Electrical/chassis battery problem?

E

egray

New member
My sprinter is a 2005 year but is on an RV chassis and is a 2007. From the first day I purchased the sprinter it has refused to start. I can go for several days with no starting problem then suddenly it will not start. Have been to three different Dodge-Sprinter service facilities and they are unable to identify any electrical problems. Have also been to three RV service centers, including the factory and they can detect no problem. The only comment is that I have a bad battery. I am now on the third battery and the problem still exists. The vehicle starts right up when electrical assist is hooked to the battery.

Typical occurance: Vehicle is driven for a period of time (one to several hours), shut it down to either eat or stop at a shopping center. Get back in and the battery is dead. Get a battery assist and it starts right up. Shut it off and it restarts without problem, until the next time.


My battery is not dead. Alternator has been checked out and Dodge says it is working properly. Does anyone have a similar problem or a good idea what might be happening? Any help will be appreciated. Dodge has been no help at all.
 
sikwan

sikwan

06 Tin Can
egray said:
Typical occurance: Vehicle is driven for a period of time (one to several hours), shut it down to either eat or stop at a shopping center. Get back in and the battery is dead. Get a battery assist and it starts right up. Shut it off and it restarts without problem, until the next time.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a charging problem + an accessory draining your battery.

I know you said that Dodge says that the charging system is okay, but do you have a voltage meter to measure across the battery terminals? It should measure 14.4V when the engine is running.

Then, I would find every RV accessory that is connected to that battery under the hood and disconnect it and test again.
 
Altered Sprinter

Altered Sprinter

Happy Little Vegemite
Seek true or false if the charge drops below 12.2 v I was told the charge stops, some safety thing in the Sprinters electronics:idunno:
Haven't a clue.Not sure if thats meant for single battery's or dual
Richard
 
sikwan

sikwan

06 Tin Can
Altered Sprinter said:
Seek true or false if the charge drops below 12.2 v I was told the charge stops, some safety thing in the Sprinters electronics:idunno:
Click to expand...
:thinking: I don't know.

It would make sense for it to stop charging at 14.4V once the amperage goes down to set threshold current so that the battery is not overcharged, but at 12.2V I would think it'll continue to charge.

Guess, I'll go research. :smirk:
 
Altered Sprinter

Altered Sprinter

Happy Little Vegemite
sikwan said:
:thinking: I don't know.

It would make sense for it to stop charging at 14.4V once the amperage goes down to set threshold current so that the battery is not overcharged, but at 12.2V I would think it'll continue to charge.

Guess, I'll go research. :smirk:
Click to expand...
It was something I saw in the Sprinters Euro specs sheet that stated this for RV body manufactures, but I was curious, that's all
Richard
 
berners

berners

New member
egray said:
My sprinter is a 2005 year but is on an RV chassis and is a 2007. From the first day I purchased the sprinter it has refused to start. I can go for several days with no starting problem then suddenly it will not start. Have been to three different Dodge-Sprinter service facilities and they are unable to identify any electrical problems. Have also been to three RV service centers, including the factory and they can detect no problem. The only comment is that I have a bad battery. I am now on the third battery and the problem still exists. The vehicle starts right up when electrical assist is hooked to the battery.

Typical occurance: Vehicle is driven for a period of time (one to several hours), shut it down to either eat or stop at a shopping center. Get back in and the battery is dead. Get a battery assist and it starts right up. Shut it off and it restarts without problem, until the next time.


My battery is not dead. Alternator has been checked out and Dodge says it is working properly. Does anyone have a similar problem or a good idea what might be happening? Any help will be appreciated. Dodge has been no help at all.
Click to expand...

I just experience the same exact problem on a 2005 and the Dodge dealer said the same as the above quoted post, only they changed the battery....

I hoping that since this post last year has anyone else had the same problem and does anyone know the cause. I replaced the battery and same issue....locally all was fine, even stop to fuel up (shut down the engine) got on the hwy and suddenly after three hours on the interstate pulled into a rest area shut down for ten minutes and DEAD, just a click. Jump started immediately no problems, drove for hours again then shut down and it started right up without a problem. First guess would be a intermitent alternator? No blown fuses found either.

Any opinions would be appreciated.
 
OrioN

OrioN

2008 2500 170" EXT
Yes, it seems it could be an 'intermitent' alternator. The alternator is not supplying sufficeint current when the motor is running and thus the engine is using up the battery to compensate. If it was possible that another component that was 'shorting' or 'consuming power' when the engine was running (turned on by ignition or relay), it would need to use a lot of amps to use up an alternator supply and then eat into the battery....
 
Z

zigzagguzzi

05 Interstate, N. Fl.
Is the house battery fully charged? The connection between it and the coach battery could be defective somehow? zz
 
berners

berners

New member
zigzagguzzi said:
Is the house battery fully charged? The connection between it and the coach battery could be defective somehow? zz
Click to expand...

Yes it was fully charged before the problem occured but it also went dead.
Actually I think it runs down also when this condition occurs but right after jumping the chassis it recharges right back to full. That suggests to me it is fine but when the alternator went bad while driving the seliniod was open to the house battery allowing it to charge normally but that open position allowed the engine to naturally suck power from the chasis battery and the house battery if the alternator is the problem. Only my thoughts???

Michael
 
R

robertmorehead

New member
What is the Battery Separation Device of your conversion. you should be using a "smart Solenoid" that give priority to the chassis battery. The Sprinter chassis if very sensitive to voltage. If your chassis falls below voltage things can go bad. If you have a Isolator there or std solenoid it is conceivable to starve the chassis of voltage if the coach battery is pulling all the juice to recharge. An old school Isolator is not recommended for an externally regulated alternator on the sprinters.

I have seen some conversion with Isolators that have burned out the Altenator.

-robert
www.moreheaddesignlab.com
 
autostaretx

autostaretx

Erratic Member
If you have a ScanGauge, one of the live displays is system voltage.

If the alternator is not working, it will show it by never rising above 12.5 volts.

You could also buy a cheap ($9) many-LED car voltage checkers which just gets plugged into the cigarette lighter socket.
(i have a ScanGauge in my Sprinter, and an LED voltage monitor in my Nissan)

good luck
--dick
 
OrioN

OrioN

2008 2500 170" EXT
It's also possible that the 'controller' is not sensing the voltage correctly or working intermitently, so it's not telling the alternator what to output... i'm not sure how or what our Sprinters use to sense battery, load or alternator output, perhaps someone can point you to which component(s) do this...
 
OrioN

OrioN

2008 2500 170" EXT
robertmorehead said:
What is the Battery Separation Device of your conversion. you should be using a "smart Solenoid" that give priority to the chassis battery. The Sprinter chassis if very sensitive to voltage. If your chassis falls below voltage things can go bad. If you have a Isolator there or std solenoid it is conceivable to starve the chassis of voltage if the coach battery is pulling all the juice to recharge. An old school Isolator is not recommended for an externally regulated alternator on the sprinters.

I have seen some conversion with Isolators that have burned out the Altenator.

-robert
www.moreheaddesignlab.com
Click to expand...
A smart solenoid swithc charges either the 'chassis' battery or the 'chassis' battery & house battery combo at any given time. That is, the alternator is always attached to the 'chassis' battery, and only charges the house with the 'chassis' when the 'chassis' has reached sufficient charge.

If the solenoid was stuck open (when the vehicle is running and regarless of its voltage sensing) and the depleted house battery was sucking dry the 'chassis', this would only occur if the alternator was not keeping up.

Alternately, the battery cables to the solenoid could be reversed by mistake. If this is your situation, remove the cable from the battery to the solenoid, and see if the problem goes away.
 
berners

berners

New member
After the Freightliner tech checked the vehicle it was their opinion it was a bad alternator (intermittent). It was replaced and so far all is well.

Thanks for the relpies.
 
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