Dealer Discharged Interior Batteries

Jaycodaughter · 09-15-2019, 01:00 PM

Hello! My parents own a 2018 5th wheel. Took the unit in for warranty repairs and Camping World did not flip the switch to turn off the interior batteries. It’s still in the shop. Camping World states this should only have a 1% impact on the batteries. I have read otherwise.

As Jayco does not install the batteries it’s difficult to find answers to support our case. Camping World has been a nightmare to say the least. This is just the beginning of the issues we have had. Found out late Friday that the batteries are Interstate batteries. Book and all supporting literature is in the trailer at Camping World. Thoughts???

JimD · 09-15-2019, 01:47 PM

Most likely you will be kissing your battery goodbye. It seems to only take a few days to bring the battery down. Once it gets below a certain point it will never recover to full capacity. I know from experience.

Take a voltmeter with you when you pick it up and measure the battery. If it reads below 12.0 volts, it has been damaged most likely.

CampNow · 09-15-2019, 01:49 PM

The actual damage inflicted by a single discharge is open to debate and hard to quantify. What happened to your parent's TT is akin to a car dealership leaving a car's headlights on--requiring a jump to start. Not many car dealerships are going to replace a car's battery because they left the headlights on and ran the battery down.

Maybe you could ask CW for a small gift certificate as compensation. Good luck.

RetiredOne · 09-15-2019, 02:11 PM

It depends on how far down they were discharged. If it was around 11 volts, they might come back and hold some power.

But, if the dealer killed them completely, way below 10 volts, they might look like they recharged when plugged into shore power, but when off shore power, they will drop voltage quickly.

I would suggest the OP has the dealer do a load test on the batteries before you take the rig home. Make sure you observe the test. If they don't pass a load test, I would demand the dealer replace them.

TxLoser · 09-15-2019, 02:14 PM

My dealer did this with my previous fifth wheel. Batteries were good for two years after that. 3 weeks with battery switch on. Fortunately, and I would imagine your case is the same, they do usually have to plug them into shore power here and there to perform work.

CampNow · 09-15-2019, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetiredOne

It depends on how far down they were discharged. If it was around 11 volts, they might come back and hold some power.

But, if the dealer killed them completely, way below 10 volts, they might look like they recharged when plugged into shore power, but when off shore power, they will drop voltage quickly.

I would suggest the OP has the dealer do a load test on the batteries before you take the rig home. Make sure you observe the test. If they don't pass a load test, I would demand the dealer replace them.

It'll probably pass the load test just fine---even if the battery was completely discharged. Granted, the long term health of the battery is reduced, but rather doubt it's going to show any immediate damage with a load test. Relatively new batteries will suffer through a complete discharge fine for the short-term.

Jaycodaughter · 09-15-2019, 02:47 PM

Thank you to everyone for your replies!! Dealer stated they did a load test and it passed. Not sure I believe they actually did a load test ... when my father attempted to pick up the unit after service, not only had they failed to flip the switch but had not completed the major warranty items - after three months. Washer and dryer were sitting in the middle of the unit, macerator was installed incorrectly after falling off in their last trip. I’m involved because I worked in leadership at Jayco many years ago. I think that’s the only reason we are getting anywhere at this point. I called in a few favors and suddenly things are happening. It’s a hot mess. The unit is beautiful, but it’s breaking my heart that my 70+ parents are having to deal with this at their age. After Lord knows how many RVs in their life, they want to own a Jayco because they were so good to me and Camping World has turned this into a nightmare for them.

**norty1** · 09-15-2019, 02:49 PM

I accept that as my responsibility when leaving the rig at a dealers.

At the least a conversation about batteries and winterization should happen between the service writer and the owner.

RetiredOne · 09-15-2019, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CampNow

It'll probably pass the load test just fine---even if the battery was completely discharged. Granted, the long term health of the battery is reduced, but rather doubt it's going to show any immediate damage with a load test. Relatively new batteries will suffer through a complete discharge fine for the short-term.

There are a lot of variables that we don't know. This rig is like two years old, and we don't know how the batteries were treated during that time.

Were they completely discharged any other time in their lifecycle? How deep of a discharge did they get? Have they been run down any other time when the rig was at the dealer or sitting in the driveway? Has the water been kept filled in them?

So, we can only guess on the status of these batteries, and know in past situations, they normally don't like to be killed or flatlined.

SloPoke · 09-15-2019, 04:15 PM

I hate hearing about others experiencing what we have at the hands of CW service departments. It should not be, but is becoming obvious that this is the norm.

We had the same issue... we left our Seneca at CW for what was supposed to be a "one day" repair and pick it up the next day. We had the rig winterized before we dropped it off promptly at 8AM, and they promised we would have it back for pickup that evening after 4:30PM. Well, it was not ready when we came to pick it up - it was still all apart. We returned the next day at 4:30 to pick it up...

House batteries were dead. We were able to start the chassis and once it was running, the house lights were all left ON - aparently overnight along with the furnace.

That was only part of the issue... Later once we got it home, we found the disgusting mess that someone left a turd skid mark down the side of our toilet. We surmise one of the service tech's working on our rig decided to poop in our rig with it winterized.

Now and forever forward... we will not leave our Seneca unsupervised at any CW. We will wait in the waiting area for the repair to be made.

CampNow · 09-15-2019, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetiredOne

There are a lot of variables that we don't know. This rig is like two years old, and we don't know how the batteries were treated during that time.

Were they completely discharged any other time in their lifecycle? How deep of a discharge did they get? Have they been run down any other time when the rig was at the dealer or sitting in the driveway? Has the water been kept filled in them?

So, we can only guess on the status of these batteries, and know in past situations, they normally don't like to be killed or flatlined.

It’s a given that anything that’s abused or suffers from lack of maintenance can potentially fail. My point was, a new or relatively new battery, that is otherwise operating properly, that is completely discharged, then recharged, is highly likely to pass a load test. You gave the impression that a healthy battery would simply fail a load test from one serious discharge. Possible, but highly unlikely.

RetiredOne · 09-15-2019, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CampNow

My point was, a new or relatively new battery, that is otherwise operating properly, that is completely discharged, then recharged, is highly likely to pass a load test. You gave the impression that a healthy battery would simply fail a load test from one serious discharge. Possible, but highly unlikely.

I know you made a reference to a car battery dying at the dealer earlier on. A cranking battery is more forgiving to being killed/recharged than a deep cycle battery which is used as a house battery, because the cranking battery just needs to give a quick burst to start an engine, where the deep cycle needs to deliver long term power. The internal construction of the two are very different, and the deep cycles aren't as forgiving.

I've seen deep cycle batteries lose the ability to provide long duration power after being flatlined only once.

CampNow · 09-15-2019, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetiredOne

I know you made a reference to a car battery dying at the dealer earlier on. A cranking battery is more forgiving to being killed/recharged than a deep cycle battery which is used as a house battery, because the cranking battery just needs to give a quick burst to start an engine, where the deep cycle needs to deliver long term power. The internal construction of the two are very different, and the deep cycles aren't as forgiving.

I've seen deep cycle batteries lose the ability to provide long duration power after being flatlined only once.

A typical load test at your neighborhood auto parts store is very short, high current test. It closely simulates the load placed on a typical automotive battery when powering a starter. The "long duration power" failure you mentioned involves a very different operating environment---lower current over a longer period of time. These are two different types of operating environments (or tests, as the case may be).

Bottom line, and, again, my very specific point:

I disagree with your earlier statement that the OP's battery (assuming it was a healthy battery to begin with) would fail a "load test" (as defined above) after one serious discharge.

Take 10 new, or otherwise "healthy", deep cycle batteries, seriously discharge them, then recharge. I would venture to say every single one of them would easily pass a simple, generic load test applied by any XYZ auto parts store or CampingWorld.

Jaycodaughter · 09-15-2019, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetiredOne

There are a lot of variables that we don't know. This rig is like two years old, and we don't know how the batteries were treated during that time.

Were they completely discharged any other time in their lifecycle? How deep of a discharge did they get? Have they been run down any other time when the rig was at the dealer or sitting in the driveway? Has the water been kept filled in them?

So, we can only guess on the status of these batteries, and know in past situations, they normally don't like to be killed or flatlined.

Good questions ... . They have had the rv for a year. Camping World has had the unit for SIX months. Three months the first time and three months this time. Under my fathers watch, they have not been discharged and the water has been kept filled. No idea what has happened at the dealers during the warranty work.

Jaycodaughter · 09-15-2019, 08:57 PM

Wow wow wow! First time they had it in someone stole a large sauté pan. I have parrots so my parents purchased special pans knowing we would be cooking in their trailer. Can’t use non-stick with parrots. Sent the trailer in for the first round of warranty work and the pan was missing the next trip. This was after they installed one of the new awnings incorrectly and after the dishwasher installation the kitchen faucet no longer retracted. I just don’t understand how a company can get everything so wrong.

Jaycodaughter · 09-16-2019, 10:06 AM

All - thank you so much for all your replies! I ended up calling Interstate Batteries this morning and spoke with a gentleman that has been with them for 15 years. Nice guy with a wealth of information! Here is what he he had to say -

Anytime you discharge a deep cycle battery it affects the longevity of the battery if you let it sit discharged for a period of time. If you discharge a relatively new battery and charge quickly after discharge, more than likely it will be fine.

All the load test will tell you is if it has a bad cell. It doesn’t tell you if has low capacity.

Again, thank you so much! Will update once we pick up.

CampNow · 09-16-2019, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaycodaughter

. . . I ended up calling Interstate Batteries this morning and spoke with a gentleman that has been with them for 15 years. Nice guy with a wealth of information! Here is what he he had to say . . .

All the load test will tell you is if it has a bad cell. It doesn’t tell you if has low capacity.

Again, thank you so much! Will update once we pick up.

This concurs with my experience with load tests. These load tests (same kind provided at your local auto parts store) only tests a battery's ability to provide a high amount of current in a short amount of time (this test lasts only seconds). This test does not test the battery's ability to provide relatively lower levels of current over a much longer period of time (typically measured in hours)---which is typically the kind of info that's important to an RV'r--especially if they have plans to dry camp.

Stanley J · 09-21-2019, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaycodaughter

Hello! My parents own a 2018 5th wheel. Took the unit in for warranty repairs and Camping World did not flip the switch to turn off the interior batteries. It’s still in the shop. Camping World states this should only have a 1% impact on the batteries. I have read otherwise.

As Jayco does not install the batteries it’s difficult to find answers to support our case. Camping World has been a nightmare to say the least. This is just the beginning of the issues we have had. Found out late Friday that the batteries are Interstate batteries. Book and all supporting literature is in the trailer at Camping World. Thoughts???

Deep cycle batteries should be OK for weeks if it is the usual smoke, LPgas, detectors drawing power but years ago I ran into a situation when my batteries would not last but afew days. After hours of checking and testing all the 12 volt circuits at the panel, I found one that was drawing more than just a few amps. Keeping this short, it ended up to be the Climate Control switch on the Fridge, also sometimes called a Humidity Control Switch. Located inside the fridge or freezer doorframe on not all but many fridges. This draws 12 volt power for the fridge climate control purposes. Once I found that, I had no battery problems at all. In the years since I must have come across a dozen or more RV friends and dealers that did not know this switch existed. In each case this was the cause of their battery drain problem. Maybe worth a check.

Johnynorthland · 09-21-2019, 05:25 PM

My dealer left my coach switch on and killed the battery. So far, a year later battery holds at 12.7 with no apparent issues but I would imagine a few cycles of this would damage the battery. If it had any issues to begin with I’m sure it would have been evident by now.

Funny, the first thing I check when I pick up my rig is the toilet. I put blue chemicals in the bowl so I’ll know if it’s flushed. I WOULD FLIP OUT IF SOMEONE USED MY TOILET!!! That’s just laziness and no respect!

Florida Ranger · 09-21-2019, 07:09 PM

Camping World can KMA if they think I am going to leave my Greyhawk with them unattended, I will stay overnight in my Motorhome. Were else are you supposed stay if you full time ? I told this to a CW service mgr. and he told me he was not sure I could spend the night on his lot. I told him then he better get my unit fixed before he closed up for the day. He did not like my response, but I did not care. Problem solved he got my trailer fixed before they closed. It is amazing what they will do when you bow-up on them.

You may also like: