Winnebago coach batteries won't charge while driving

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newtorvs

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Oct 27, 2014
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Hi guys,

I've been having some electrical problems with my 2001 Adventurer. I've gotten a lot of help from people on this forum and I've been able to rectify many of the problems. I recently replaced my stock converter/charger with a Progressive Dynamics unit and its working great. I get a great charge while plugged into shore power as well as when I'm running the generator, but unfortunately the engine isn't providing me with a charge. Is this a relay problem? Is this expensive to fix?

Thanks for your help as always!
 
I am sure someone with a motorhome like yours will chime in, but it is my understanding that not all motorhome brands allow the engine alternator to charge a coach battery. Does your motorhome come equipped with a BIRD device? Also, was your engine previously charging the house battery? Or has it never charged? There was list going around in this forum of which motorhomes charged off the engine and which ones did not.
 
Hi Cg,

Yes, the engine use to charge the batteries while running and now they don't any longer.

Thanks
 
I am sure someone with a motorhome like yours will chime in, but it is my understanding that not all motorhome brands allow the engine alternator to charge a coach battery.
Click to expand...

I think you may have misunderstood. Nearly all (I'm sure there is an exception somewhere) motorhomes charge the house battery from the engine alternator, but more than a few do NOT charge the chassis battery from the coach house charger (shore power).

Your coach will have either an isolator device or a relay and apparently it is defective. May be the device itself, or it may not be receiving the voltage "signal" that activates it for charging. I'm pretty sure the 2001 Adventurer has a battery relay and it is activated by +12v from the ignition switch, but one of our Winnebago experts can probably give better info.
 
Just had battery disconnect relay replaced on my 2012 Winnie, I would assume that is your problem, symptoms are the same.
 
Part runs about $40 to $50, labor maybe an hour, depending on how hard to get the old one out, mine was a PIA since screw head was stripped. I would guess normally $150 total, depends on shop rate if no problems.

In mine it was very hard to get at. Back of electric box about arms length! They must plan to make it difficult!
 
It may also have a circuit breaker that has tripped. My Challenger had 50 amp circuit breakers in the line going to the house batteries, and it was tripped. Reset it and all was well, it never tripped again as long as I owned it.
 
I had the problem on a long trip, bought a short battery cable and jumped positive on house to positive on chassis battery. Worked fine, all that does is bypass the solenoid. ( on my Winnibage 2012 Vista)

Be cautious if you do this, you are dealing with a LOT of amperage and potential disaster if you do it wrong.
 
I had a 2000 Winnebago Adventurer which was not charging the house batteries while the engine was running. I found that if I held the auxiliary switch in while the engine was running, the house batteries were being charged. Let go of that switch and the charging stops. I was about three hours from home and I used a tooth pick to hold that switch in while going home.

I had a wiring diagram and after studying that I found that I had a blown fuse which was for the auxiliary heater that is located under the floor in the front passenger seat area. After replacing the fuse and then turning on the switch for the auxiliary heater, the fuse immediately blew. My wiring diagram showed that the power source for the auxiliary charging solenoid was connected the auxiliary heater power circuit.

The only time that I ever used the auxiliary heater was when it was brand new, just to be sure that it worked. Because of not using the auxiliary heater since then, the fan motor had seized up. The dashboard have several switches in a row and it was easy to hit the auxiliary heater switch accidentally and blow the fuse.

Because the auxiliary heater fan is so hard to get at and I felt that I never was going to use it, I cut the wire that goes from the auxiliary heater switch to the fan, so then the fuse was only powering the auxiliary charging solenoid. After replacing the fuse, all batteries were being charged while the engine is running.
 
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