Forum Discussion

Denver9's avatar
Denver9
Explorer
Jan 25, 2015

Missing coach battery

I just picked up a 1993 Majestic motor-home. It has a Ford Chassis. The Coach battery is missing and the two leads just taped off to prevent a short? Naturally, none of the inside coach lights work. I want to replace the battery but do not know what size and capacity battery I should get. The battery holder looks considerably smaller than the chassis battery. Both cables leading to the coach battery are red with no identification marking to help with polarity.
Where can I find a wiring diagram for the motor-home?
-Denver

44 Replies

  • Go to Walmart and pick up a Marine battery. I found them to have the best price, know which battery to sell you AND they put it in for you.
  • RoyB's avatar
    RoyB
    Explorer II
    It is hard to imagine you only have two red cables going to the battery box area. RED usually means +12VDC. IT could be if you look around you may find a BLACK cable that comes directly from FRAME GROUND.

    I would most definitely hand trace those two RED cables and find the one that goes to FRAME GROUND.

    My trailer battery has two 'HOT' cables coming from the POS +12VDC terminal of the battery with one going to the CONVERTER +BAT connection and the other one going to a RELAY that is controlled by my SLIDE switch. I also have a third cable going directly to the trailer FRAME GROUND coming from the NEG -12VDC battery connection.

    I would be very CAUTIOUS hooking one of those RED CABLES to the NEG -12VDC terminal of the BATTERY. You must 'HAND TRACE' both cables to see where they go first... Grounding a POSITIVE +12VDC RED active cable will short out something else in your RV. Have fun tracing all of that out looking for a blown fuse (or worse) if that happens.

    If you do indeed find one of the two RED cables going directly to FRAME GROUND connection then get some BLACK SPRAY PAINT and paint over the red color cable or better yet replace it with a BLACK color cable you can buy at the local Auto parts store with ring terminals on it.

    Always fun purchasing a pre-owned RV - You have no idea what the previous owner has done to it.

    just my thoughts
    Roy Ken
  • The meter reading between the red(+) and black(-) cables should be between 13.8 to 14.4 volts DC. If not, your converter charger could be bad and the reason for taped cables and no battery.
  • Plug in your shore power cable. Make sure your battery disconnect switch is on and measure the voltage at the battery cables noting which one is positive.

    Buy the largest deep cycle battery that will fit the compartment.