Newbie to 1993 Winnebago Vectra - Sad shape

[Frosty77]

Hi I am new to this forum and looking for some help and advice to get this poor ol' girl back together after having been badly abused by previous owner.
I wonder if anyone out ther would be kind enough to send a picture of the proper set up of the batteries on this 5.9 L Cummins Diesel 1993 Winnebago Vectra Diesel Motorhome. Then previous owner only left one battery - the starter battery - and unfortunately snipped quite a few wires as well as yanking out the front TV as well as the cabinet with it. I am looking to put her back together so she and I can get out and do some RVing.
really appreciate any help from all of you kind folks out there.
Have a nice day!

 

[Eagle5]

Hi Frosty77,
Searching this forum for:
1993 Vectra
will give you some resources. The brochure and the Owner's Manual may be of some help too.
I also found this:
https://www.winnebago.com/Files/Files/Winnebago/Resources/Diagram/1993/93_m35rq_wiring.htm
which leads to this:
https://www.winnebago.com/Files/Files/Winnebago/Resources/Diagram/1993/108676.pdf
Welcome to the forum.
Eagle5

 

[dox-WO]

Hi, I just recently acquired a 1995 36' Vectra with the 5.9 cummins diesel. I am new to this forum and not sure how it works. I would like to share info with you as there are very few of these antiques still on the byways. I just finished adding 400 watts of Renogy solar panels and 4 - 100 ah Renogy agm batteries. We prefer boondocking over campsites. The above diagram is how mine is laid out but I drilled thru baffels into the storage area to install my 2 additional 100 ah batteries, a marine cutoff switch, a 2000 watt Renogy inverter.

 

[Morich]

One of the hazards we have to deal with when shopping is looking at what previous owners may have moved, changed or modified. Once that is done, there will be little help from any drawings or most folks who might try to fix it.

We know what it WAS but what is it NOW? Each person who has modified the RV may have had their own ideas of what they wanted it to do, what cost to invest and then it may come down to how much they knew about the project.

We deal with lots of posts here on the forum and it is obvious that many of the RV will come out weird, so it is not something I want to buy used!

For the best shot at getting info on what Winnebago installed and where as they built the RV, this home site may be the best place to start:
https://www.winnebago.com/
Under the "owners" tab you will find a second site with many of the online drawings and manuals to cover how it was built. For the battery compartment, you are likely to find lots of help on the cut off wiring. Be sure to check the notes and explanations of how Winnebago does the drawings and labeled the wires and cables. Some of that info may not have been cut off the cables and could be very useful to ID which battery cables went where.
One of the big things I find here is when folks look at the drawings and things they are not used to and then skip over the instructions on how to read and use the info we have online! It may seem obvious but one of the main points of learning about new stuff should be reading the directions.

That's kind of lost in the new digital world where we get used to just stumbling around until we find the right buttons.
Three days of fighting to get a new toy to work may drive anybody over the edge! Maybe that's why so many appear to be totally nuts and go out and shoot up the neighborhood?

Do be aware of the hazard when folks have changed things because they are prone to not using correct colors or correcting the ID markers as they changed the layout.

Red may no longer be positive and black negative! Getting them put back together backwards may create more excitement than you want! Check carefully before adding that last connection!
I'll wish you luck but it can be a trek!

 

[Frosty77]

Hi I am new to this forum and looking for some help and advice to get this poor ol' girl back together after having been badly abused by previous owner.
I wonder if anyone out ther would be kind enough to send a picture of the proper set up of the batteries on this 5.9 L Cummins Diesel 1993 Winnebago Vectra Diesel Motorhome. Then previous owner only left one battery - the starter battery - and unfortunately snipped quite a few wires as well as yanking out the front TV as well as the cabinet with it. I am looking to put her back together so she and I can get out and do some RVing.
really appreciate any help from all of you kind folks out there.
Have a nice day!

Thank you so much for the information, really appreciated.

 

[Frosty77]

Hi, I just recently acquired a 1995 36' Vectra with the 5.9 cummins diesel. I am new to this forum and not sure how it works. I would like to share info with you as there are very few of these antiques still on the byways. I just finished adding 400 watts of Renogy solar panels and 4 - 100 ah Renogy agm batteries. We prefer boondocking over campsites. The above diagram is how mine is laid out but I drilled thru baffels into the storage area to install my 2 additional 100 ah batteries, a marine cutoff switch, a 2000 watt Renogy inverter.

Thanks Dox. Appreciate the info
Have a nice day!

 

[Frosty77]

Hi Frosty77,
Searching this forum for:
1993 Vectra
will give you some resources. The brochure and the Owner's Manual may be of some help too.
I also found this:
https://www.winnebago.com/Files/Files/Winnebago/Resources/Diagram/1993/93_m35rq_wiring.htm
which leads to this:
https://www.winnebago.com/Files/Files/Winnebago/Resources/Diagram/1993/108676.pdf
Welcome to the forum.
Eagle5
View attachment 188721

Thank you Eagle5, very helpful. Have a great day.

 

[Frosty77]

One of the hazards we have to deal with when shopping is looking at what previous owners may have moved, changed or modified. Once that is done, there will be little help from any drawings or most folks who might try to fix it.

We know what it WAS but what is it NOW? Each person who has modified the RV may have had their own ideas of what they wanted it to do, what cost to invest and then it may come down to how much they knew about the project.

We deal with lots of posts here on the forum and it is obvious that many of the RV will come out weird, so it is not something I want to buy used!

For the best shot at getting info on what Winnebago installed and where as they built the RV, this home site may be the best place to start:
https://www.winnebago.com/
Under the "owners" tab you will find a second site with many of the online drawings and manuals to cover how it was built. For the battery compartment, you are likely to find lots of help on the cut off wiring. Be sure to check the notes and explanations of how Winnebago does the drawings and labeled the wires and cables. Some of that info may not have been cut off the cables and could be very useful to ID which battery cables went where.
One of the big things I find here is when folks look at the drawings and things they are not used to and then skip over the instructions on how to read and use the info we have online! It may seem obvious but one of the main points of learning about new stuff should be reading the directions.

That's kind of lost in the new digital world where we get used to just stumbling around until we find the right buttons.
Three days of fighting to get a new toy to work may drive anybody over the edge! Maybe that's why so many appear to be totally nuts and go out and shoot up the neighborhood?

Do be aware of the hazard when folks have changed things because they are prone to not using correct colors or correcting the ID markers as they changed the layout.

Red may no longer be positive and black negative! Getting them put back together backwards may create more excitement than you want! Check carefully before adding that last connection!
I'll wish you luck but it can be a trek!

Appreciate the advice, Morrich. Gave a spectacular day!

 

[Morich]

It may not help as the tape or original cables may be lost over time but IF you find tape near the ends of the battery cables, this "code may help sort which goes to which side of the solenoid!


Can you tell us which chassis, Ford, Chevy, etc., the RV is built on?
When chasing down drawings, that can get to be a big question due to the way they are filed.

What got me around to asking that is when I started looking for the location of the solenoid that a couple of those battery cables goes directly to !

What's the experience level? You may find this solenoid under some cover/panel and there may be a label telling you it is in there---or not!
If you are into replacing some of the cables that go to the solenoid, that is a common item and good to know the location as they can be a trouble spot but really important they it works.
It is where the coach and chassis batteries get connected together by the solenoid when we have the engine running. That lets the engine alternator charge both the chassis battery and also the coach battery as we drive. that lets us use all the 12 volt thing inside like lights, fans, etc without the coach battery going down as it gets power from the alternator.
Good thing to have working but they sometimes hide it away where it's hard to find if the label falls off the cover!

Solenoid looks like this drawing but this is the way Chevy and Ford lay out and may not be what you have??