New to 2007 Winnebago View - coach battery and power problems

[gibbs.dave]

Hi Everyone,

We picked up a 2007 View 23H last June and have enjoyed it very much. It didn't get much use over the winter while resting peacefully in storage in Florida. In June we drove it to the Northwoods of Wisconsin where it hasn't moved much either.

Getting ready to head south and the coach lights have stopped working without shore power. Investigations revealed both batteries in use for the coach are regular "marine starting" batteries, not deep cycle. One will charge - the other seems to be shot. Not surprising given the improper use etc.

So - the question is - can I replace both with a lithium deep cycle with say 300 ah? Or am I better off to just buy two lead acid 100 ah and stay with old tech for now?

Thanks,
Dave

 

[be happy]

As I am about as far away from being a battery expert as one can get, I will give you my thoughts.

When my coach batteries needed to be replaced a couple years back, before the big lithium push. My trusted RV tech asked me if I keep the united plugged in most if not all the time. I told them the unit is plugged in all the time I never boondock that type of stuff. I was told why buy batteries that you really do not need if you are plugged in. So I purchased the correct acid core batteries for my coach. No problems with my set up yet.So I would say if you stay plugged in during your stays, why change.

In reading posts about changing over to lithium, it seem one has to change to a different invertor. I may be wrong on this but seem in reading thats whats happening. Hope some folks who have changed will give the correct info on that.

 

[creativepart]

There are plenty of benefits to switching to Lithium batteries that have nothing to do with boondocking. Faster recharging, lighter weight, less loss in storage and of course, greater cycle life.

But they do require a change of Converter (not Inverter) to keep them properly charged when you are on shore power. And they can be problematic in freezing temperatures and require protection, depending on which battery you buy.

So, you can take the simple route and stick with lead acid or the more involved route and move to lithium.

But in a 18 yr old RV, Lithium will not be a drop in solution.

 

[Morich]

I see this as a vwery personal choice, based on what you do with the RV. If you want to go solo and rarely see using the Rv without hookups, we never got around to needing much in the way of batteries. It is very easy to get into the idea that we are saving money when we avoid campground fees but overlook the extra expense and trouble of upgrading the whole system.
there can be some situations where changing from lead acid to lithium can be done without doing lots of changes to the RV but that is again a choice to look over on what we each may value more. Lithium need major changes to get the total full value out of them but we may also find some of the smaller points that take us halfway will fit what we want.
One of the nice things about lithium is that they can be run down much further than lead acid without damage and they come back quicker. They can also be much better from a labor standpoint.
Downside is expense but we don't always have to go full bore on the changes and might settle for part of the benefits, while still leaving out some of the trauma of changing.

But that is where much of the study comes in!
Stay with lead acid for least expense but somewhat more watching to avoid running them down to damage and also watching/cleaning for the water and acid part but it can work totally fine at less study and expense, if we normally expect to have hookups. We stayed in that area as our long trips were as camp hosts and hookups were provided! We never boondocked as we wanted the safety of the government provided parks. We never wanted to get into situations where I wanted to have a gun! Just not going there! I did find the work to maintain lead acid to be a bummer but it was something that I was used to doing and went the easy way on not doing the work of changing!
In between full blown change or none, is one way to get longer lasting batteries that can be cycled much deeper without damage and not a huge step up in expense. Higher cost batteries than may not get the totally full charge they might take but they do extend the use time if not really needed. They can be drawn down further and also need far less work on cleaning and checking water, etc.

Or the big jump can be going full bore, doing the study and lots of work to change quite a lot of things to get the full benefits. This fits if you avoid campgrounds a lot of the time and feel it fits the way you use the
RV.
In our case, we have both been in those scary situations and without any safety net, nor facilities like running water and power. It was fine in the day when it was a much safer world and we had no money!
In those days, I had my experience of standing watch to see who was sneaking up on me and it was not what I wanted to do for fun! So we went for safety and convenience if things did not go exactly right!

 

[Bobn1957]

Hi Everyone,

We picked up a 2007 View 23H last June and have enjoyed it very much. It didn't get much use over the winter while resting peacefully in storage in Florida. In June we drove it to the Northwoods of Wisconsin where it hasn't moved much either.

Getting ready to head south and the coach lights have stopped working without shore power. Investigations revealed both batteries in use for the coach are regular "marine starting" batteries, not deep cycle. One will charge - the other seems to be shot. Not surprising given the improper use etc.

So - the question is - can I replace both with a lithium deep cycle with say 300 ah? Or am I better off to just buy two lead acid 100 ah and stay with old tech for now?

Thanks,
Dave

In order to switch to Lithium you will need to install a new converter charger that is built for Lithium!

 

[Morich]

I might point out that changing to lithium can be done without the full blown change as they will charge and work with the normal converter, just not to full ability. You can get some of the advantage of lithium but not ALL.
The lithium will charge and hold much the same, just not as fast nor as fully as we get when we switch to a better profile on charging.
If only changing the batteries, you can get better maintenance due to less work with keeping water right. they can be run much lower without damage and do charge quicker than lead acid.
With the Lead acid type converter, we don't get it done as fast, nor as high at the end.
But you can gain the other advantages, if that feels right for you.

Many do feel it right to go full blown to get the biggest step up in their battery world but there are several lower levels if they feel right to go for a lower cost mod.

A bit like asking which is better when buying a bottle of milk! Is it better to buy a smaller bottle that you can only use 20 % before spoiling or is it better to buy a bottle which is bigger but never totally full but you can use nearly the whole thing before it goes bad and the second costs much more than the first!
There are a lot of small wrinkles to work out in that question!

But that is a full blown study session to decide how much is the right choice?

 

[gibbs.dave]

2007 Winnebago View 23H

Thanks everyone for your responses! I purchased two deep cycle batteries and "voila" most things were fixed.

A follow-up question now that we're situated at the townhouse (east coast of FL) for the winter and the RV is in storage.

The storage facility makes electricity available at no charge. Should I plug in the RV when it is parked? I'll be taking it out on occasion, but no long trips until April or May.

I've read about a "trickle-charger" from the coach batteries to charge the chassis battery - but pretty sure I don't have it.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Morich]

Batteries can be like people at times? We all know lots about them but we may miss the details!? They are so simple that they often totally confuse us if we miss the small points.

Charging batteries is one of those small points with lots of different situations that change what we need to do.
Most RV have two different battery sets. One is the normal car type battery that starts the engine, etc. the second is the coach batteries which power the thing added to make it a house.
On a pre-owned RV, we never know for sure what we have until we look a bit. There may have been changes made to the electrical/ battery situation and things may not be as they were built. Possible things were added/changed to change the questions on charging?
Normal for "as built", leaves the chassis battery charged as any normal car and only gets charged as we drive.
Coach is normally charged as we have the RV plugged in and the battery disconnect switch left on.
Small point to know is that there is a solenoid/ relay that connects the two together when the engine runs as a way to get the coach battery recharged a bit as we drive.
Solenoid and relay are the same thing but different names because of the shape, so don't let that confuse you!
Main point is the chassis battery gets charged when we drive and coach normally gets charged when we plug the RV into power.

Keeping those in mind, we have some things to consider about keeping them charged when we store the RV. RV have drains on the batteries, even when we turn the disconnect switch off! That would run our car battery down if we didn't drive it often! Folks got caught on this when they started working from home and not driving their car every few days!
Both chassis and coach WILL run down to damage them if we don't do something to take care of them.
That's where things get difficult as we all have different situations. There is no one firm answer best for all!

New users often lose the first set of batteries, so look close! How long between uses and how to avoid overworking ourself or killing the batteries has lots of options.
No charge to either set for months will kill them quickly.
On the other hand, full time charging is very prone to boiling off the water on lead acid batteries and that also kills them!

Lots of options to suggest but can you tell us a bit more about what seems right to you? A bit more work to change the way things operate can be done very cheaply but a little more effort to add a strap between the two battery groups if the RV is plugged in to let the normal RV converter charge the coach and tie it to the chassis battery?
Add a small charger (trickle charger?) plugged into an 110AC outlet and connected to charge the chassis, while letting the converter take care of the coach?

Both situations need attention to make sure the battery water stays good and not boiled off! Some find it works better to remove the batteries and bring them home if getting to the storage is a problem?

Lots of options, so maybe tell us more about what might fit you best and we can advise on how the mechanical thing can be done?

 

[Bobn1957]

2007 Winnebago View 23H

Thanks everyone for your responses! I purchased two deep cycle batteries and "voila" most things were fixed.

A follow-up question now that we're situated at the townhouse (east coast of FL) for the winter and the RV is in storage.

The storage facility makes electricity available at no charge. Should I plug in the RV when it is parked? I'll be taking it out on occasion, but no long trips until April or May.

I've read about a "trickle-charger" from the coach batteries to charge the chassis battery - but pretty sure I don't have it.

Thanks in advance!

I would suggest that you replace the converter/charger with a modern multi-stage converter/charger and install a voltage-sensing relay between the house and chassis batteries! I did this about five years ago and only had to add water to the batteries once!

 

[klook]

I put in the Lithium and a new charger. For the engine/coach battery I installed a disconnect switch on the negative terminal. For the amount of time you are leaving it setting, it will not go bad disconnected. Plug in the House and it will be fine.