2000 Fleetwood Bounder Battery Hook up

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

robstyme

Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2009
Posts
15
I  just purchased this Rv and decided to replace the 12v batteries as they were 2004 and not holding charge.I have tried hooking up + to + and - to - unsuccessfully.Since I'm not the orig. owner I have no idea if they were orig.6V.I have three red wires the smaller I believe is from the generator like the small black.Then I had connected the two larger red cables to the + of the first battery, connected the- of the first battery to + of second battery with a jumper.Next I connected the large black wire from the carriage to the - of second battery.This allowed the slider to operate but the lifts would not go down? I also questioned which battery would the generator leads connect to and if both larger red cables should be connected together on the first battery? I'd appreciate your help on this.Thank You
 
Hi robstyme and welcome to RV Forum. Will help you out if we can. Sure wish you had taken a picture and some good notes before disconnecting the old batteries - it would have made life much easier!

First, is this Bounder gas or diesel? And how many total batteries does it have?

In general, you will have tow sets of batteries in a motorhome - one set for the house 12v system and another to start the engine. They are not directly connected with each other. Instead, the engine is connected to a set of one (gas) or two (diesel) batteries and the house (lights, water pump, etc) connected to the remainder.  There is a battery isolator that interconnects the two sets (called battery banks) for charging or emergency starting, but you don't have to worry about that.

RV 12v batteries are always connected + to + and - to -, but the house and engine batteries are always separate. You should find a red and a black cable pair for each.
 
The engine is gas. There is a separate battery 12 v for the engine under front hood.I have the batteries connected as you said except there are two heavy red cables ,the smaller on I believe goes back to the engine battery for switching power to start the engine.If I connect the larger + and - to the first then I assume the other would be connected to the + of the second battery.I would then use the black jumper from - to -  of the two batteries.What battery would I connect the leads from the generator? I have the two heavy red cables connected together on one  battery.When I connected the - of the first to the + of second the slid out worked but in parallel it won't operate?I learning that being a new RVer for only a week now is over whelming! The original owner's manual doesn't give much information.I would think there would be a website to research this? Thank You
 
Rob, it is almost a certainty that your MH was initially equipped with one 12v battery as the chassis (starting) battery and two 6v aux (house) batteries.

Are you sure that the batteries you removed were indeed all 12v batteries?

Do you have a "box" labeled Battery Control Center under the hood near the main battery?  If so, I can e-mail you a generic diagram of how the batteries should "logically" be connected as well as detail on that BCC.  Fleetwood did not include this box with all their motor homes.

Your generator cable should be attached to the positive post of your first house battery if it is just hanging loose and was removed during your battery swap.  Normally it would be attached through the disconnect solenoid.

When you had it connected so the slide worked (but the lifts did not) did you remember to set the parking brake, put the transmission in park, and have the ignition on?
 
All the reds can go to the + post on one battery. The + of one battery connects to the + of the other, not the - terminal as you have repeatedly stated.  One of the battery - terminals must be connected to the frame of the motorhome, normally with a heavy black cable. If you don't have one like that, there is the reason the lifts and slide did not work.
 
When I connected the negative to the positive of the second with the jumper and house ground to the second the slide worked so I believe it was two six volt batteries that were original.Will I be able to use the two twelve volts? I just purchased the batteries two days ago so returning them might be the answer if there is to much voltage. When I try now to operate the lifts it's a high speed wind and none work. I may have blown a fuse. There is a box under the front hood.There are two heavy red cables that were connected together before I changed them. I  noticed the other battery lead was loose so it may have been operating on a single battery/.  I have a smaller red cable with a fuse between, this I believe is from the generator and the same size black wire. Which battery would I connect the generator leads?
 
>>Which battery would I connect the generator leads?<<


Normally on Fleetwood gas coaches the genset is connected to the two "house" batteries, which are normally two 6v.

Woody
 
The only thing that differs between 6v and 12v batteries is the way the wires run between the posts on the battery. If you change from 6v to 12v, you may need some different length jumpers between the posts to make the right connections, but the wiring in the RV itself is otherwise identical.

This article in the Forum Library might help you understand the wiring:
http://www.rvforum.net/miscfiles/batterycon-1.pdf

You seem to be in over your head, electrically speaking. I think you are going to need help from someone with some 12v electrical experience.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
131,749
Posts
1,384,217
Members
137,520
Latest member
jeep3501
Back
Top Bottom