Chassis battery died

[Pnoble1229]

We have a 2024 Tellaro class B. Today we found that the chassis battery was dead. It was not connected to shore power. Nothing was left on. The master battery switch was on. And we have solar panels.

Did we do something wrong?

New to class B and RV!!!

[ghnl]

Hello & welcome.

How long had it been sitting? All modern vehicles have a small drain on the battery for things like radio presets, computer memory, etc but it should be able to sit for a few weeks without going dead. If it was less than a few weeks then have the vehicle checked for excessive drain. A light inadvertently left on could easily drain the battery in a day or three.

Even though it should be a new battery in a 2024 model, you can't rule out a defective battery. Especially if it had previously been run down. Even when re-charged often a battery that has been drained too far &/or too often will never fully recover.

[Pnoble1229]

Thanks for the reply. It was less than a week. But am thinking the refrigerator might have drained it. It’s reading 7.1 volts. House battery is fine. Hopefully it will charge up. Or will try jumping. The emergency start didn’t even work.

[MCP]

Originally Posted by Pnoble1229

We have a 2024 Tellaro class B. Today we found that the chassis battery was dead. It was not connected to shore power. Nothing was left on. The master battery switch was on. And we have solar panels.

Did we do something wrong?

New to class B and RV!!!

Shore power, master disconnect, and solar have nothing to do with the chassis battery…unless your 24 is different than my 23, or it’s been modified. It’s likely a parasitic draw on the chassis system, which is not unheard of on the Promaster. Some have stated it only takes several days. Mine has a draw but it is not an issue because I drive it frequently enough. A small solar charger tossed on the dash may solve your issue going forward.

[ghnl]

Just to clarify (sometimes it gets confusing) the "chassis" battery is the one that starts the engine. The "house" battery is for all the RV stuff.

Was it the chassis battery that was dead?

[Mark54]

Originally Posted by Pnoble1229

We have a 2024 Tellaro class B. Today we found that the chassis battery was dead. It was not connected to shore power. Nothing was left on. The master battery switch was on. And we have solar panels.

Did we do something wrong?

New to class B and RV!!!

4-5 days in the Tellaro/Sequence and chassis battery will be dead. Do it a few times, and new battery time!
Lead-acid batteries hate to be at 0% SOC more than 2-3 X if that.

Which floor plan, A, K, J or L?

My 20L has the same stupid setup- no provision to charge w/o physically adding a trickle charger under the hood.

NO bi-directional charging with the lithium/UHG setup at all.
Previous generator/ AGM setups had a BIM underneath and could charge the two sets at the same time.

B/C lithium needs 14.6 VDC as opposed to 13.6 VDC for lead-acid is probably beyond Thor's ability to understand how to do it.
A DCDC charger can also be introduced, but I just added one to the Trombetta e-start solenoid after moving all the electrics and batteries up inside. During winter storage, I use the jumper posts under the hood and use a NOCO 2A trickle charger.
Lead-Acid batteries need to be at 100% SOC for storage
Lithium stored at 50-60%, cycled every 3 months from 50-100-50% and stored inside. Good luck removing them for that. That's why I moved mine off the bottom, as well as upgrading from 200Ah to 600Ah.


Pics show new batteries, 2x300A, and new electrical compartment, pass. side of the 2022 20L.


PS: I now clamp the B- charger cable inside on any bolt I can find so I can close the hood to keep the snow and mice out. (Mice can go thru the fresh air intake after making their own 'door')

[Mark54]

Originally Posted by Pnoble1229

Thanks for the reply. It was less than a week. But am thinking the refrigerator might have drained it. It’s reading 7.1 volts. House battery is fine. Hopefully it will charge up. Or will try jumping. The emergency start didn’t even work.

7.1V is dead as Julius Caesar. Probably will have to replace it. Sorry!!
You can try a desulfating charger, like a Battery Minder that has a 14+VDC pulse charge to 'knock off' the sulfur from the plates, but that low is bad news.
Another thing to check is fluid level in the cells of the battery. One dry one is also bad news- can try adding distilled water to bottom of fill tube.

[Campguy21]

This is a known issue with the Tellaro Promaster. The refrigerator is connected to the house batteries and will not effect the chassis battery. There is considerable parasitic draw on the chassis battery however and it will go dead in a week or so if the van is not started and chassis battery charged.

Connecting to shore power will NOT charge the chassis battery so the only way to charge it is to either drive it or connect a small trickle charger.

I purchased a Battery Tender from Wal Mart and wired the quick disconnect directly to the battery underneath the drivers feet. Simple to install. You can fish the quick disconnect through the battery cover so you don't have to remove it every time to make the connection.

If the van is not going to be driven for several days, recommend connecting a battery tender or similar to the chassis battery. You can do it as Mark has pictured but I preferred just to run the short pigtail quick disconnect to the chassis battery for a quick/easy connection.
I use the house batteries and inverter to connect the battery tender which is basically moving a small amount of power from your house bank to the chassis battery. That way you do not have to run an extension cord to the battery tender/van. Your chassis batteries are connected to the solar panel (190 watt) so they are less likely to be drawn down but you still need to monitor them if you choose to set it up that way. If they get low, plug the van in and let them charge.

Thor sux. Sorry but that is the simple answer as they have no conception of setting this thing up from the factory to keep this from happening. There are too many "work arounds" needed on these vans to do what should have been done correctly at the factory..

Even though you have a warranty on the van that would normally include the chassis battery , I can almost predict that your Ram dealer will deny that because of the Thor setup. You could try the warranty with Thor, but they will most likely just blame the Ram Van. That is the endless circle game they play and ultimately leaves the customer frustrated and paying for it out of pocket.

Hope that helps and good luck.

[Mark54]

Originally Posted by Campguy21

This is a known issue with the Tellaro Promaster. The refrigerator is connected to the house batteries and will not effect the chassis battery. There is considerable parasitic draw on the chassis battery however and it will go dead in a week or so if the van is not started and chassis battery charged.

Connecting to shore power will NOT charge the chassis battery so the only way to charge it is to either drive it or connect a small trickle charger.

I purchased a Battery Tender from Wal Mart and wired the quick disconnect directly to the battery underneath the drivers feet. Simple to install. You can fish the quick disconnect through the battery cover so you don't have to remove it every time to make the connection.

If the van is not going to be driven for several days, recommend connecting a battery tender or similar to the chassis battery. You can do it as Mark has pictured but I preferred just to run the short pigtail quick disconnect to the chassis battery for a quick/easy connection.
I use the house batteries and inverter to connect the battery tender which is basically moving a small amount of power from your house bank to the chassis battery. That way you do not have to run an extension cord to the battery tender/van. Your chassis batteries are connected to the solar panel (190 watt) so they are less likely to be drawn down but you still need to monitor them if you choose to set it up that way. If they get low, plug the van in and let them charge.

Thor sux. Sorry but that is the simple answer as they have no conception of setting this thing up from the factory to keep this from happening. There are too many "work arounds" needed on these vans to do what should have been done correctly at the factory..

Even though you have a warranty on the van that would normally include the chassis battery , I can almost predict that your Ram dealer will deny that because of the Thor setup. You could try the warranty with Thor, but they will most likely just blame the Ram Van. That is the endless circle game they play and ultimately leaves the customer frustrated and paying for it out of pocket.

Hope that helps and good luck.

Yes all that- I forgot to mention no chassis battery charging when plugged into shoreline. Such a stupid design. Part of the lacking bi-directional thing.
I like the Battery Minder as opposed to the "tender" as the minder has a desulfation phase and tender does not, unless they added in the past few years.

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Mark54

Yes all that- I forgot to mention no chassis battery charging when plugged into shoreline. Such a stupid design. Part of the lacking bi-directional thing.
I like the Battery Minder as opposed to the "tender" as the minder has a desulfation phase and tender does not, unless they added in the past few years.

I am curious what component you refer to as stupid design? My chassis battery does not charge when plugged into shorepower and I am pretty sure I wouldn't want it too. My converter profile is for Lithium battery and my chassis battery is FLA.

In my view the true design issue is with the chassis electrical that has parasitic draws. Get rid of the draws and no charging with SP is needed. At a minimum get a simple disconnect switch just for the Chassis battery if eliminating the parasitic draws are not possible.

With that said if I had a coach with that issue, this is the only time when I would go out and put a basic solar panel on my roof to keep my chassis with trickle charge. I assume the RV would be parked outside.

[Mark54]

Originally Posted by dkoldman

I am curious what component you refer to as stupid design? My chassis battery does not charge when plugged into shorepower and I am pretty sure I wouldn't want it too. My converter profile is for Lithium battery and my chassis battery is FLA.

In my view the true design issue is with the chassis electrical that has parasitic draws. Get rid of the draws and no charging with SP is needed. At a minimum get a simple disconnect switch just for the Chassis battery if eliminating the parasitic draws are not possible.

With that said if I had a coach with that issue, this is the only time when I would go out and put a basic solar panel on my roof to keep my chassis with trickle charge. I assume the RV would be parked outside.

The 'stupid design' starts with Thor not realising that the chassis battery has too much phantom drain to start with.
My 20AT had a BIM that would take care of both sets when plugged in. So why they stopped doing that is beyond me for the lithium batteries. Probably b/c they don't know how to charge lithiums.

They could have installed a DCDC charger set for the lead-acid battery and would be a 'smart charger' as i once put in my Rialta when I converted to lithium coach batteries. They just put in the lithiums and removed the BIM. Freaking duh! Oh- I forgot- that would cost money. The other problem, is having all those components underneath. Another mistake. When I moved that all up inside, I had to clean the mud and crap off all those parts.

So before it did, and now it doesn't. That's the stupid design I am referring to- leave to Thor to leave out a critical component and let the owner find out the hard way. Dealer sure didn't tell me about that! I was lucky to catch at 11.9V and be able to recover mine. Only took 5 days to get that low.
So now I keep a charger on it all the time. I use Noco 2A smart chargers inside to the Trombetta when coach batteries are in, and another on the jumper posts when in storage, lithiums removed for winter, and maintained with a lithium compatible I/C.
Solar charger is a good idea- I have one, but my RV is in shade under a carport.

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Mark54

The 'stupid design' starts with Thor not realising that the chassis battery has too much phantom drain to start with.
My 20AT had a BIM that would take care of both sets when plugged in. So why they stopped doing that is beyond me for the lithium batteries. Probably b/c they don't know how to charge lithiums.

They could have installed a DCDC charger set for the lead-acid battery and would be a 'smart charger' as i once put in my Rialta when I converted to lithium coach batteries. They just put in the lithiums and removed the BIM. Freaking duh! Oh- I forgot- that would cost money. The other problem, is having all those components underneath. Another mistake. When I moved that all up inside, I had to clean the mud and crap off all those parts.

So before it did, and now it doesn't. That's the stupid design I am referring to- leave to Thor to leave out a critical component and let the owner find out the hard way. Dealer sure didn't tell me about that! I was lucky to catch at 11.9V and be able to recover mine. Only took 5 days to get that low.
So now I keep a charger on it all the time. I use Noco 2A smart chargers inside to the Trombetta when coach batteries are in, and another on the jumper posts when in storage, lithiums removed for winter, and maintained with a lithium compatible I/C.
Solar charger is a good idea- I have one, but my RV is in shade under a carport.

I believe the term for what you describe is TMC's failure to Pokeyoke

Yes the issue can be mitigated any many ways, but root cause of the failures will always tie drains. They are not necessary. Anyone with a F53 TMC or otherwise have to worry about chassis battery being fully drained in a week unless said mitigation is in place?

With that said, I am not the defender nor apologist for TMC, when their RV Owners are out with pitchforks and torches, they are on their own

[TerryJames]

Perhaps think about always having the NOCO Boost HD GB70 on hand.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016UG6PWE...uEALw_wcB&th=1

[Campguy21]

I accidentally left my van without the battery tender for two weeks. Happy to report however when I got home the battery was not dead. It was a little low on voltage however but nothing I could not deal with.

I actually did something different however before I left that I don't always do. I turned off the master battery disconnect switch. This switch on my 22 model disconnects the refrigerator (that was already off) and also disconnects the BMPro which is one reason I usually leave it on to avoid having to re-connect.
Turning off the master switch does not totally eliminate parasitic draw but it does seem to help. Still recommend a battery tender or similar if vehicle is not driven for extended periods. Battery voltage after 2 week was about 11.8 volts if my recollection is correct.

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Campguy21

I accidentally left my van without the battery tender for two weeks. Happy to report however when I got home the battery was not dead. It was a little low on voltage however but nothing I could not deal with.

I actually did something different however before I left that I don't always do. I turned off the master battery disconnect switch. This switch on my 22 model disconnects the refrigerator (that was already off) and also disconnects the BMPro which is one reason I usually leave it on to avoid having to re-connect.
Turning off the master switch does not totally eliminate parasitic draw but it does seem to help. Still recommend a battery tender or similar if vehicle is not driven for extended periods. Battery voltage after 2 week was about 11.8 volts if my recollection is correct.

That is dead in a FLA battery's life. Anything below 50% and you are damaging your battery cells. 12.2 should be absolute lowest. My old AGMs (50%) and my current Lithium (14%) are set to never go below 12.4vdc

[Campguy21]

11.8 volts is about 30% charge.
Agree it is not good but fully expected the battery to be less than that requiring me to purchase a new one immediately due to my error of not connecting the charger before I left.

Will probably replace this battery soon given it is about three years old and don't want to be on a trip having to deal with it.

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Campguy21

11.8 volts is about 30% charge.
Agree it is not good but fully expected the battery to be less than that requiring me to purchase a new one immediately due to my error of not connecting the charger before I left.

Will probably replace this battery soon given it is about three years old and don't want to be on a trip having to deal with it.

Yes as long as you are aware.

Many routinely go down to 12 volts or 50% and think that a little under is ok, not realizing they are accelerating the battery's demise. Certainly dropping below 50% a few times by itself will not completely destroy the battery, but it does take out some cells. I tend to target on the high side (12.2 vdc) just for that reason.

[Pnoble1229]

Yes. The chassis battery. And it happened again this morning.

[Campguy21]

Originally Posted by Pnoble1229

Yes. The chassis battery. And it happened again this morning.

If your chassis battery is dying within a few days, you most likely need to replace it. If your voltage dropped too low, the battery is probably damaged.

You can replace the battery yourself as it is not difficult. There are several U tube videos that will provide guidance and you should be able to complete the installation within 20 or 30 minutes. Some auto parts stores will do the installation for you if you purchase a battery from them. Even if they complete the installation, recommend you watch one of the videos on the Promaster because the connections on the positive cable are different than other vehicles. Auto parts store may or may not do this however because some have a policy not to go inside the cab area and the Promaster requires this.

[Pnoble1229]

I agree. Thank you. Hoping to get dealer replacement.