Brand new ACE 31 battery problems

[Ridgeback wanderers]

We have been having issues with the coach batteries discharging when not being used. The batteries are dead within a couple of days. The dealer checked it and said everything is fine. Dealer service said to use the "store" button once everything is charged. I plugged in power and charged it, then used the disconnect (store) button. When I checked things a couple days later, everything was dead - including the chassis battery. Could not start engine or generator. I plugged it in and let it charge and is now working again.

I suspect that the battery controller is bad or improperly wired. It seems the dealer doesn't understand what I am trying to describe. They are too busy to get to it and I am now questioning their expertise.

What do I do now?

[blw2]

Too bad we can't get schematics from Thor. (I have tried)

Have you checked the batteries to see if they are still good? If you can charge them up fully, then take the batteries to a batteries plus store, or mechanic with a battery load tester. I'm not sure if an auto parts store's tester would be able to properly check the deep cycle house battery. A golf cart shop might be another place to have them checked.
Really, your dealer should have done this, but how do you know you can trust them?
Or even better, you could go get yourself a Battery Hydrometer
Amazon.com: Temperature Correcting Battery Hydrometer: Automotive

Make sure you get a temperature compensating one....
Fully charge the batteries, then let them rest for an hour or two to diapate the surface charge, then test each cell.

My new coach had a dead house battery when I picked it up, and I couldn't check it at my PDI since the coach was plugged in when i arrived. It wasn't until the next day or two when i could verify that it wasn't holding a charge. It had presumably taken a beating while sitting on the dealer's lot. Imagine a salesman showing the coach to somebody, whol leaves a light on. It might sit there over night discharging the battery.... and as you likely know, it will kill a battery to discharge them too deeply. Anyway, i took it in for a warranty replacement of the battery right away.

So, it could be that your batteries are dead, and just won't hold a charge.

If that aint it, my next guess is improper wiring &/or a bad relay.
At that point, I'd call Thor, ask for a schematic and some help in trouble shooting it.

[FW28z]

I suggest purchasing s B&K Precision 316 Mini clamp ammeter if you are into checking things yourself. It will work on DC and has a resolution in the mA range (I have one which is why I recommend it). With the battery off, you can see if there is any current drain.

If you find any "leakage current" take the moho to the dealer and show him the ammeter reading and tell him not to return the moho until the meter reads zero with the switch off.

[FW28z]

I suggest purchasing s B&K Precision 316 Mini clamp ammeter if you are into checking things yourself. It will work on DC and has a resolution in the mA range (I have one which is why I recommend it). With the battery off, you can see if there is any current drain.

If you find any "leakage current" take the moho to the dealer and show him the ammeter reading and tell him not to return the moho until the meter reads zero with the switch off.

You can get the B&K 316 at Amazon.

[blw2]

thanks for the tip on that meter. Mine only reads AC current and I need to get one that will measure DC one of these days.....

[billvero580]

I am having similar problems. I think mine is a bad battery. I removed it and charged it up until my charger said it was fully charged. . I left it overnight and lo and behold the charger was put back on the battery and it started to charge again. I removed the charger and put the battery back in the moho and checked it with the monitor panel. Bingo it was down to 1/3rd charged.

[blw2]

Originally Posted by billvero580

I am having similar problems. I think mine is a bad battery. I removed it and charged it up until my charger said it was fully charged. . I left it overnight and lo and behold the charger was put back on the battery and it started to charge again. I removed the charger and put the battery back in the moho and checked it with the monitor panel. Bingo it was down to 1/3rd charged.

Bummer. At least you're in good company.
I could be wrong, but I wouldn't be suprised if every coach that is dealer inventory, 100% of them, doesn't try to leave their lots with dead or damaged batteries from just the scenario that I described in my earlier post as what I suspect happened to mine.

....and very likely some coaches that were special ordered and delivered...... since you can't really know what the delivery driver did, or what they did while it was sitting that first night or two at the dealer waiting for the buyer to come get it.....
Even if it's not dead, the overall life of the battery could very well be comprimised by a single deep disharge.

Now I have read that the batteries are a dealer installed item, so maybe the driver is out of the equation, but still. One discharge will harm it. A few will kill it.
Ask my wallet if you don't believe me!

[FW28z]

For maximum life, the conventional wisdom for deep cycle batteries is to never discharge them beyond 1/2 capacity. Kind of makes the term "deep cycle" an oxymoron.

Also, there should not be anything between the battery's + leads and the contactor/disconnect switch. Probably not as much an issue with a new coach unless the dealer added on an accessory or the factory mis-wired it.

However, anytime you add electrical stuff - either by yourself or hire it done, make sure you wire the components after the disconnect.

Also, if you have dual house batteries, the one Achilles Heel is that since they are wired in parallel, if one battery is bad, the other battery will discharge into it. This is the primary reason you should always change out both batteries at the same time.

But again, you should not have that problem with a new RV unless the dealer put in an old battery by mistake.

Finally, when measuring battery capacity, realize that the display unit in your coach is not all that accurate. The only true way to measure capacity is to disconnect the battery for 24 hours, and measure voltage at the battery while disconnected.

Twenty-Four hours is a long time though, and you can get reasonably close if you let the battery sit disconnected for an hour before measuring it's voltage.

Here are the voltages that indicate the charge state:





For conventional deep-cycle batteries, you would use the wet-cell column in the chart. If you have dual batteries, I would disconnect them from each other as well. You may very well find that one battery has a different voltage (charge state) than the other - which if significant - might indicate one of the batteries is bad (or older).

[blw2]

one comment, that 50% does seem to be the conventional wisdom number.....
but I just recently put new trojan batteries in my golf cart.

Trojan's number is 80%.... but then that is a true deep cycle battery. Most of these RV or Marine types are multipurpose starting/deep and are not true deep cycles.
http://www.trojanbattery.com/pdf/TRJ...UsersGuide.pdf

I've read other numbers form time to tme, but agree that the 50% target is usually thrown around so it must be the convetional wisdom.....????

[FW28z]

At any rate, it is not good to completely discharge deep cycle batteries.

[blw2]

Yes!
& I should have added I've killed a fair share of marine and starting batteries with just a very few deep discharges!
I suspect teh true deep cycles ar emore forgiving.... hence trjan's recommendation of no more than 80% but I have little doubt that discharges below that would do permenant harm..... based on my experices of killed batteries (and on teh price of these things) I for one won't be planning to discharge them to 20%!!!

[Ridgeback wanderers]

Got the RV back from dealer. They replaced the batteries. They said they tested the converter/charger and said all okay.

We'll see.