Levelers and Battery Question 2017 Winnebago Vista LX 30T

[Ndberning]

Good morning!
So I may have set myself up for more angst. Given the fact that my house batteries on our 2017 Winnebago Vista lx 30T were not holding a charge and were causing the converter (I assume) to run constantly and because it also was clear that the battery on/off switch clicked itself off once and required a couple of punches to turn back on, I asked a neighbor to come and take both batteries out. I had pulled the plug on shore power the night before and before we took the batteries out, we tested them and they tested at 10V each. The chassis battery tested at 12.6V. My plan had been to take the batteries to interstate and get two AGM batteries to replace them. In the meantime, we decided to get an appointment (tomorrow) at a RV service location in order to check the entire system: batteries, converter, inverter and to check and see if the electric heat I had been using was causing problems and to check that switch.
I had gotten the slides in (2 one night and the other one had to wait for the batteries to charge up overnight in order to get the third slide in). When I woke up this morning I have a question as to the levelers. Do they need house batteries connected in order to raise them? I sure hope not but one AI says probably another AI say no, the chassis battery will suffice. If it requires house battery to be hooked up, can I just hook up one battery to do that?

 

[creativepart]

Generally, the leveler system works off of the Chassis battery, and requires that the motorhome’s engine is running and the parking brake applied. Depending on what system you have (there are multiple versions) the jacks may retract by springs on the jacks. Spring retraction is most common.

Since you are new to RVs… be aware that dealer service departments can be very problematic, keeping your motorhome for lengthy periods and not really adequate at diagnosing or addressing your problem. You may be using an independent service shop which is usually preferred to an RV dealership.

Also, though I certainly don’t know enough about your problems to offer sound solutions, just reading your above post I’d say it’s possible the only issue you have is the dead batteries. One; the Converter runs all the time any time you are plugged into shore power, and two; the battery disconnect switch relies on power from your batteries to operate. The switch is connected to a solenoid powered by the batteries. So dead batteries cannot power the solenoid.

 

[Ndberning]

That would be great if the problem is simply bad batteries! We are going with an independent service place that gets generally great reviews and referred by Interstate Battery distributor that I called. But they would not let me just order the batteries from them to bring our unit down there to install....they want to check the whole system out first. Hoping that is simply being professional and thorough and not to find new and expensive problems! Thanks for you input and advice!

 

[Ndberning]

My husband reminded me that the "converter" ran really loud at a certain time and then when we took the batteries out, ran much softer. I'm not really sure the fan I am hearing is the converter because as I said in previous posts, we are newbies to RV's. I even took a video of it.

 

[Morich]

Several points come up. One is that the one of the easiest ways to make sure the Whole electrical 12VDC system is getting good power is to start the RV engine. This is true on the later models like you have but will need to be confirmed on earlier as things are often changed slightly from year to year.
Think of the change from a 2017 car to a 2025? The TV you had in 2017 is not what you have in 2026 and RV are much the same!

But speaking of YOUR year and model of RV, there is an automatic system which closes a relay, called a solenoid, when the engine is started. When that relay closes, the engine 12VDC system with the alternator is connected to the coach 12VDC system.
That engine alternator is be enough and has plenty of power to run most all 12VDC things on the RV. It usually WILL NOT run the 110 volt AC things like the air conditioner, outlets and microwave.

However, if things are working correctly and you are able to get the engine started, ALL RV items needing only 12VDc should work, even if there are no coach batteries onboard as they get plenty of power from the engine alternator running!

But there are a few things that have to be correct. One is all battery disconnect switches have to be on! If they were off and the coach batteries were removed, they may not turn on until they get power from the engine system!
The disconnect switch operates a special type relay called a latching relay.
You may notice that the disconnect switch may feel "funny as it doesn't click when you move it and stay in the direction pushed? The sw3itch sends a burst of power to move the relay open or closed. Then when we let go of the switch it is a momentary type which opens when we release it. Tricky in that it uses power to do it's job moving the relay but then goes back to sleep and stops using power?
But we want the relay to stay open or closed without using power, so it has a magnetic item which holds the last place we set it. We get the relay to stay where we wanted it, by using the magnet instead of constantly using up our precious battery power!

I might suggest a couple things to consider before going for repair as that does really have some flaws. Most techs do have some sections where they have good knowledge but an RV needs lots of different types of talent. Usually the guy who is good at changing tires and mufflers is not the same type that know how to fix and air conditioner, frig or microwave!

My suggestion would be to try to get the engine started.
Test the engine start battery by doing something like honk the horn to verify that battery is good enough to do the small stuff! If it is really too slow cranking to start, the engine battery may needed charged, just like a car! Jump start from another vehicle if necessary.
Do this with the RV cord unplugged to save confusion/conflict.
Then when the engine is running, make sure the battery disconnect switch is hit to move the relay closed. If reaching this point, try pushing the disconnect to off. If you have an inside light on to watch, turning the coach battery disconnect on/off should make the light go on/off!
If your coach battery is just way low on charge, you may see the lights go brighter as you rev up the engine a bit! If that happens, it is telling you the coach batteries may need charged or maybe replaced but you are getting power all the way from the alternator through the solenoid to the coach things like lights!

The converter is a second question in many cases and we may think of it as way more than it is because of the way it sets in the whole wiring bundle.
The converter does one thing only. If it is getting power from the generator or plugged inshore power, it makes 12VDC. That 12V is wired to fuses and then on to run the RV 12VDc items and it is also tied to wiring to charge the coach batteries.

I would wait to check the converter question until getting the batteries in order.

A voltmeter to test things along the line is often a really good item to have for RV repairs! Often a $30 meter will point you to a problem/ cure that will often cost a week or more and a few hundred at a shop!

 

[Ndberning]

Whew! More to learn! My unit started fine and the levelers came up fine. (I am surprised how low they all ride and that discourages me from any off pavement type camping....). I agree with the battery thing, perhaps all little weird things will iron out with good batteries. One can hope. But I do want them to check everything and fingers crossed that they don't find anything major.

 

[Morich]

Just have to keep it calm and work one problem at a time in some cases.
Since the batteries are such a "first step" in things working, getting them in order can often resolve several of the things that seem to have something wrong with them.
But it can all certainly boggle our minds, even after doing it for years.

How the converter fits in with lots of the other things can be a whole question on it's own as it can seem to change at random.
The point, it charges the batteries and also can power the RV when on, just seems to be a real conflict with how it can STILL run the RV when we are plugged in but not continue to charge the batteries can warp our mind!

And that can be part of what changes the amount of noise the converter makes at different times. It is designed with three levels of output that it choose based on the voltage levels it senses from the batteries. It makes more noise when it is working hard and possibly even throws in the sounds of a cooling fan!
What changes the noise is often how low it think as the batteries. If we have run the batteries down a good bit and it is a hot day, it may go to "bulk charge", work hard and turn on a fan.
As it gets the batteries back nearer the ideal level, it backs off the output to avoid over charging and the fan may stop.
Finally it finds things are close enough and it goes into what is called "float charge" where it keeps things charged but not so much it boils the water off!

When we want to get an idea of where to find things and what they may be called, we have an online "interactive parts catalog" that I love as we can see through walls and not have to crawl to find things!
Takes a bit of trial and error to control but just treat it like a video game?

Parts Catalog

But this is one version of your, year, make, model and build date on your 2017 Vista 30T. Looks like lots of options, so if you spot somethin on the drawing, it may/may not be the option you have?
But he converter is what I wanted to show you here as it is hidden behind a set of breakers and fuses!

If plugged in or generator running, there is a transfer switch in the back, drivers side, that chooses cord or gen. to forward to converter area.
Some passes to AC breakers and then on to outlets, air, microwave things that use 110AC.
Some AC goes to converter, made into DC to feed batteries and also to the DC breakers that feed coach DC things like lights, fans, and controls for furnace, air and lots of things that may need both AC and DC!

Don't sweat if this is all a big mind boggle! It does take time and about the time we get it down, they may change the rules.
Like moving into a new house, sometimes it all works fine but the hard part is figuring out which key fits the front door! But that is the one we need first!