Question Novice, rookie, wet behind the ears...trying so hard to keep up.

[Rich W.]

I think what you are experiencing is that the system won’t do anything under a certain battery voltage because it needs “x” volts to wake up and operate. So the solution that has worked for others with New Aire and other complex coaches is to attach an external battery charger (a real one, not a trickle or maintenance charger) to bring the batteries up to the minimum and then the system will resume. And while four years old is aging for house batteries, if they have been well cared for (or maintenance free) they should still be good enough.

This is all anecdotal since I don’t have personal experience with this and I don’t know the minimum voltage below which this occurs, but that’s what your problem sounds like to me. Also I’m surprised that a New Aire would come with Xantrex equipment and that could be part of the problem. Someone else here can either confirm or offer other ideas. You should also turn off the salesman switch to isolate the house batteries and turn off the chassis battery disconnect while doing the recovery charging, charging each separately of course.

 

[Richpatty]

Can you measure voltage at the battery while the rv is plugged in? Maybe it’s not getting juice from the charger?

 

[Neal]

Are we talking about house or chassis batteries?

 

[Neal]

Morning all, and thanks for all your comments and information. Very helpful! So I had both chassis' batteries charged with trickle charger (external) to 100%, plugged in the 50 amp plug, by way of converter overnight. This morning, she is dead as a doornail again. Not even enough chassis power to "click" even the generator, let alone turn over the engine.
These also look like original batteries, which would make them at least 4 years old, and I have no record of how they were maintained. Silverleaf also has no power, so there is no way to "see" what's happening with the power distribution.
I am now looking for two replacement batteries, at least then I will have a known starting point.

Wet behind the ears in St Paul!!

Yes, it sounds like it's time to replace the two chassis batteries, shouldn't be hard to find or do. From there hopefully things will start working for you again and making some sense. I replace my chassis batteries every 5 years need it or not. Keep in mind those batteries are in your chassis I believe 6 months prior to the coach being built by Newmar, so they could be older than you think.

 

[Richpatty]

Ha. I will be replacing my chassis batteries in December… they are originals, so at nearly 8 years old, they don’t owe me anything.
I do leave them on a trickle charger at all times at home… so maybe that helped.

 

[Neal]

Ha. I will be replacing my chassis batteries in December… they are originals, so at nearly 8 years old, they don’t owe me anything.
I do leave them on a trickle charger at all times at home… so maybe that helped.

I just don't ever want to find myself someplace in a no start condition. They are cheap to replace, in fact I had FL Gaffney replace mine, very affordable to have them do it.

 

[Richpatty]

I just don't ever want to find myself someplace in a no start condition. They are cheap to replace, in fact I had FL Gaffney replace mine, very affordable to have them do it.

Yea… maybe I pushed it a bit, but it starts great… and I could bridge the house batteries if it failed. But they will be replaced at Gafney in Dec.

 

[Tproepper1]

Replaced both chassis batteries yesterday, not too bad a job for a barley mechanical guy. Thankfully, engine stared right away, generator started as well. To my surprise the ac unit turned on, the Silverleaf screen was all lit up and everything seemed normal.
Just as I was looking at the Silverleaf, I noticed it said "inverter fault" on the display. I went to look at the DC Power Screen, and it went blank. Bang
Still blank a day later..."killing me smalls."

 

[Neal]

If your batteries drained to where the low battery cutoff (LBCO) was reached to cut off the batteries to prevent further drain, that will trigger an inverter fault. Not sure how to clear it in Silverleaf but was simple in the Magnum control head.

 

[rvkev]

This might be a little late, but, other members can take advantage of on line at NAPA.

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I purchased 2 D8 Batteries at NAPA. Went to the local store and the manager, told me order them on line and take advantage of 20% off. I exchanged my batteries the next day. I saved over $100.