chassis battery

jobrien · Post by **jobrien** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 12:20 pm

Ed;

I had to do that many times when I first got my Born Free. After many attempts, Ford finally said they found a short in the dash, and they replaced the battery, which had gone dead many, many times.

Also, you only need 1 cable to jump it off the house batteries since they have a common ground.

John

karls · Post by **karls** » Wed Nov 16, 2011 6:05 pm

Rather than a bad battery you may have a small load on the battery when you think everything is off. If that's the case you will have the same problem $100+ later.

If you don't have an electric meter try parking it with a full charge and disconnect the battery for couple weeks to compare it to its present performance.

BFrees · Post by **BFrees** » Wed Nov 16, 2011 9:55 pm

Back in 2008 I was headed to Washington State for a family reunion and had checked all the items off of my "To Do" list concerning the Motorhome except for replacing the chassis battery. I have a 2002 24 ft. Rear Side Bed, but it is mounted on a 2000 Ford E-450 chassis. I bought the coach in 2005 and it came with meticulous maintenance records, there was no indication in those records that the chassis battery had ever been changed, but all was well with the coach, cranked over first time, every time. Even though it was the first trip of the season, I felt I could get one more trip from the old girl without changing the battery. I left Riverton, NJ and was driving west on the PA Turnpike. I got as far as the Blue Tunnel Rest Stop and decided to stop for a break. What a surprise when I came out of the rest stop and turned the key and didn't even get a click! I was 99% sure that it was the battery but not having used the unit for the winter, I couldn't discount the starter. I connected a single positive lead jumper cable from the coach batteries to to chassis battery in hopes of getting off of the Turnpike, but to no avail. This sucker was fried or my starter was gone.. Luckily I have Road Service for the RV. The question now is, is it the starter or the battery? I called Good Sam and explained the situation, they put me in touch with the PA Turnpike Emergency Road Service (the only ones allowed to assist stranded motorists on the Turnpike). The service wanted to send either a wrecker, for the tow, or the service van with the new battery. My choice. I chose the least expensive of the two and was praying it was probably only the "8 year" old battery that was at fault rather than the starter. Luckily I was right.

The moral of this whole long boring story is, do yourself a favor, spring for the needed upgrades before "stuff" happens and save yourself "TIME" and money (Service Fees).

By The Way ... they replaced my battery with a very good Interstate Battery that is still cranking over today. Kudos to the PA Turnpike Service.

mockturtle · Post by **mockturtle** » Thu Nov 17, 2011 12:11 am

Totally agree, Ed. When I bought mine in 2009, the first thing I did was replace all the batteries (Interstate for the chassis and Optima blue-top AGMs for the coach) and all new Michelin tires.

jobrien · Post by **jobrien** » Thu Nov 17, 2011 7:36 am

I agree Ed. I also like to replace things as they age or wear out (except for my wife

).

I drove my previous Jeep to my daughters house, stayed there for an hour or 2, came out and it was dead. No previous indication of it getting weak. Years ago, the headlights would mdim, it would crank slowly, etc. so you knew it was tiime for a new battery. Now, it seems it works fine, then dies.

I will replace it, just depends on now or the spring, and which brand.

As an aside, when I was at teh factory a few years ago, they added the "jumper" switch that allows me to start the engine from the chassis battery. A very worthwhile addition to have, especially travelling and stopping at night.

John