27 size for the starting battery (if it fits OK):
One Group 27 starting battery $149.84 (810 CCA = 1,012 MCA):

Two deep-cycle Group 24 house batteries $99.84 each (690 MCA):

If the Group 27 starting battery is too large to fit in the battery tray, then get a Group 24 Starting battery $149.84 (700 CCA = 875 MCA):
FYI, the Group 24 and Group 27 batteries are the exact same price.

Let us know how it goes!
Thanks, Eagle5
 
Good Evening SoL_starr,

I reviewed your brochure on the second-to-last page:

and your Owner's Manual on pages 25 & 28:

The Chevy 454 in3 engine came with a single 80 amp starting battery. That would be 600 MCA (Marine Cranking Amps)

The house batteries would be 90 amp (one battery was standard, and two batteries were optional) so each would be 650 MCA.

Because the 454 is a large engine to crank-over, I would recommend the larger group 27 size for the starting battery (if it fits OK):
One Group 27 starting battery $149.84 (810 CCA = 1,012 MCA):

Two deep-cycle Group 24 house batteries $99.84 each (690 MCA):

If the Group 27 starting battery is too large to fit in the battery tray, then get a Group 24 Starting battery $149.84 (700 CCA = 875 MCA):
FYI, the Group 24 and Group 27 batteries are the exact same price.

Let us know how it goes!
Thanks, Eagle5

Good Evening SoL_starr,

I reviewed your brochure on the second-to-last page:

and your Owner's Manual on pages 25 & 28:

The Chevy 454 in3 engine came with a single 80 amp starting battery. That would be 600 MCA (Marine Cranking Amps)

The house batteries would be 90 amp (one battery was standard, and two batteries were optional) so each would be 650 MCA.

Because the 454 is a large engine to crank-over, I would recommend the larger group 27 size for the starting battery (if it fits OK):
One Group 27 starting battery $149.84 (810 CCA = 1,012 MCA):

Two deep-cycle Group 24 house batteries $99.84 each (690 MCA):

If the Group 27 starting battery is too large to fit in the battery tray, then get a Group 24 Starting battery $149.84 (700 CCA = 875 MCA):
FYI, the Group 24 and Group 27 batteries are the exact same price.

Let us know how it goes!
Thanks, Eagle5
Thank you for this... I was crusing over the manual but didnt see this yet, thank you for pointing it out. I need a rv tutorial that goes over systems for the ship or maybe a local person in Brooklyn can meet w me and give me a once over ( or a zoom/facetime call) this is my first ship and I know how to drive forward. Lol
Jk im smarter than a 🥔 and pick things up fast. Just need some guidance. 🙏
 
I'll volunteer to assist but with a few things to state first!
I went though some really, really old RV and learned a lot the hard way. Not sure If I'm closer to a potato or a rock! Seems info has to be poured on several times for it to soak in!
Second idea is that you are a VERY long distance away, so not like we can stop by to take a look! But my most current "job" has been talking techs through drawings and issues to help cut their time, so I'm okay with doing it the remote way. It often does just get down to keeping calm and swapping enough ideas back and forth.
Something like a goat butting a dam? Two goats can often get it done quicker than one!
But I try to keep an open mind and much of the RV repair is not all that complex, just confusing as things keep changing!
I live more in the electrical and plumbing worlds while it is far better to talk to others if you need engine or mechanical ideas! I know which way to turn the wrench but I had two brothers who loved that stuff!
I might first point you to some of the basic info sites?
Winnebago home site and look under the owners tab to get an online owners manual!
Your RV will have some big differences that current do totally different, so getting the correct plan may be important before asking about repair.
Best of luck on the new trek. My first advise to new users is to watch the batteries as they tend to be hard to figure and tend to run down while setting in ways that can damage them as we get the ideas of some of the confusing issues!
Check them often until you get a better idea of how they sneak up on us in different ways than our daily driver cars!
 
Yes I am learning from the ground up and starting with batteries. As I understand there are diferences between Rvs I think at this point Id like some sort of HowTo for Rvs in general to learn. I learn from videos best if ya'll have any to reccomend
 
IMG_8764.jpeg
 
Can someonemark this up for me to explain, the batteries are dead. I am replacing them just wanna make sure I am putting them in the right location. This is the starter battery location front right behind front tire
 
Okay, we can start with what we see.
Some confusion but we can get the ones we do know out of the way.
REBUILD BATERY.jpg

Top left is the ground buss bar where which is one main place where ground/negative wiring goes. I think I see it is attached straight to metal, that tells us negative battery cables go here. If coach batteries are in different location, there may be another bare on metal frame where those go!
Part two at right is called a mode solenoid. Different name for a relay pretty much because of the shape and way it moves but a set of large contacts that close when battery and ground are put on the two small wires. I might guess the small green wire to be ground but test that before trusting tooo far! RV colors are not always the same as other wiring and several of your cables have been changed and not "normal" colors!
The idea is there is a switch near the dash usually and in your year RV, you could turn that switch on to send power to the coil in the solenoid. That power goes through a coil to make an electro- magnet close the contacts that connect the chassis positive to the coach positive to let power from the RV engine alternator charge both the chassis as normal but also the coach batteries.
I see a change in names!!! I use coach for the battery feeding RV stuff like lights inside and fans, water pump, etc. The chassis for the normal car truck/ stuff. At this point they called the RV one "aux" battery, a old name from boats!
Read over page 36 of that owners manual to get the idea of the "dual battery switch"? Turn it to dual and it stays as you drive but then when you camp, you want to turn it off to separate them to avoid running both batteries down to be dead for starting!
Hold the momentary side while cranking if your start battery is weak and that gives you a jump start from the coach/aux batteries! Jump start without getting out the jumper cables?
REBUILD BATERY.jpg

What's under that black cover at lower right? First thought was AC plug but not if it connects to a battery post clamp??? Any chance that is actually a clamp with a black over and the battery clamp we see goes to the positive of one coach/aux battery and the black cover goes to a second Aux battery positive post?
That looks kind of home-made so if you have aux batteries in some other location, they may have thought to add more batteries here?
I don't like the idea of not seeing any clamps or ways to tie more batteries down but we can find some strange things at times.

Let us know if any of that makes sense? My suggestion might be to start with getting the starter and RV engine going as a first set of cables and then the second set for the RV things may get less confusing!

You should have the normal auto type 12VDC, then the RV/aux 12VDC and finally there will be the 110VAC that has a form of charger, often called a converter or load center.
That last part should have a big cord to plug into an outlet. that feeds AC to the charger/converter/load center, depending on what name they used. That charge system feeds the RV electrical as well as charge the aux batteries.

You got lots of confusion when first starting and it is not in the best of shape, so we may have to wander around a bit while we try a few guesses.
 
Okay, we can start with what we see.
Some confusion but we can get the ones we do know out of the way.
View attachment 2415962
Top left is the ground buss bar where which is one main place where ground/negative wiring goes. I think I see it is attached straight to metal, that tells us negative battery cables go here. If coach batteries are in different location, there may be another bare on metal frame where those go!
Part two at right is called a mode solenoid. Different name for a relay pretty much because of the shape and way it moves but a set of large contacts that close when battery and ground are put on the two small wires. I might guess the small green wire to be ground but test that before trusting tooo far! RV colors are not always the same as other wiring and several of your cables have been changed and not "normal" colors!
The idea is there is a switch near the dash usually and in your year RV, you could turn that switch on to send power to the coil in the solenoid. That power goes through a coil to make an electro- magnet close the contacts that connect the chassis positive to the coach positive to let power from the RV engine alternator charge both the chassis as normal but also the coach batteries.
I see a change in names!!! I use coach for the battery feeding RV stuff like lights inside and fans, water pump, etc. The chassis for the normal car truck/ stuff. At this point they called the RV one "aux" battery, a old name from boats!
Read over page 36 of that owners manual to get the idea of the "dual battery switch"? Turn it to dual and it stays as you drive but then when you camp, you want to turn it off to separate them to avoid running both batteries down to be dead for starting!
Hold the momentary side while cranking if your start battery is weak and that gives you a jump start from the coach/aux batteries! Jump start without getting out the jumper cables?
View attachment 2415962
What's under that black cover at lower right? First thought was AC plug but not if it connects to a battery post clamp??? Any chance that is actually a clamp with a black over and the battery clamp we see goes to the positive of one coach/aux battery and the black cover goes to a second Aux battery positive post?
That looks kind of home-made so if you have aux batteries in some other location, they may have thought to add more batteries here?
I don't like the idea of not seeing any clamps or ways to tie more batteries down but we can find some strange things at times.

Let us know if any of that makes sense? My suggestion might be to start with getting the starter and RV engine going as a first set of cables and then the second set for the RV things may get less confusing!

You should have the normal auto type 12VDC, then the RV/aux 12VDC and finally there will be the 110VAC that has a form of charger, often called a converter or load center.
That last part should have a big cord to plug into an outlet. that feeds AC to the charger/converter/load center, depending on what name they used. That charge system feeds the RV electrical as well as charge the aux batteries.

You got lots of confusion when first starting and it is not in the best of shape, so we may have to wander around a bit while we try a few guesses.
Thank You going to print this out and review, download a new brain #matrix...
 
While looking for info, this may help to see how little there is in the solenoid:
Or this pic may be enough?
Power the coil down in the bottom and the magnet pulls the center and contacts down to hit on each big lug at the sides! Take the power off and the spring pushes the contacts open!
solenoid teardown.jpg
 
Not meaning to press but I had some time to try to think through how the whole electrical setup works and maybe a rough drawing of what to try to ID to put it back together? Sometimes I get busy , sometimes not, so thought to pass this along while I have the time!
The ideas are correct as far as I know for your RV but some of the lines where I show them connected may not be the correct point you find. Idea is that the positive lines have to go to the positive but whether direct from battery of attached at some other point and then lead to the battery is always changing when they build RV.
The engine alternator is one we know has to connect to the truck battery as well as the starter. But whether it goes direct from battery to starter or if it goes a different route and winds up at the battery is often different.
On my drawing, look more at where the power winds up and not necessarily the route it takes? It looks like you have a lt more black cables than I would expect, so I'm guessing some have been changed and not used the correct red colors and that is a bummer but happens often!
battery operation.jpg

Three systems that are connected to the others or disconnect at other times.
Top left is the normal truck power. Engine running the alternator runs truck items and spare power goes to truck battery! Normal stuff that car or truck does!
Lower left is the RV/aux battery that can feed to the fuses at a load center or I think the converter will be built in the back of that. I think the RV power stuff will have fuses at the right to feed on out to inside lights, fans and 12VDC things inside. Power from the aux/coach battery is used only when battery disconnect switch is on!


If that switch is on AND the dual battery dash switch is on, the engine alternator charges both batteries. When camped, keep that dash switch off to separate the two batteries to avoid killing both to be dead! But close both switches when you run the engine and want to charge the aux batteries!
But while camped plugged in and wanting to use power for lights and water, etc. you likely can use straight off the AC plug in, without the battery connected or not!
AC in then makes DC and can run all the RV 12VDC and you have the choice of whether to put some in the aux battery or not?
Think of battery as a pantry where you store power? You can use out of that pantry or just eat what you just brought home and leave the pantry closed! Easy to think we have to have the batteries connected but not true, if we have the cord feeding power.
When talking to folks who have been clerks/secretaries, talk about groceries to get the idea across.
the power cord is your car and you just got home with groceries? You can bring them in and put them on the table to eat, put some on the table and the rest in the pantry, or put it ALL in the pantry! If you close the solenoid, you can even put some in a different pantry!
The trick is to avoid getting caught with no plug in and BOTH pantries empty!

Ignore or use as fits you best!
Good luck on the chase!
 
I like the AGM batteries because you don't have to worry about servicing them with water. Lifeline.com sells these for engine and house. One of the best companies/batteries in the business IMO. Larry, Winnebago 2014 Reyo P.
 
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