Dead Chassis Battery 2019 Sprinter View 24J

[bobelee]

recently purchased a used 2019 winny mercedes chassis if I leave it sit for a few days the aux.battery dies. has anyone installed a maintainer on that battery instead of unpluging battery disconnect?

 

[Morich]

Not knowing what level of experience you have leaves me likely to tell you some things you may already know! Sorry, not meaning to talk down but not wanting to miss some small points that kill your battery!
Step one might be how tricky the battery things can be. When we turn the battery disconnect switch off, it actually DOESN'T disconnect all the battery drains! It often leaves safety items connected on the coach batteries to slowly drain them. Things like propane and CO detectors are one! Simple way to check this may be to look at those when it is dark and you may see a small LED still glowing? ARRGH! Dead coach batteries if given time, no matter which way you leave the disconnect switch!
Also there is a different trick to snag us. If we leave the RV plugged in, think we can let the RV converter keep that battery charged but we turn the disconnect off as we see no need of using power to lights and fans when we are not in the RV? The truth is that the disconnect DOES cut the battery off from charging but not the drains that I mentioned!
So the chassis batteries can go dead, even when we left the RV plugged in!
Also there are things like radio presets and anything automatic on the chassis side that may run it down, given time!
I've found I almost need to sleep with the batteries to keep them good, until I find what they trick me on!
A few suggestions to consider?
1. If you leave the RV plugged into power, leave the disconnect switch on. That can leave the converter working to charge the coach batteries and offset any of those sneaky drains on them. But this also may need something added to keep the chassis battery charged. Maybe a strap from some of the coach connections to one of the chassis battery connections? That lets the one converter maintain both sets? But watch to see none of them run dry over storage times!
2. Maybe a second small trickle charger is handier for the the chassis?
Maybe go out after dark and look for things like lights under the steps or in compartments that may be burning?
But a biggie is being super alert and checking until truly finding what it is doing for charge levels over the longer periods between use. During Covid, several folks found their nice new cars went dead if they were not driven for 4-5 days as they also have sneaky drains!

Hope it helps but being a bit paranoid is good!

 

[WinniMN]

When you say aux battery, are you referring to the chassis battery that is below your right foot that starts the engine or the aux battery that is under the drivers seat?
When the starter battery is disconnected, the aux battery is still connected and will drain unless its fuse is removed.
When the aux battery is drained you will see a warning on the dash that tells you so.
Bruce

 

[Morich]

Yes, more exact info is needed as there seems to be confusion. If it is a 2019 Minnie Winnie it is not likely on the Mercede chassis and if speaking of the aux battery that most might call the coach battery, I don't think of those as being disconnected in that way.
Can you give more info on which RV ?
Link to list of RV is here:

Winnebago Cortona Portal

cortona.winnebago.com

 

[creativepart]

recently purchased a used 2019 winny mercedes chassis if I leave it sit for a few days the aux.battery dies. has anyone installed a maintainer on that battery instead of unpluging battery disconnect?

Yes. Your Mercedes chassis battery will deplete in storage unless you do something to prevent this.

It depends on whether or not you have access to power in your storage location. If you do most of us simply add a small trickle charger and connect it under the hood on the provided jump points.

If no power is available you can either disconnect the chassis battery by the disconnect down by the accelerator pedal, connect up a solar trickle charger, again to the jump posts, or install a device like the House2Start which uses the House batteries to keep the Chassis battery charged.

Prevent Dead RV Starter Batteries – House2Start Charger

Prevent dead starter batteries in your RV. House2Start charges your engine battery automatically from the house battery.

house2start.com

 

[bobelee]

thanks for the info it is a winny 24j view,this is our first rv,wife and i ride motorcycles at 70 we got tired of sleeping on the ground in tents. we can pull bike in a trailer now and have a comfortable bed. it is the batteries under the driver I think I will get a trickle charger and put under hood

 

[Seymour2Lane]

Greetings bobelee,
Welcome to the group.
Since your rig is new to you, I suggest that you have your chassis battery (under the driver's floor) tested to make sure it is good. We can be unplugged for over a week without the chassis battery draining.
On our 2016 24V I am able to keep the chassis battery charged by plugging a trickle charger into the 110v outlet near the sofa and then the 12v end into the "always hot" cigarette plug on the dash. This saves the hassle of getting under the hood.
Hope this helps.
Regards, Mike

 

[creativepart]

I use this one on my 2026 View 24R:

 

[WinniMN]

I suggest that you have your chassis battery (under the driver's floor) tested to make sure it is good.
Regards, Mike

I don’t plug in a maintainer unless it is over 3 weeks or so. Having the battery tested is a good idea
Bruce