Thor Forums

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by cavie

You are correct. You are confused. The use and store switch is for 12 volt only and has nothing to do with wither you are on shore power or not.

When you are on shore power your converter must be on to get 120 volts to be able to power your 12 volt stuff and keep the battery charged. Lighting is 12 volts. Not 120 volts. Control circuits for WH, fridge if not resi, furnace are 12 volts. That is why the battery disconnect must be on (in use). When you are in storage you don't want to forget and leave a light on or power up the control circuits so you turn the battery disconnect off. Except for the LP, CO detectors and the radio memory. They are bypassed by the battery disconnect sw. There is some power being used. It is done for safety. It's not just Thor, they are all done this way. The only way to completely disconnect the battery is to install a disconnect switch right on the battery. Very cheap at any auto supply, WM store installs in 5 min. right on the battery post.

Bottom line, If you want to keep the battery charged you must leave it in use mode to run the converter to keep the battery charged or install a trickle charger on the battery and plug that into shore.

https://www.harborfreight.com/batter...RoCECoQAvD_BwE

You are correct that I am confused, but maybe not following why I say I am confused?

For starters. I am actually questioning WHY Thor has the wiring designed the way they do? I am asking you because I know you are way above average on such matters. Thor could use someone with your expertise on such matters.

My point was not to understand how it works for Thor coaches today, because I follow that. I was trying to say that IMO; I believe it very confusing for many Thor owners as I see this issue & questions on dead batteries Use/Store etc. all the time on this forum.

I learned it because I was thinking I was going to buy a Thor, but bought another brand. But on my coach it is a lot simpler and that is where I came to you wanting to know why don't Thor simplify?

What I think? If Thor was to simply to rename that switch from Use / Store to Coach Batteries On / Off I bet 80% of the problems go away. I think it is simple for common folks to know they turned Coach Batteries OFF and nothing works except for the emergency stuff. A lot of people will store their coach with shorepower and incorrectly assume to put in Store mode and come back with dead battery.

From design perspective; Winnebago is wired so even if you have the Coach Battery Switch Off (Store for Thor RV); you will still get 12v (120vAC from Shorepower). I only state that because, I can never make the mistake of wanting to leave my coach for extended time hooked up to shore power, but having switch set to Shore and learn later the batteries didn't charge. In my coach whenever 120vDC is there; the charger and 12vDC are hot and I CANNOT turn them off (with On/Off Switch). If I must have them off, then I need to turn off the shorepower breaker. The latter is just logical to most IMO.

Does this not make sense what I suggest? Can't Thor improve their design to simplify?