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Old 09-02-2019, 03:55 PM   #1
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: 34J Windsport
State: Louisiana
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House batteries dead

Tried to start my '18 Windsport 34J yesterday. No electrical power at all. Jumped Chassis battery and engine started. Plugged in 110v supply from our house to a 50a. adapter.

No display on inverter, which normally shows battery voltage when plugged in.

Checked converter, no serviceable fuses, went inside, checked inverter breaker. turn off then back on, fan kicks on form2 sec then shuts off.

What can I check to charge house batteries?

Thanks,
Paul

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Old 09-02-2019, 05:39 PM   #2
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Jumped the house batteries with my car. Enough power to start generator, display came back on, the inverter showed 12.5.

Could the batteries be that dead as to not have enough power to charge?
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Old 09-02-2019, 05:46 PM   #3
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Trickle chargers (Actually: battery maintainers); can often not provide enough juice to a really depleted battery.
When this happens: you need to pull out the "big guns", and hook them up to something a bit stronger.
Good luck!
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Old 09-02-2019, 06:17 PM   #4
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Have you checked the water levels in the batteries lately?
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Old 09-02-2019, 11:20 PM   #5
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I’d use an external charger to try to bring them back (after checking water level if not a sealed battery).
Smart chargers can have an issue charging batteries that were discharged too low... they can’t get enough of a voltage reading to determine what to do...
An hour or so on a ‘dumb’ charger can bring them up enough for the smart charger to take over... sometimes.
Still have my Craftsman 2/10/50a ‘dumb’ charger for that purpose.
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Old 09-03-2019, 03:37 PM   #6
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Jump started with my car, started generator and batteries too a charge. Display on voltage came on and was rising as it charged.

Parked the MH and about 3 hrs. later, wife passed by MH and alarm was going off, flashing an "E11 Battery not taking charge" code.

Have an apt Friday and see if the batteries are under warranty. We've owned fro 11 mos since purchased "New" in Sept 2018...
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Old 09-06-2019, 01:32 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pmbreaux View Post
Jump started with my car, started generator and batteries too a charge. Display on voltage came on and was rising as it charged.

Parked the MH and about 3 hrs. later, wife passed by MH and alarm was going off, flashing an "E11 Battery not taking charge" code.

Have an apt Friday and see if the batteries are under warranty. We've owned fro 11 mos since purchased "New" in Sept 2018...
Paul, my "new to me" 2018 Windsport 34J was doing something similar. The original owner only put 700 miles on the rig in the first 9 months and then I bought it assuming the batteries would be fine. I have read, and can concur, that the batteries Thor puts in at the factory are about the cheapest things you can find.

The first couple of times out we noticed the low voltage alarm coming on halfway through the night and would have to turn off the inverter or run the generator.

At home this summer we had it plugged int a 15amp/120V outlet (GFCI) and at some point the breaker tripped. This caused the inverter to take over keeping the fridge cold which drained the batteries to the point they were so low that the inverter stopped working. It would cycle on and then off. I read the inverter will not function if the batteries drop below a certain level, I think it was 11.9 v. At any rate, the batteries were so dead that NOTHING would work.

I put an external charger on them and the next day everything worked just fine. The next weekend we went camping and the batteries lasted just a few hours before the low voltage alarm went off.

That weekend while we were out I went to Costco and purchased two new Interstate deep cycle batteries. They are not fancy but have made all the difference. We can now easily dry camp for a day while running the refrigerator, charge phones, etc before having to run the generator to top up the charge.

I know I could have spent a bunch more money but for $89 with a good one year warranty these have solved my problem.
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Old 09-06-2019, 01:49 AM   #8
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Original Batteries

I recall that right after the one year warranty was up I had to replace all the batteries on our 24.1 Axis. The originals were probably the Harris batteries with no name on them.
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Old 09-09-2019, 02:05 PM   #9
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Brought MH to dealer for a few other issues. They said the GFI near inverter was tripped, therefore, was not charging when hooked up to 110v. plug we use to run refrigerators.

Used this weekend and no issues with that...but, on the drive home, running genny to run house a/c's, the genny shut off and dash indicator for genny was blinking. When I got home, restarted and it ran for 30sec and shut off. Went outside, prime switch was flashing. depressed it and light went off. Now working fine...IDK what happened there...
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Old 04-18-2020, 03:54 PM   #10
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You replace 2 batteries? Not all of them?
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Old 04-18-2020, 05:06 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by T Cass View Post
You replace 2 batteries? Not all of them?
You would typically replace all the house batteries at once... Can be separate from replacing the chassis battery(ies)...

Most gas coaches have only 1 or 2 house batteries and 1 chassis battery as stock... 2 house in the case of Islandsmith's rig - which is why he replaced 2.

Larger diesel coaches can have several more house batteries... $$$$ - and should ideally be replaced as a set.
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