2015 Thor A C E 27.1 battery problems.

[JamesR1240]

We have had to jump start the MH a several times after is has been parked for a few days in store or use. The only time the the engine turns over after being unused for a several days is if we are plugged into electricity. The house batteries and the engine battery seem to be connected.

I am including our battery voltage test/log results.

7/28 all batteries fully charged. We disconnected the MH from power.

7/29 house batteries 12.3 volts and engine battery 12.2 volts.

7/30 house batteries 11.75 volts and engine battery 11.75 volts.

7/31 house batteries 11.47 volts and engine battery 11.46 volts.

8/1 With the engine battery disconnected there is still voltage on the engine battery cables.

We are very concerned about the battery issue. We have taken our 2015 ACE 27.1 in several times for service regarding the batteries/other repairs and it has been out of service for long periods of time. A new battery control center was installed and we are still having the same issues.

And we still have the same battery problems.

How can the engine battery be separated from the house batteries?

We love our ACE but cannot live with the battery issue. We do a lot of primitive camping and cannot trust we will be able to start the generator(to recharge the batteries) or to start the engine.

Should the house battery and the engine battery be the same voltage?

Any assistance you can give us will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

[jrben]

The dealer replaced all of our batteries a month after we purchased our 2015 Challenger. None of the batteries were maintaining a charge. I believe that the batteries simply went bad from sitting on the lot for the six months between the time the dealer received the coach and the time we purchased it. Since the batteries were replaced we haven't had any further issues. If I were you I'd take it in and tell them to replace the batteries.

[JamesR1240]

JRBEN,
Thank you for your quick reply.
I think our problem is more then new batteries.
We did that first and we are still haveing the same issue.
We are calling Thor then our sevice dept. Maby between the three of us we come to a solution on how to fix this problem.
Thanks again,

Jim.

[Firehawk]

I'm having the same battery issue, just starting to make appointments with dealership but it looks I'm going to get a run around about batteries since I stopped in the other to talk to my salesman and the service team. They suggested I've done something... Right I just got it why would I need to do anything to it... Please me know what you find out...

[JamesR1240]

We were advised by Thor to stay away from the dealor.
Thor recommended a company to check our battery problems.
We spent a year in and out of our dealorship with no luck.
The nes service co. had no problem finding the battery issue.
It turned out to be the battery isolator box and the battery assist switch was wired backwards. It took them about 15 min to find the problem.
Please keep me posted on how this turns out for you.
Jim.

[petef]

I wrote a long reply but it got ate by the connection... bottom line you have bad batteries, just get new ones. If you want to test them charge them, then disconnect the neg cable on the chassis battery and turn on the store switch. Overnight they should not loose hardly any voltage if they are any good. I had these issues, the dealers do not properly keep the batteries charged and Harris, the OE battery says Thor built in charging systems are not adequate..so coaches get delivered with dead batteries. Also, put another coach battery in, it will fit easy and the existing strap will work fine. I have 2 Walmart deep cycle group 27 now and they are great, no more battery issues!

[petef]

I wrote a long reply but it got ate by the connection... bottom line you have bad batteries, just get new ones. If you want to test them charge them, then disconnect the neg cable on the chassis battery and turn on the store switch. Overnight they should not loose hardly any voltage if they are any good. I had these issues, the dealers do not properly keep the batteries charged and Harris, the OE battery says Thor built in charging systems are not adequate..so coaches get delivered with dead batteries. Also, get another coach battery, I have 2 Grp 27 deep cycle from Walmart, no more battery issues. I also got a 100w solar panel from Home Depot and use it when camping, never run the generator.

[GaRVLady]

We bought our Thor Ace 27.1 (used 5K miles) Nov 1- used it 4 times thru Jan with no problems. Our Jan trip was the first time we tried to use the heater in the dash) as we drove- and we discovered the fan did not work. Took it in to Ford (told it was not a Thor problem) and they discovered the fan had been unplugged- so they plugged it in and it worked great. Next trip we did not turn the fan off when we parked and discovered that we had no (engine) battery 5 days later. We charged the battery, drove a short distance, parked again for a week- disconnecting the battery this time. At the end of the week, we reconnected the battery, started the engine, and drove home. We now need to identify the problem:
1. Short in the fan motor? Short in the switch? It seems evident the problem of draining the battery is related to the fan being plugged in, and turned on. Anyone else have this problem? Any ideas on searching out the problem?

Thanks

[petef]

Can you clarify something please.
1. when you turn off the ignition the heater fan motor should stop on it's own. Does it keep running or stop? >"Next trip we did not turn the fan off when we parked<" trying to make sense of this statement.
On my rig the only way to actually turn the fan all the way off is to turn the heator/Ac knob to off. The fan is always on at a very low speed in any other position. But when parked and keys out the whole system is not activated, the ignition has to be "hot".
Thanks

[petef]

I finally got a nice little AMP meter and knife switch cut off installed so I can totally isolate the coach battery and see the amp draws. One thing I saw first was the extra 3 amp draw when parked, and by disconnecting the chassis wire to the control box the draw went to 1.25, so the chassis battery was sucking alot of juice, yet nothing was on. Now when dry camping I disconnect the cable, it does supply the fan motor mentioned above, maybe has something to do with it all. With the Store switch active I found I still had a .62 amp draw off the coach battery, reason for the knife switch disconnect. I found the slide sucks .30 amp, so long trips at the campground I pull that 30amp fuse. The radio is a hog, almost a 1 amp, so it is not on a rocker switch, I cut the red wire going into the control box to the radio fuse and ran them thru the rocker switch. With the radio off it drew .60 amp. The fridge takes about .60 amp, no problem. Watch your TV selector in the cabinet, it draws .10-.20amp, so shut it off when not watching TV. I killed 3 batteries within 1 1/2 years so trying to nail down the culprit.. I think the ideas above offer the best, cheapest solution. If you plug in everywhere you should have no problems. I should mention the gas heater drew about 6 amps. I have changed most lights inside to LED and have an LED solar desk lamp I use. I have a 100w solar panel I out outside, it is rated for about 4.5 amps charge. I have 2 100 amp batteries, so really 50% is available, so 100 amps, but it came with only 1 battery so anyone who has not modified is sitting on 50amps of power, and with amps adding up so fast your battery could be dead overnight. Do some math, see what you need, test voltages and you to can figure it out. Bottom line the wiring is messed up in these things.