Forum Discussion

Your_Pal's avatar
Your_Pal
Explorer
May 17, 2015

2006 Coachmen house batteries

First time post. I have a 2006 Coachmen Cross Country. Bought it a little over one week ago. Previous owner said he had the batteries replaced in January. Prior to that the originals lasted seven yrs.
He delivered it to our house for us. We set it up with slides out and used a heavy duty extension cord to plug it in. Watched some TV and used the interior lights while the kids did homework. No AC or heavy draw used.
Yesterday I went to pull the slides in and the batteries didn't have enough power to pull in the living room slide. RV was still plugged in and I turned the key to the right for aux. The generator didn't have enough battery to crank as well. I ended up having to turn on the RV. After several minutes I was able to turn on the generator and had enough power to pull in the slide.
The inverter was left on auto while it was parked and the key was out of the ignition. What is the correct position for the inverter. I have the remote panel that is over the door.

Any help would be great.

Thank You,
Rico

19 Replies

  • Volts on house batteries at 6.7 I took them out and will be taking them to NAPA to have them tested.
    It seems that the slide and generator works off the house batteries.
    I will update the battery condition later.

    Thanks
    Rico

    Getting closer.
  • If the chassis batteries are almost dead then wouldn't the RV not start? The RV cranked right up.
    Does anyone know if the house batteries power the slides or the chassis batteries?

    I have been working but will have time tomorrow for further investigation.

    Thanks for the assistance so far.

    Rico
  • If the two house batteries are 6V batteries (typically golf cart batteries), they should be connected in series, the positive of one to the negative of the other, and the remaining terminals to the RV (- to ground, + to the positive system). If two twelve volt batteries, they should be in parallel—the two positives together (to the + system of the motorhome), and the two negatives together (to ground). In neither case should a battery have its positive terminal shorted directly to its negative terminal.

    I think your chassis battery was dead or nearly so. On my '98 Coachmen class C motorhome, the generator starter is powered from the chassis battery, not the house battery, which was not what I expected initially. I don't have any slides, but they might also reasonably be connected to it. The chassis battery is often not charged by the converter.

    If it was dead or discharged, it could be because of age (if it wasn't replaced with the house batteries) or because something was left on that should not have been—maybe mirror heaters or a cab area dome light, for instance.
  • Haven't check the volts yet but I did notice that the two house batteries are connected from positive to the negative on one battery and that goes to the positive on the other battery. The ground is only on the negative side of the one battery.
    Does that seem like its correct. would have thought that the positives could piggyback but not with the negative in the middle.

    It's kind of like this RV+ cable to + on battery #1. Jumper from battery #1 + to - on battery #1. Jumper from Battery #1 - to + on battery #2. Then battery #2 neg is grounded.

    Thanks
    Rico
  • I'll check the volts today and look for the breaker.

    Thanks

    Rico
  • Ivylog's avatar
    Ivylog
    Explorer III
    With it plugged in you do not need the inverter so I would turn it off. Checking the breakers on the inverter converter is a good idea because it sounds like it is not charging your batteries. Until you have over 13 votes on the house batteries they are not being charged.
  • I was in a similar situation last week and learned the difference between coach & chassis batteries, as configured on my coach. Basically, plugging in to shore power charges the coach batteries but not the chassis batteries. Because my chassis batteries were about five years old, ended up doing a full replacement. This after a bunch of troubleshooting, cleaning, servicing & ineffective charging.

    I have a conditioner charger on the chassis batteries right now and ordered the famous Trik-L-Charge solution this morning

    This does not directly answer your question, but gives you some issues to consider.

    Cheers, Good Luck & Enjoy The Ride.

    PS - start a maintenance log now to start documenting what went wrong and how it was resolved.
  • Were the lights inside bright?? Inverter/converter breaker might be tripped on the inverter unit.