2007 Patriot Thunder Won't Start

[Jerry Dildine]

My 2007 Patriot Thunder won't start, and I'm a little confused about where to start.  I have tried the battery boost and that didn't help.  The Aladdin shows that the house batteries -4 a dis.  I am a novice and am not sure what to check and shows 10.4v for coach batteries.  If this were a car, I would try to jump start, then go get new batteries.  It doesn't seem like that is the right first step hear.  Can someone advise?

[Jerry Dildine]

Is it possible to jump start the coach batteries

[David T. Richelderfer]

What does "-4 a dis" mean?  The important knowledge is the voltage of your two battery banks.  If both banks are low, then the battery boost won't do much.  You may need to unhook the batteries and place a charger on them.

How is the water level in the batteries, or are they maintenance-free?  Is your RV plugged into shore power with the inverter/charger ON and keeping the two battery banks charged?  Will your generator start if your coach is not plugged into shore power so that it will supply power to charge the battery banks?

[Dave Atherton]

Jerry, point of interest that may help you with your starting problem. Your have battery voltage and  have the ECM voltage. Your batteries need 12.70 volts for full charge and the engine ECM needs
Battery full voltage to start engine. With electronic engine there is only 1/2 volt plus- minus allowed
with sensors that operate your engine. In your many cases engine will spin over but will not start,
that is because of low voltage that will not operate electronic injectors. Dave Atherton Retired Cat Mechanic

[Keith Moffett Co-Admin]

Jerry
The voltage you mention and the ‘dis’ indicates the batteries are discharging at that rate.  These should be the house batteries.  The chassis batteries (engine batteries) may be low too. 
If you are on 50 amp shore power look at the inverter monitor in the cabinet over the passenger seat.  Briefly push and hold the charge button as the charger sounds like it is off.
If you are not hooked to shore power, your house batteries are too dead to help the engine batteries.   If you have AGM batteries this is a touchy spot.  All you want to do is provide enough power to start the generator.  Do not start the engine yet as it can blow the alternator.  Get a jump to start the generator and let it run half an hour or so before starting the engine.

Hope this helps!

[Jerry Dildine]

Apparently I got my house and chassis batteries confused. Both with Aladdin and physically.  I assumed that the last battery bay would be the chassis batteries.  After comparing to Aladdin data, it appears that the last battery bay is house batteries 2 and the top shelf of the next battery battery bat is house. Aladdin was showing 13v for house and 10.2 for chassis.  These numbers agreed when i checked the batteries themselves.
I went ahead and replaced the chassis batteries.  They now show roughly 12.9v.   I was able to start the generator, but as yet not been able to start the engine.  I'm wondering if I blew a fuse somewhere.
A couple of other data points, as follows: a) when I checked Aladdin chassis battery before attempting to start, the batteries showed 12.9 volts.  After starting the generator, the chassis batteries show 0 volts when the generator is on.  This made me think that I possibly don't have the charge controller settings.  I did adjust the charger setting and made sure it was on and set to charge float.
(b)  When I attempt to start the engine, I noticed a strange behavior in Aladdin.  Aladdin acts like it is shutting down when I attempt to start.  I don't recall this happening before.
If you have any thoughts about what to check next, it would be greatly appreciated!
 

[Steve Huber]

Jerry,
Check to see what voltage both the house and chassis batteries are at when the generator is running. Use a meter at the batteries. Don't use the Aladdin. Both should show 13V+.
Steve

[Jerry Dildine]

I'm an idiot.  At least at this point, the chassis batteries seemed to be the problem. In looking for the problem, I previously  inspect the electric panel in the engine area.  I mistakenly change the start button from front to rear.  When I went back this morning to try and see if I had blown a fuse, I saw it.  As soon as I switched the remote start back to front, the engine fired up.
Note, it was good advice to run the generator on the new house batteries prior to starting the engine from them the first time.  When I first installed them, the average voltage was at 12.9, after the generator ran for 30 minutes the batteries we at 13.3. 
It has started fine several times throughout the day today.  I believe we are ok.

Thank you to everyone for your help.  This is a great group.

[David T. Richelderfer]

The 13.3-volt reading represents the charge voltage being thrown at the batteries by the inverter/charger while your generator is running.  The 12.9-volt reading also is higher than fully charged, stand-alone 12v batteries for that matter.  There may have been a "surface charge" existing from the batteries being new.  A fully charged, stand-alone 12v battery will read from 12.6-volts to 12.7-volts.

My inverter/charger throws a 13.3v to 13.7v charge current at the batteries.  My engine's alternator throws a 14+ volt charge current at the batteries.

As far as your idiot comment, we have all done stuff we looked back on and felt like an idiot.  Get used to it; I did years ago.  lol

[Lee Welbanks]

I'm an idiot.  At least at this point, the chassis batteries seemed to be the problem. In looking for the problem, I previously  inspect the electric panel in the engine area.  I mistakenly change the start button from front to rear.  When I went back this morning to try and see if I had blown a fuse, I saw it.  As soon as I switched the remote start back to front, the engine fired up.
Note, it was good advice to run the generator on the new house batteries prior to starting the engine from them the first time.  When I first installed them, the average voltage was at 12.9, after the generator ran for 30 minutes the batteries we at 13.3. 
It has started fine several times throughout the day today.  I believe we are ok.

Thank you to everyone for your help.  This is a great group.

Yeah that front/rear switch takes the key switch out of the loop, does yours have a start switch in the rear also. My 06 PT also has these switches. Good to hear you figured it out, I'll bet you won't do that again.

[Fred Brooks]

    Just to keep it on the light side, That used to be one of the "pranks" we would do to new guys when I worked as a luxury technician at Beaudry RV. When the tech would go up to the parts department or bathroom, we would sneak over to the coach he was working on and flip the rear run switch to the "rear" position. Then when he was done working on the coach the adventure would begin. After about 10 minutes of panic because the coach wouldn't start, we would distract him and turn the switch back to "front run". Just guys having fun!

[Lee Welbanks]

Good one Fred, one of ours was to send the new guy over to the plant to get a bucket of vacuum.