Winnebago RV house batteries

We have an 02 Adventurer and found that since June when everything was working great that our batteries are toast too. FYI, somewhere about 11VDC the panel shuts off the batteries at the disconnect. I would use a good charger and try recharging the batteries before doing anything else. If like mine they just go up in the 12 Volt range and then drain down fairly quick, your out of luck. If they hold in the +13 volt range your ok but watch them as if it happens again it will damage your batteries.

Personally, I would open the battery compartment and lift the cables off the batteries and do the charging. If you have a meter, not test light, after the charge is complete read everything and then after a few hours reconnect the batteries and read them and compare to the meter in the All In One panel, should be in the 13 volt range.

The converter, probably under the fridge, is where the 120 VAC is converted to 12VDC. This is where the cables to charge your batteries while on shore power start.

Charging from the engine alternator is via a devise commonly called a BIRD. Bi Directional Relay Delay. This selects when it is time to charge the chassis and or house batteries. Hopefully you have a diagram of the bird and how it works. It will show where the Bird is connected to the battery disconnect relays. You can Google Intellitec BIRD.

It's all really simple after you look at the drawings and read the directions.

With the house and chassis batteries fully charged, turn on the engine and using either the All In One meter read the voltages being supplied to the batteries. The should read like the users instructions say.

Not everyone reads.

Tfaust wrote:
So we recently (June) purchased abused 04 Winnebago adventurer and have been running into issues (blown head gasket) most recently my house batteries which are brand new and are 6V. Well now they are showing 0 volts in the cabin. Can't start generator, refrigerator, lights on the inside. What could possibily be the issues and how would I go about recharging the house batteries? What in the RV charges the house batteries? I guess I should also mention that the RV sat for several month while getting repaired. The volt meter inside does not give a reading just stays blank. Or do I just need to replace the house batteries?

Are ya sure the battery switch by the entry door somewhere is on?
Good chance the batteries are fine. Check the water levels first and then take a voltage reading on each and also across the two of them, before plugging into shore power. Once done and the power is on, the power converter or inverter/charger should immediately show an increase in voltage at the batteries.
No luck, report back and someone will most likely chime in with how to proceed.

Always better to be dumb than have to spend another $500 needlessly. One wears off and the other smarts for awhile.

Do yourself a favor and install an LED around that switch so you can see if it was bumped. Or go back to the shop for a 206 ignition switch shield :)

Our shut off switch for the house batteries is in the bay where the battery is. Look somewhere in the vicinity of the battery. I have heard others say their's was by the door inside, switches on the wall. We also have a shut off for the engine battery which is inside a bay towards the front passenger side. If you have one it could be in a variety of places. Just read a post that some Winnebago's the switch is labeled "aux battery".

Lots of newcomers get offended real easily. you'll learn to live with it.

Thank you for the welcome, but at the same time it would have been easier to ask as opposed to assuming, you know what they say about assuming?

Tfaust wrote:
Not to be rude but I'm not an idiot I do know how to read a volt meter I spent 15 years working on helicopters in the army. However I'm not familiar with motor homes and house batteries since I've owned it for only several months which half of them were spent in a repair shop. When it comes to a $40,000 investment I'd rather get information and help from those who has spent years with these and not treated like a child

Welcome to the forum, and I too suspect the batteries will survive. I once drew 4 6V batteries down to almost 4 volts each and was able to recover them. They are still holding up well.

But I must come to the defense of Ava:I have just carefully re-read your post and Ava's and I see nothing in your post that indicates any experience in trouble shooting. With that in mind there is nothing belittling in Ava's post. There are many new comers to RVing on this board that don't or didn't know a Volt from a donut and have to be taught the difference between Volts Amps and Watts and have no idea what a DVM is let alone how to use one.
I would expect that anyone with a tech background would first check the battery voltage at the battery terminals and have a DVM to do it with, a critical tool for RVing.

Tfaust wrote:
I felt dumb.

No need for that.....and NO need to take it out on others who are trying to be helpful either.

Next "dumbass" trick to watch out for:
Start generator and you have no AC anywhere in the coach. After checking fuses and breakers, you find you failed to plug the cord into the GEN socket the last time you disconnected from shore power.

WE ALL DO STUFF LIKE THAT. But yes a meter is required equipment to help keep the d/a moments at a minimum. :B