Vegas 24.1 chassis battery dead - Page 3

Oneilkeys · 01-01-2021, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RodIndy

Looking at the wiring diagram floated around here, the only place the BIRD will get power is from the house batteries. That is how mine is wired if I’m to believe that the 15amp fused line coming off my right side trombetta lug goes to the BIRD. The BIRDs only “output” would be the wire marked “relay” coil. This picks and drops the solenoid. So, the system will only jump a dead chassis battery from a healthy house battery, never the other way around, jump a dead house battery from a healthy chassis battery to start generator.
Any other ideas?

I just saw this. The BIRD/trombetta system in the Axis is designed to go both ways. The generator/shore power charges both the house and chassis batteries and the alternator does also. So if you have dead house batteries, you can automatically recharge them using the engine alternator and then start your generator. Or, if you have a dead chassis battery, you can charge it by running your generator or plugging into shore power and then start your engine. Actually safer than using the emergency start switch if the chassis battery is deeply discharged.

RodIndy · 01-01-2021, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oneilkeys

I believe the ignition wire is connected to the chassis battery and tells the BIRD the voltage of the chassis battery so it knows when to close and open the trombetta. The BIRD needs to know the voltage of both the chassis and house batteries to operate correctly.

I agree with you. It’s just that when I look at the “point to point” wiring diagram from Intellitec, I can’t see how it connects..but it has to somehow..

RodIndy · 01-03-2021, 03:51 PM

Vvvvvvvvvv

flipper003 · 01-06-2021, 07:34 PM

For what it is worth - I had problems with the chassis battery going dead on mine
until I put a trickle charger on it while it is in my garage, also plugged in to shore
power, and have had no issues since (2 + years). I have the 2015 Axis 25.1.

Mgtv53 · 01-06-2021, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RodIndy

Chassis battery is new this year. MH has been plugged into shore power with 12 volt cutoff switch tuned ON and chassis battery is dead. Dash is dead.. House batteries full. Generator fires up.
Questions:
1) depressing and holding emergency start toggle does not work. Why?
2) is the engine battery supposed to get charged when plugged into shore power?
If yes, is the fact that the emergency switch doesn’t work related to the fact that shore power does not charge chassis battery?
3) when I’m plugged into shore power, turning off the 12 volt cutoff switch does NOT cut off 12 volt power in the MH. This seems like different behavior than with other MHs I’ve owned. Is this normal? Cut off switch clearly activates the solenoid as I can hear it.. it turns the 12 volts off when not plugged into shore

what chassis you have

RodIndy · 06-26-2021, 12:15 AM

OK, last update on this as this seems to be an old problem reported by a few on here already.
The problem ALL along with the constant dead chassis battery while plugged into shore power was caused by an improperly wired BIRD. Wire labeled “coach/house” was actually connected to the chassis/engine battery!!! The wire labeled ign was ALSO attached to the chassis side when engine is running..This explains a lot.. The BIRD never knew I was plugged into shore power getting 13.6 volts to the solenoid. Solenoid would never close.. I simply pulled the red coach wire from the BIRD, made a new wire with an inline 5amp fuse per wiring diagram, and attached one end to the BIRD and the other end to the coach side of the solenoid..problem solved..

Dick1030 · 10-17-2021, 04:18 PM

I know that I am late to this discussion but one thing I haven't seen discussed here is a problem I am having with our 2019 MB Sprinter. I don't think the chassis battery on it (same problem we had on our 2000 Winnebago 35' Class A) was never meant to be charged by shore power. If you leave the chassis battery connected for several days, there are enough draws on the chassis battery to draw it down to where it will not start the engine. We do not have an assist button so it so when I forgot to disconnect the chassis battery disconnect, it was either run the generator and wait for it to charge the chassis battery (slow) or pull out the strange little Mercedes positive cable connect to jumpstart the engine.

I intend to add a trickle charger from the house battery to the chassis battery to alleviate this problem in the future. It did work in the Winnebago. It did have a controller to prevent overcharging.

Oneilkeys · 10-17-2021, 05:10 PM

I had a similar problem with my Winnebago Travato. If you already have solar panels on you Sprinter, you can replace your battery isolator with a BIM 225 and your solar panels will then keep both the house and chassis batteries fully charged. This is the unit used on large Class As. I never even have to look at my batteries while the unit is in storage.

Davidp · 01-14-2022, 03:58 PM

I have a similar issue. When testing the 12 volt refer in my 2022 Vegas 24.3 both the chassis and coach batteries ran down at the same rate. I thought that when not attached to shore power/generator or running the engine the chassis battery should be disconnected from the coach batteries and not run down. I may not understand what to expect from my BIM or BIRD.

Oneilkeys · 01-14-2022, 04:14 PM

Your BIM (or whatever they are using now) should disconnect the house and chassis batteries whenever the engine is turned off and the coach is not on shore power or generator. You can check that by charging both coach and chassis batteries and do not plug the coach in or turn in the generator. Then turn on your 12v system in the coach and run as many 12v systems as you can. When the voltage of the coach battery gets below 12.7v the “BIM” should disconnect the two “banks” and the 12v coach batteries should continue to drop voltage while the chassis battery should stay at 12.7v. If both coach and chassis batteries continue to drop, the “BIM” is not working.
However, remember that when you leave you coach for several weeks, if you do not have it plugged in or on a trickle charger or have disconnect switches installed on both batteries, both will be “dead” because of parasitic loads on both coach and chassis batteries.

Davidp · 01-14-2022, 04:36 PM

Thank you I will start testing now.

**16ACE27** · 01-14-2022, 05:20 PM

Also, check your BIM wiring connections. Thor has been known to wire them backwards.

bevedfelker · 01-14-2022, 06:31 PM

Assuming the wiring was done correctly by Thor, the BIRD, Trombetta, BIM should provide the automatic switching to allow the engine driven alternator to charge both the chassis battery and house batteries under very specific voltage scenarios. Additionally, those same devices should allow the converter when powered by shore or generator AC to charge both chassis and house batteries again under very specific charge levels.

That is in a perfect world. But you can find enough examples in this forum where any one or all three of those components were not wired properly from the factory.

If you don't have the electrical experience to do your own trouble shooting. Or if you just don't want to expend the energy there is something simple you can do to save yourself heaps of frustration.

Put knife switch disconnects on both your chassis battery and on your house battery setup. When you put your RV in storage, set the USE/STORE to STORE. Then open the knife switch on the house batteries and go under the hood and open the knife switch on the chassis battery.

You have now completely, mechanically disconnected your batteries from everything. There will be no parasitic loads draining down the batteries while in storage. The batteries will degrade a little simply because they are sitting idle.

About every three months close the knife switches and charge the house batteries through the converter while connected to a shore power source or from the Onan generator. Start the engine and allow the engine driven alternator to recharge the chassis battery. Then when done, reopen the knife switches when putting it back in extended storage.

In Sep I added knife switches and 2 days ago I went to check my RV and the batteries were still charged pretty well. Plugged in shore power and ran the engine and the batteries are now fully charged again.

Davidp · 01-15-2022, 04:12 PM

Long storage isn't an issue yet. My worry is that I will be boondocking and all of the batteries will run down and I will not be able to start the generator or main engine. How do I find out if I have a BIM or BIRD and where are they located in the 24.3?

**16ACE27** · 01-15-2022, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davidp

Long storage isn't an issue yet. My worry is that I will be boondocking and all of the batteries will run down and I will not be able to start the generator or main engine. How do I find out if I have a BIM or BIRD and where are they located in the 24.3?

On a 2022 you most certainly have a BIM. No clue where it is located on a 24.3. Most Axis/Vegas units have it under the hood.

Regardless of resolving this issue you should certainly obtain and keep a Li jump starter pack in the MH especially while boondocking in remote areas. Something like:

https://www.amazon.com/Starter-SUNPO...dp/B08MTJFGDW/

Finally, you should update your Forum profile with your new coach information so there is no confusion as to which coach you have.

Davidp · 01-16-2022, 05:17 PM

I am sorry to say that after running on batteries overnight, both the coach and chassis batteries were reading 10.1 volts. The engine wouldn't start, even with the emergency start button. The BIM must be wired incorrectly or defective. Any ideas where it might be hiding on my 24.3?