slyone
Strasburg, PA. USA
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The chassis battery in my 2008 Bounder 35H keeps losing it's charge every week. The Bounder is winterized but I start it every week and run it for an hour. I have a marine battery that I would like to install in place of the chassis to see if it will stay charged. Do you think that is ok using the marine battery. Not planning on leaving it there just want to see if I need to replace it. Does anyone know if this is ok to do.
Steve& Linda Young[/b]
2008 Bounder35H
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mfox20
Fort Worth, TX
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You most likely have a detector that is draining the chassis battery during the week. Pretty common issue if you don't disconnect or stay plugged into shore power so the battery continues to charge.
Michael
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P3TC
Glendale Springs, NC
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There are parasitic drains in all modern day Motorhomes that drain the chassis battery, try getting a 5 watt solar panel (Northern Tool and others) to put on the roof if you cant keep it hooked up to 120.
Bill
 1998 Monaco Diplomat
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slyone
Strasburg, PA. USA
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It isn't the coach batteries it's the chassis. So your saying the chassis battery has drains too?
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Hatman
Columbus, OH
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Joined: 05/30/2006
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Something as simple as the clock in the stereo in the dash can drain a battery over time. A battery disconnect is a cheap solution if you store your coach without access to electricity. My chassis battery maintains it's charge for a month or more when disconnected.
Deep cycle batteries and starting batteries are made differently and neither will perform the other task well. Stick with the proper style of battery for the job.
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travelzoo
NW
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It is not normal for the chassis battery to discharge in a weeks time. There is some thing causing the problem and needs to be tracked down. The marine battery is find to try.
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Golden_HVAC
Fulltime, CA, USA
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Hi,
The CO monitor has two electrical inputs, one from each battery. So if the battery is not disconnected, then the battery will go dead in that timeframe.
In reality, charging for 1 hour will not fully charge the battery, probably only get it about 35% full - but that is just a guess. And running the engine for 1 hour is going to consume about 3 gallons of gas, so it is a pretty expensive battery charger. Also while at idle, the oil is not moving the volume as when driving and RPM's are over 1,000. So you only lube the engine with a few gallons of oil each minute, not the 20 gallons or more at 2,500 RPM. The cam is the area that seems to suffer most on ambulances that idle a long time with not much load on them.
At this point, with the battery nearly depleted, taking it home to fully charge it on a bench will be a good idea. Your motorhome will not be damaged by not starting it for a couple of months.
Solar panels have let me store my RV for 13 years away from a electrical outlet, and keep the batteries full. It might be something worth looking into.
The CO meter and propane detector and refrigerator use about 35 amp hours per day, about what a 120 watt solar panel will put back into the system. I have a pair of 120 watt, pair of 45 watt and 75 watt panel, more so I can dry camp for extended periods of time than anything else.
Fred.
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bluwtr49
Green Valley, AZ
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On many coaches it's very normal for the chassis battery to deplete in a week or so. There are a lot of parasitic loads including the engine ECM and etc that slowly run it down.
I wouldn't replace the battery until you figure out if you truly have a problem or not. Also, you don't want a deep cycle for starting, they are not designed to provide high amperage starting current.
Fortunately I have a solar panel and and echo charger that keeps both the chassis and coach batteries topped off. When my echo charger died, I also saw the chassis batteries go pretty flat in about 8 days and both are brand new.
Dick
2000 40" DP Beaver Patriot Thunder Cat C-12 425 HP, 1550 Tq
1997 Jeep GC Limited ---toad
2008 Toyota Tundra Crew Max Limited TRD (Retired)
2009 Cougar 268 RLS ~8700 lbs road wt (Retrired)
2006 Jeep Liberty Turbo Diesel.....TV in Training
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BobR
Aurora, Illinois
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Joined: 12/07/2001
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Buy and install a knife switch and be done with it.
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rvrepairnut
bc
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slyone wrote:The chassis battery in my 2008 Bounder 35H keeps losing it's charge every week. The Bounder is winterized but I start it every week and run it for an hour. I have a marine battery that I would like to install in place of the chassis to see if it will stay charged. Do you think that is ok using the marine battery. Not planning on leaving it there just want to see if I need to replace it. Does anyone know if this is ok to do.
either you have a weak battery or you have a draw on it for some reason.Radio memerory etc should not kill it in a week however if its low or dead each week and all your doing is running it for a hour then the battery will only see a surface charge and for sure will be dead a week later.Take the battery and charge it properly.Install it and leave off one post.It should be fine
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