thor ace motorhome 2012 battery problem

[Skduck]

Had a similar problem, RV Specialties said that it was probably the latching relay, advised putting the cables on the bcc back to original position and add a jumper cable between the two posts of the bcc. Wire size minimum 6 gauge if I remember correctly

[bethanne]

thank you. Did you try what they recommended and if so did it help?

[abjbrtd]

Originally Posted by bethanne

thank you. We did take the batteries out and tested them. They are both bad since they dont hold charge - but think they are covered under warranty. The batteries are only a year old. in process of getting them replaced. Still do not know why they died so taking to shop to try to figure out what the problem is - possibly inverter. ??

Batteries need more maintenance than the motor.
Completely discharging (10volts) is very hard on lead/acid batteries.
Volt meters are less than $20 at Walmart Amazon etc. and very easy to learn how to use on the DC scale.

Distilled water maybe 1 or 2 times a yr depending on your situation. Be very careful adding water .

[Mikeythecat]

Originally Posted by bethanne

Can the chassis battery be tripled charged ? Would like to know where the battery isolator controller is.? Think that may be the problem. We have tried charging it - triple charge. And its dead. Any advice appreciated.

I had the same problem. After charging it, the battery would go dead after just sitting idle overnight.
I took it to a auto battery and wiring shop and found that there is a module very near your house batteries that has to do with the emergency start (it didn't work either) that closes a circuit and sucks the battery dry after about 8 hours without anything on, just the battery cables connected. Check for amperage discharge from your battery with a voltmeter switched to milliamps and see if it registers at all. If it does, there is a closed switch draining your battery.
The battery shop charged me $400 to find it and they just took it out. They said it wasn't needed. I got it paid for by the Ford warranty. If your coach is less than 3 years old. Otherwise you pay. This might help.

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by Mikeythecat

I had the same problem. After charging it, the battery would go dead after just sitting idle overnight.
I took it to a auto battery and wiring shop and found that there is a module very near your house batteries that has to do with the emergency start (it didn't work either) that closes a circuit and sucks the battery dry after about 8 hours without anything on, just the battery cables connected. Check for amperage discharge from your battery with a voltmeter switched to milliamps and see if it registers at all. If it does, there is a closed switch draining your battery.
The battery shop charged me $400 to find it and they just took it out. They said it wasn't needed. I got it paid for by the Ford warranty. If your coach is less than 3 years old. Otherwise you pay. This might help.

So Ford paid your repair shop to rip out a feature added by Thor that wasn't working?

Sure, you don't need the Emergency Start feature, until you need it. Why not just fix the feature?

[halfprice]

Originally Posted by 16ACE27

So Ford paid your repair shop to rip out a feature added by Thor that wasn't working?



Sure, you don't need the Emergency Start feature, until you need it. Why not just fix the feature?

And if it's the BIM he's talking about its warranted by the manufacturer for 5 years

[Skduck]

Yes we did what they said. You don't have a chassis disconnect but it's easy to disconnect chassis battery cable. This solved all of our issues.

[javelin]

Originally Posted by Skduck

Had a similar problem, RV Specialties said that it was probably the latching relay, advised putting the cables on the bcc back to original position and add a jumper cable between the two posts of the bcc. Wire size minimum 6 gauge if I remember correctly

So with the RV Custom BCC, all this does is bypass the failed chassis disconnect latching relay. It still complies with the Thor recall on the BCC by directly connecting the chassis battery to the ignition feed cable and it also connects the chassis battery directly to the other chassis battery loads fed from inside the BCC that would normally be connected by a closed chassis latching relay....like steps etc. They probably did this to save money.......latching relay is probably about $75 but then you have to open up the BCC and replace the bad latching relay...... at least a couple hours of labor in very awkward space; or remove the BCC to work on it and then re-install it.

Not very convenient to disconnect the chassis battery from its loads but I suppose a battery terminal switch would work.....but with care to make sure that switch does not open accidentally when traveling (from vibration etc) or you would kill the engine; lights ; power steering, etc.


PS: the emergency start (interconnect relay) in the BCC should still work as it physically connects to bus bars inside the BCC between the coach and chassis battery terminal posts.

[Quickuc57]

Your so right,,good catch

[Mikeythecat]

I didn't mean the battery shop took out the emergency start. They took out a little wire or in line module that kept draining my chassis battery. Everything works great now. I'm sorry I don't know all of the nomenclature you guys are used to!
I merely posted because I had a similar problem...not saying it was the same problem. I sent the diagnosis to Ford and they accepted it and paid for it!