How to Jump Start a Fleetwood Discovery?

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chrisrice

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May 27, 2007
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Hi All,

I'm looking for a guidance with jump starting my RV.

It's a 2007 Fleetwood Discovery (40x). It's been sitting for about 6 months and now all of the batteries are dead (both coach and house).

I bought a "Rescue Booster Pack 1800" which is a 12 volt jumper box. The two house batteries are connected positive to positive and negative to negative. So, I'm assuming it's a 12 volt system?

Anyway, when I connect the booster pack to a battery (coach batteries, not the house batt's) I get an alarm on the booster pack warning of wrong polarity. I triple checked red to red, black to black... I see big black and red jumpers between the batteries (again, + to + and the other - to -).

This booster pack doesn't have a 24 volt option, so I couldn't try that.

If anyone has an idea please let me know.

Thank you!
- Chris
 
Jump start the chassis batteries. Not the house batteries.
 
Yeah, that's what I was trying to do. There are two chassis batteries, and four house batteries. The chassis is wired + to + and - to -. That's why I was assumeing it was 12 volts.
 
I'm sorry I misread your original post. I would bet the Rescue pack doesn't have enough amps to turn your Discovery over. Try jumping the house batteries and then run the generator until you can use the Aux Start button.
 
What I'm having a hard time with is that as soon as the clamps touch the terminals it tells me that the polarity is reversed. That's what's making me wonder if the system is 24 volts. The pack is made to start big rig's so I assumed it could handle a RV.... Calling the manufacturer now, will post what happens.

Best,
Chris
 
My Fleetwood Providence is 12 volts. I wonder if the Rescue has reverse polarity. I would check both the chassis batteries and the Rescue with a volt meter.
 
I think your Battery Booster has an internal voltmeter and if it doesn't read sufficient voltage when jumped across the batteries the Booster assumes that the polarity is reversed.  If the rig has set that long then it is very likely that your batteries are below the 'trigger point' for the Booster.

Your best bet is to recharge the batteries, however,  most newer Battery Chargers will just shut themselves down if they do not read sufficient voltage from the battery.  If that is the case then jump your Chassis Batteries from your vehicle and let them charge thru your vehicle alternator until they get rejuevenated sufficient to accept the Battery Booster or Charger.
 
Your starting batteries are probably just so dead that the small jump start box doesn't know what the true story is.

Take Tom's suggestion and charge/jump the house batteries and start the generator.  Charge the batteries awhile and the coach should start.

 
It looks like Weewun was right. The system is 12v and the battery pack was sensing something odd (low voltage) and alarmed. Once I put it into the ON mode it stopped alarming and worked properly.

Unfortunately the Cat engine laughed at the Booster pack (which is rated to start a big rig). It did turn it over, but very very slow!

Even though it didn't work, it's one heck of a battery pack. it even has lights at the ends of the clamps!

For some reason the generator would not turn over. Maybe it's starter is powered off of the house batteries? 

Now it's time to figure something else out...

Thanks for all the input.

Chris
 
Can you isolate the battery feed to the generator and start it with the external battery pack?
 
On my Fleetwood the generator is started from the house batteries.
 
Most coaches start genset from house.  Safety feature.  If house is dead, chassis might start and vice versa.  If you have a battery charger, try chargin house a couple hours, get genset started, let run some more, then Aux start and try engine.

 
I think most Fleetwood designs start the genset from the house battery, so Bill & Seilerbird are probably right about this Discovery being that way too.  But if I've learned one thing over the years, you cannot say "always" about anything in an RV.
 
PancakeBill said:
If you have a battery charger, try chargin house a couple hours, get genset started, let run some more, then Aux start and try engine.
Click to expand...

Bill, I think the OP's problem is that he is not parked where he can get 120vac to a battery charger.  Hence; the jumper pack.

I still would concentrate on getting the generator started, as both you and I suggested, and proceed from there. 

 
The low condition of the Chassis Batteries is dragging down the Booster which is the reason for the 'low' turn-over rate.  Try the following:

This will take some time but if you fully charge your Battery Booster at home or whereever you can and then connect it across your Chassis Batteries, the Battery Booster will charge the Chassis Batteries.  You may have to do this several times to get the Chassis Batteries up high enough where they will not severely drag down the Booster. 
 
Just my take on this episode...

  I think the house batteries are totally gone. I had the occasion to have had my RV stored for  2 months. I was rushed to a hospital at the time for an unsuspected ailment,, broken femur.

  One of my neighbors put the RV into the storage compound, from my driveway. He had no idea what RV's were all about but he was able to drive it there...locked the doors and there it was.

  When I got back on my feet I found all batteries were totally dead. I found out later that some lights were left on in the RV and consequently drained every last bit of energy from the batteries.

  Trying to restore power (recharging) was useless. The dead batteries had sulfated so badly that they would not accept any charge current...zero..

  So, new batteries solved the problem. (That's when I discovered that lights had been left on).

  Live and learn... do not store your RV with any drain on the batteries.

carson FL

 
Wow long time since this was discussed.. I have a problem...Fleetwood Expedition 2007,, low miles.. had it winterized ok.. sat now 3 months, tried to start, dead.. boosted the engine batteries, started fine, drove it 100 miles, and still cannot start generator or lights etc.  can I boost the 4 house batteries from the two engine batteries or must I boost from vehicle other than itself? thanks Peter
 
Always best to start your own thread on something this old... 

The generator, in many cases, is started from the house batteries. However, with the engine running, you can jump start the generator using the spring loaded key on the dash that is intended just for that and bridges the two 12V systems together temporarily. But... if the house batteries are really dead, which it seems they are, I would suggest that they be charged using an external charger, and then load tested first and replaced if necessary. There has to be something available for the generators ignition when you let go of the spring loaded switch. You cannot expect the vehicles alternator to charge all those batteries from DEAD. The other thing to check is that the Battery storage switch is in the correct position, if not, the batteries are disconnected,  they will not charge either while plugged in nor while running down the road, nor will any house lights function.

These switches are labeled differently by the different RV manufacturers, I don't know what labels Fleetwood used.
 
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