Who's in charge?

[C_J1]

When the motorhome is plugged into shore power AND the engine is running, are the house batteries being charged by the engine alternator or by the converter off shore power?

I ask because our slide-out rooms run off the house side, not the chassis side (why Winnebago did that is a long story). Usually we have unplugged from shore power before we retract the slides. But today we happened to leave the shore power plugged in when we started the engine to retract the slides. They retracted ok, but I got a "low voltage" message on the slides' control panel. So I'm wondering if I shouldn't leave the shore power plugged in when deploying the slides.

We're pretty naïve about the electrical systems on the coach, so any input would be appreciated.

[hostage]

down home wrote:
Don't know about Win a Bagel.
But ours as most or a ll run the slides of the house batteries we only have four 6 volts, some have as many as eight and newer ones have 12vots, or some of them.
We have one huge 12 v chasis battery that probably weighs 200 lbs.
We have a switch next to driver to bring the 6vs to bear if the bigun won't start the MH.
If you are exhausting your house batteries, start the generator to bring them up.
Charging from the converter side takes a lot longer and won't do 100%, I believe.
When we put new house batteries in even the generator took many miles down the road to bring them to full charge.
I cannot imagine why they switched your slide to the chassis battery, unless there is an electrical problem and it should have been fixed in the first place.
Do you have bad battteries?

how does the generator charge the battery if your not using a converter?
the engine alternator driving down the road will easily charge the house batterys so why ever run the generator?
Running engine while running slides is best option if extra power required

[down_home]

Don't know about Win a Bagel.
But ours as most or a ll run the slides of the house batteries we only have four 6 volts, some have as many as eight and newer ones have 12vots, or some of them.
We have one huge 12 v chasis battery that probably weighs 200 lbs.
We have a switch next to driver to bring the 6vs to bear if the bigun won't start the MH.
If you are exhausting your house batteries, start the generator to bring them up.
Charging from the converter side takes a lot longer and won't do 100%, I believe.
When we put new house batteries in even the generator took many miles down the road to bring them to full charge.
I cannot imagine why they switched your slide to the chassis battery, unless there is an electrical problem and it should have been fixed in the first place.
Do you have bad battteries?

[hostage]

C&J wrote:
OP is back. Thanks for all the discussion.

Extended and then retracted all three slides this morning with no problems. This time I was not plugged into shore power, but had the engine running. I think that's what we'll do from now on.

its actually irrelevant because if u have ample battery strength
it makes no difference plugged in or engine running

[C_J1]

OP is back. Thanks for all the discussion.

Extended and then retracted all three slides this morning with no problems. This time I was not plugged into shore power, but had the engine running. I think that's what we'll do from now on.

[hostage]

DryCreek wrote:
Our slides and hydraulic levelers are powered from the single chassis battery. Coming from fifth wheel and TT campers, we were surprised to find that out. Oh, and we figured that out the hard way. The single coach battery on our last 5'er handled the super slide quite well.

I would prefer to have the slides and levelers powered from the chassis battery. If I need to run the slide out for any reason I have to run into the house to get the keys and start the MH up just to run the slide out. It would be much simpler if I could just turn the coach batteries on and plug it up to shore power.

u prefer to have it on chassis batterys so u can just turn on the coach batterys and plug it in??

[DryCreek]

Our slides and hydraulic levelers are powered from the single chassis battery. Coming from fifth wheel and TT campers, we were surprised to find that out. Oh, and we figured that out the hard way. The single coach battery on our last 5'er handled the super slide quite well.

I would prefer to have the slides and levelers powered from the chassis battery. If I need to run the slide out for any reason I have to run into the house to get the keys and start the MH up just to run the slide out. It would be much simpler if I could just turn the coach batteries on and plug it up to shore power.

[doxiemom11]

Unplugging is one of the last things we do, so our slides go in while still plugged in. We don't put them out until we have plugged in and leveled at any new site. Our slides operate of the house batteries.

[hostage]

YC 1 wrote:
It is a bit of a misconception that the charging system will charge one bank and then the other. I have not seen a system that does exactly that. Most will either charge all banks in parallel, or when the voltage level gets high enough on the bank being charged the voltage will be sensed and turn on the combining device.

depends lots of the old monacos for example had huge 200 amp batt isolators so the alt and the chargers would charge the banks that showed the lower voltage first

[YC_1]

It is a bit of a misconception that the charging system will charge one bank and then the other. I have not seen a system that does exactly that. Most will either charge all banks in parallel, or when the voltage level gets high enough on the bank being charged the voltage will be sensed and turn on the combining device.

[YC_1]

Hikerdog has the owners manual so it answers the question about the slides needing extra HP, voltage that is by suggesting the engine be running.

I would have a voltmeter on those battery banks with engine running, engine off, shoreline connected, and shoreline and engine at the same time. This will take a bunch of voltage measurements but should tell us all we need to sort it out.

Hence, my suggestion of having a notepad and camera.

If the slides are slow with the engine and shoreline connected you will need to take some measurments on the wires that feed the slide.

[hostage]

no matter cheaper A gassers or diesel A.s most of the time the house batterys have better amp hour ratings than the chassis battery;; most gas A have one starting and two house; it to me is much better to have the slides working off the coach batterys than the starting batterys and for sure when Battery power is limited like most A gas systems leave motor run;;

[tropical36]

C&J wrote:
When the motorhome is plugged into shore power AND the engine is running, are the house batteries being charged by the engine alternator or by the converter off shore power?

I ask because our slide-out rooms run off the house side, not the chassis side (why Winnebago did that is a long story). Usually we have unplugged from shore power before we retract the slides. But today we happened to leave the shore power plugged in when we started the engine to retract the slides. They retracted ok, but I got a "low voltage" message on the slides' control panel. So I'm wondering if I shouldn't leave the shore power plugged in when deploying the slides.

We're pretty naïve about the electrical systems on the coach, so any input would be appreciated.

Engine alternator should charge the chassis batteries first and then the house. Converter charger should charge the house first and then the chassis. You can't miss with both running.
Ours asks to start the engine for the slides and the power comes from the chassis. This works out for us and give the big CAT some time to warm up, while bringing in the rooms, retracting the jacks, etc...etc....
When setting up, it gives the turbo some time to cool down, before shutting off the engine.
Obviously your mileage will vary and we didn't do it this way with our old gas coach.

[D_E_Bishop]

I think that you need to get the wiring diagrams from winnebagoind.com and check out the way your rig is supposed to be wired. In the owners manual it states that the engine should be running when deploying or retracting the slides. The engine charges the chassis battery and the house batteries simultaneously, no B.I.R.D. involved. Different than the Bounder we had.

The chassis alternator puts out more amps than the charger so running the engine will provide more power than shore power or gen set.

Which would put less strain on the batteries?

[cross21114]

YC 1 wrote:
RV's are snowflakes and built differently.

Awesome!