jabrabu
Senior Member
I have 2018 Chateau 31E. I was on my way to a state park a few hours away for spring break when all the power in the RV died -- no radio, no lights, etc. I could hear the trombetta relay under the hood cycling on and off, so I thought it had failed and the batteries went dead. I figured that once we arrived at the campsite and plugged into shore power we would have power back, but when I plugged in there was still no power. I did some troubleshooting and didn't find the problem, so went back home when it got dark since we had no lights or heat.
At home, when I plugged into shore power I had power again, even with the batteries removed. So there was apparently some sort of intermittent short. I didn't find it at first, but after I got my batteries recharged and retested, as I was reinstalling them I saw sparks under the RV and the battery terminal started smoking. Pretty scary as I rushed to remove the cables from the battery.
Upon closer inspection in the area where I saw sparks, I found that the main DC power cables were built too long, which allowed them to contact the exhaust pipe. After several years and 98K miles they finally burned/wore through the insulation and shorted out on the exhaust pipe.
That cable runs under the floor and back to the power center under the rear bed, and it's inside a cable loom, so it would be very difficult to replace the whole cable. Thankfully, since it was too long I was able to cut off the bad part and crimp on a new lug, which made it the correct length.
So, if you have a Thor class C you might want to ensure that the power cables are well clear of the exhaust pipe behind the battery tray.
At home, when I plugged into shore power I had power again, even with the batteries removed. So there was apparently some sort of intermittent short. I didn't find it at first, but after I got my batteries recharged and retested, as I was reinstalling them I saw sparks under the RV and the battery terminal started smoking. Pretty scary as I rushed to remove the cables from the battery.
Upon closer inspection in the area where I saw sparks, I found that the main DC power cables were built too long, which allowed them to contact the exhaust pipe. After several years and 98K miles they finally burned/wore through the insulation and shorted out on the exhaust pipe.
That cable runs under the floor and back to the power center under the rear bed, and it's inside a cable loom, so it would be very difficult to replace the whole cable. Thankfully, since it was too long I was able to cut off the bad part and crimp on a new lug, which made it the correct length.
So, if you have a Thor class C you might want to ensure that the power cables are well clear of the exhaust pipe behind the battery tray.
