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Old 02-18-2019, 01:59 PM   #21
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Windsport 29m
State: North Carolina
Posts: 524
THOR #9553
I have not had a problem with my first RV, a Axis 25.2 or my new Windsport 29 m that we bought May of 2018.. About 2 weeks ago I did check the water level before de-winterizing and all cells in both coach batteries were very low. I'd check that 1st and remember, distilled water only!!!

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Old 02-23-2019, 07:39 PM   #22
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THOR #13246
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Originally Posted by tdpinokc View Post
Have been doing odds and ends for the last couple days on new 2018 Vegas. Have had External 30A plugged in all the time. Went to start engine and battery is dead. Tried to use Emerg Start assist as advertised and no help. Coach batteries appear to be charged. Got any suggestions on what is happening?
I've had a similar problem. None of my batteries were dead but I couldn't start the coach, nothing, no clicks, no lights on the dash. Hooked up a charger to the coach battery, turned the key, everything came to life. Not enough time to charge anything. I had it happen several times in an hour one afternoon as I was trying to get on the road.



Every time I've had a problem I've heard the sound of a relay/solenoid in the engine compartment.



I think there is a relay/solenoid that controls all chassis power. If the battery voltage drops just a little the relay drops out, everything is dead (disconnected). Connect a battery charger, the voltage comes up, the relay activates and everything lights up. At first I thought it connecting the charger alone was the critical clue. Another time I couldn't get it to start I connected to shore power, seconds later I heard the relay activate and the coach started.



This tells me the batteries are not dead, maybe a volt low, but low enough to bother whatever circuit is controlling chassis 12V. Still plenty of power to start the engine.



I think it might be on the chassis side of things.
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Old 02-24-2019, 12:08 AM   #23
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Model: Freedom Elite 30FE
State: Arkansas
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THOR #12827
Another dead chassis battery here.
Went to start the engine today and got nothing, no clicks, no lights, nothing. Tried the emergency start switch and still didn’t even get a solenoid click.
Put a voltmeter on the battery and it read 2.52v. Put my charger on the battery and after two hours it still read 2.52v. Then I realized that all the running lights were on, illuminated by the charger. The running lights normally stay on a few seconds after locking the doors, but my guess is since there was no power to lock the doors or trip the light relay, they just stayed on.
I’ve now removed the battery and will leave the charger on it over night. If it’s still not charged I guess a trip to Autozone will be next.
I like others who have posted to this thread thought that the chassis battery was kept charged while on shore power like the coach battery is.
I put a voltmeter on the + and - cables for the chassis battery after the battery was removed and it read .2v, so I guess there is no charging via shore power.
My guess is the battery has gone bad, but if it didn’t, I’m at a loss to figure out why it discharged to 2.52v in such a short time.
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Old 02-24-2019, 01:41 AM   #24
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Model: Vegas 25.2
State: Missouri
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THOR #4687
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Originally Posted by scrubjaysnest View Post
On ours, the B.I.R.D. was wired wrong so when the chassis battery was dead you couldn't use the emergency start. After rewiring it now works correctly and no more dead chassis battery.
We had the same issue as SCRUBJAYSNEST. Our bird was wired wrong and, if I plugged in shore power without starting the engine first ( to trip the BIRD and TROMBETTA RELAY) shore power would not charge the chassis battery and the emergency start did not work

Found that THOR wired the BIRD backwards. After rewiring everything works, chassis battery is charged by shore power and alternator and the house batteries are charged by alternator and shore power...
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Old 02-24-2019, 02:35 AM   #25
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Model: Axis 24.1
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THOR #3552
I got so sick of draining the chassis battery that I build a little gadget that connects the house batteries with the chassis battery.
Its just a diode, fuse, voltage readout and some connectors. Because I have solar for the house bats, its works great.
I suspect there is something wrong with the BIRD but I could not figure it out.
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Old 02-24-2019, 03:52 AM   #26
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Model: Chateau 28Z
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THOR #3430
I have a similar issue with my Thor château 28Z it seems that the shore power does not keep the engine battery charged. One of the things that I did to solve the problem was to put a harbor freight tools battery maintainer in one of the electrical outlets and work a system to plug it into the cigarette lighter receptacle. This works all the time. I think there may be a fault in Some of the circuit design but this was a quick fix.
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Old 02-24-2019, 05:10 PM   #27
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Model: Axis 25.3
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THOR #13383
I had the same issue on my 2016 Axis. At first I thought the chassis battery had just expired, but when the replacement was dead after a week and the emergency start didn’t work, I realized I had an issue with the BIRD and/or Thrombetta. I was planning to diagnose the issue and replace the offending component when I discovered this: https://precisioncircuitsinc.com/pro...ation-manager/. I installed it last weekend (pretty easy) and then tested all three batteries before plugging it in. I left it plugged in overnight (about 16 hours) and retested. All three batteries had charged (I don’t have the before and after numbers in front of me at the moment) and were nearly equal. Just to be 110% sure I am testing some longer stints of keeping the coach plugged in, but so far all seems to be working perfectly. I have pics and can document the BIRD to BIM wiring (what I found on this and another forum weren’t 100% correct at least for my MH) if it would be helpful to anyone.
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Old 02-24-2019, 05:59 PM   #28
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Had the same thing happen on my Hurricane. I had it on shore power and one day went out and found the whole unit dead. The digital meter by the door had went off and I couldn't turn it on. I had to jump start the motor which in turn allowed me to eventually start the generator after I removed the shore cord. I took it in and they were unable to find the situations cause. My unit has a home type refrigerator so it does indeed have a converter and inverter. It will go for months without a problem but then pop up again so even when parked I have to keep an eye on the meter which normally shows about 13.4 volts. I've checked the power control center and found what I considered a few not tight enough wires and--knock on wood--I haven't had a problem for a while.
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Old 02-24-2019, 06:00 PM   #29
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I have a 2017 Axis. I installed a negative (ground) battery disconnect from Harbor Freight Tools, $8. Used a bracket from Home Depot and mounted it on the left front of the radiator so it is so easy to reach with the hood down, and my wife is not afraid of the little red plastic key. Obtained 2 battery cables and connectors from O'Reily car parts.$40. This project is for a handyman with tools who has already gone through the dash, access to the battery (another project Thor does not make easy). Big thanks all forum contributors and Ed Felker. DarwinB
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Old 02-24-2019, 06:10 PM   #30
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There are a couple good threads on IRV2 regarding trouble shooting the BIRD. On mine the Trombetta relay was bad brand new and it took me awhile to figure out what was going on. Replaced it with one off eBay for about 80 bucks and it has been fine since

I did install a rotary disconnect on the house batteries for longer term storage just to be sure they wouldn't completely discharge. I also turn off the disconnect on the Chassis Batteries for the long term storage

Sure way to many of these issues than wind up with dead batteries
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Old 02-24-2019, 06:59 PM   #31
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Model: Four Winds 28Z
State: Florida
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THOR #14059
Which steering stabilizer ?

Quote:
Originally Posted by flipper003 View Post
Aha! That may be why I can't find one. I recently bought this slightly used (7,700 miles) and it had the steering stabilizer and rear air bags added but wasn't
sure about the inverter. Shouldn't it be maintaining a charge on the chassis battery when plugged into shore power (it seems to be on the house batteries) without the inverter?
The wiring looks very clean and everything else seems to be working so it seems
like something is draining the battery, although everything I know of is off.
Which steering stabilizer did you have installed. We have a 2017 Thor Four Winds 28Z and I feel it is all over the road!
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Old 02-24-2019, 08:53 PM   #32
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Model: Freedom Elite 30FE
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THOR #12827
An update on my previous post (#23above).
After leaving the charger on my chassis battery overnight, the battery shows a full charge.
I then went to the Thor owner resource on their website and was pleasantly surprised to see that they have added a ton of data to the page for my particular unit.
Having said that, I’m still a little bit miffed at the fact that the basic Thor owners manual is a one size fits all because one can be mislead about how some things operate (i.e. some systems operate differently depending on if the unit is a Class A or a C).
In order to determine how the charging system actually works on my Class C, I had to go to the generic wiring manual (again it’s for both Class A and C) and the specific data titled schematics provided for my unit.
What I found was this:
The block wiring diagram for the Class C clearly shows that the Chassis Battery is NOT charged from the house circuit (I.e. shore power). The chassis alternator does charge both the chassis and house batteries when the engine is running. On the other hand, both the Class A and Super C’s do have a circuit that charges the chassis battery from shore power.
The Class C does not have a B.I.R.D. There is an isolation solenoid and a delay relay. It appears to me that the isolation solenoid is used when the emergency start switch is engaged to allow starting the engine from the house battery and the delay relay is there to allow the alternator to get up to speed before allowing it to charge the house battery.
Knowing all this now let’s me understand how the system is supposed to work. However, I’m still baffled as to what caused the drain on the chassis battery in the first place. I didn’t leave any lights on and the radio and backup camera are powered by the house battery.
Any assistance in troubleshooting chassis battery drain would be appreciated.
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Old 02-24-2019, 09:12 PM   #33
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THOR #6903
Thanks for the update

Our coaches are different and I do have several things that draw from the chassis batteries when the coach is shut off, I have to open the battery disconnect switch to avoid dead batteries

Radio
Dash
Entry lights
Steps
Keyless system

Might be others but these all pull amps even when "off"

I added a rotary disconnect on the house, you might want one on the chassis
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Old 02-25-2019, 06:06 PM   #34
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Model: Axis 24.1
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THOR #14236
New Question: Has anyone installed or considered, putting access doors about the size of the propane access door, into the front cap on the left and right sides for better access to the battery and the engine area for maintenance. I have a 2017 Axis 24.1. I was considering asking Thor if I could buy a propane access door and frame. It would then be installed into the fiberglass cap up front, on the left or right, or both sides to enable better access to the engine for maintenance. Thanks in advance for your thoughts. DarwinB
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Old 04-16-2019, 04:27 PM   #35
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THOR #12827
After the last episode with the dead battery, I had no further issues with starting the engine, until yesterday.
Yesterday we packed up for our first outing of the season. The engine started fine and I pulled out of the back yard onto the street to hook up the toad.
I shut the engine off and put on the 4 way flashers while I connected the toad.
This task only took about 15 minutes.
When I got back into the motorhome to restart the engine, all I got was solenoid clicks. The battery was discharged. I tried the emergency start switch (held it in the on position about 20 sec before turning the ignition key) and got nothing.
I ended up jumping the battery with my truck.
Decided to bring along my battery charger on this trip just in case.
My guess is, there is a weak cell(s) in the battery. When I get back home I guess I’ll take the battery to AutoZone and have them do a load check on it.
Any other suggestions would be appreciated.
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Old 04-16-2019, 04:39 PM   #36
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Model: Travato
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THOR #1765
Another possibility is a loose battery connection or bad ground wire. If your emergency start switch is working correctly, it should have started your engine. You can check that with a volt meter by seeing if your chassis battery increases in voltage when the emergency start switch is pushed. If it happens again, you might try holding down on the emergency switch for several minutes and let the chassis battery come up some before you attempt to start it with the emergency switch pushed in. Your truck with the engine running is putting out close to 14v while your coach batteries only add 12+ volts. So it may be able to overcome a bad battery cell or connection.
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Old 04-16-2019, 05:23 PM   #37
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Oneilkeys View Post
Another possibility is a loose battery connection or bad ground wire. If your emergency start switch is working correctly, it should have started your engine. You can check that with a volt meter by seeing if your chassis battery increases in voltage when the emergency start switch is pushed. If it happens again, you might try holding down on the emergency switch for several minutes and let the chassis battery come up some before you attempt to start it with the emergency switch pushed in. Your truck with the engine running is putting out close to 14v while your coach batteries only add 12+ volts. So it may be able to overcome a bad battery cell or connection.
The battery connections are tight. Haven’t checked for a bad ground yet, but I would think that a bad ground would cause the issue to be more frequent.
I also had the thought that the house battery could be weak also since they are probably both around the same age. When I get ready to leave the campground, I plan to leave shore power connected until after I start the engine. It may give me a little edge in power available.
Thanks for your comments.
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Old 04-16-2019, 10:45 PM   #38
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THOR #6826
You also can try starting the generator and use it’s charging voltage to give you a little more zing from the coach batteries.
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Old 04-16-2019, 11:24 PM   #39
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Model: 2017 Axis 25.2 E-450
State: Texas
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THOR #4181
Axis 25.2 Remote Jumper Terminals

The saga started a couple of weeks ago. Found our 2017 Axis25.2 with both house batteries and chassis battery dead. We had not been keeping up with battery water maint. (But also may have left a fog light on.) Anyway, took off the 2 air duct lines to get access to jump start the chassis battery and get the generator going. Still tight to get jumper clamps in there. Topped up all the cells in all batteries with distilled water and installed Qwik-Fill on the house batteries (can’t get the Qwik-Fill to work on the chassis battery yet.) Anyway, thinking about all options … may put a knife switch in sometime in the future … but for right now installed JEGS remote jumpers to make easier chassis battery jumping if we ever have to do it again. Did not have to go through the dash … but is was “tight.” And with the nasty Royal Battery Terminals Ford uses was a little more difficult than with standard terminals.
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Old 04-16-2019, 11:57 PM   #40
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THOR #1765
I’ve found that the house batteries are a lot easier to access to “jump” the system and after the house batteries charge a little, the Trombetta should open to charge the house battery. If you can then start the generator it should charge the chassis battery too. Takes a little more time that jumping the chassis battery, but it is a lot easier. In addition, the left hand post of my Trombetta is tied directly (thru the 100 amp breaker) to the chassis battery. This is an easier way to jump the chassis battery than trying to get to the chassis battery terminals.
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