Battery Problems

jc21

Member
Hi bought a Sundance 24rl 5th wheel in Feb 2009, had some minor warranty issues which have been sorted. The company doing the warranty work had to replace the battery at a cost of $105. Heartland declined to pay for the new battery.
The 5th wheel has only been used twice for a total of 7 weeks covering a total of 2,000 miles.

Is this normal wear and tear and should I budget for changing the battery every 2,000.
 

Nabo

Southeast Region Director-Retired
Sorry to hear about your problem. I wouldn't think that replacing the battery after such a short time is the norm unless there is a short somewhere grounding it out. Our rig was manufactured in Nov '07 and it still has the original battery. Hum sorry but no help here.
 

cookie

Administrator
Staff member
jc21, I'm not sure, but I do not think that the battery was supplied by Heartland. I believe that is something your dealer put in. And no mater who put the battery in it should have some sort of mfg's warranty.

Peace
Dave
 

jimtoo

Moderator
I "think" I am correct here but... Heartland does not supply the battery, your dealer does.. regardless of who supplied the battery, the brand should have been on the battery and the dealer and, or manufacture of the battery should have made some kind of adjustment based on age. Normal battery warranty is 12 months, no charge. After 12 months is based on quality of battery purchased, 24, 36, 48 month warranty and prorated accordingly. It is very rare for a battery to fail in less than 2 years, unless you have left something turned on and draining the battery, which is not the batteries fault.

I think who ever did your work was lazy and wanted to make an extra dollar.

Also,,, just for public information... if you have, or know someone that uses a battery powered wheel chair or scooter. A lot of times these get left in the on position... then the battery goes dead... call service..Service says "needs new batteries,,, about 100 to 200 bucks." Not true.... the charger that comes with the cart or chair usually will not recharge a totally dead battery.... but,,,if you take one of the little 12volt chargers (normally what the batteries are) that puts out 6 to 12 amps "and not the 400 to 500 milamps" charger that came with the chair or scooter, hook directly to batteries it will bring them back up to operating condition where after a couple of hours you could hook back up to the regular charger that came with the unit and recharge the battery. As an addition, this is for the gel-cel batteries that normally are in the wheelchairs or carts, they are hard to kick off when totally discharged.

I know from experience... my Mother was in a chair for 8 years,,, had my FIL in a cart for about 2 years.... This may not work all the time, but most of the time it does...

Also if your not familiar with 12 volt batteries or chargers and how to remove them from a chair or cart, or how to hook a battery to a charger, do not do it, there is always the potiental of fire or explosion if hooked up wrong.
 
Last edited:

jbeletti

Well-known member
Heartland supplies 1 battery with Landmark. For the 2011 model year, we now also supply one battery with Bighorn and Cyclone, as they both come standard with Hydraulic Landing Gear.

Jim
 

superduty08

Tennessee Chapter Leaders
My dealer supplied the battery in my BH. It was a no name rebuilt unit and discharged very fast. It lasted less than a year and the dealer allowed me a $50 reimbursement when I replaced it with a much better new battery while out of town camping. The dealer trys to get by as cheap as they can.
 

jc21

Member
Hi all
Thanks for your suggestions. I will be picking up the 5th wheel and truck in about 3 weeks time, I will ask the mechanic about the battery and whether there could be a warranty with the battery.

During our travels we only used to hook up and the battery use was very little, however we did have some problems with the battery being discharged on one occassion.

If the dealer used an inferior battery at least we have replaced it with a better quality battery for which the mechanic will stand over.

Thanks for your help
 

Cyncwby

Active Member
If your rig sits for an extended period of time the battery can sulfate and go dead. You need to keep a "Battery Tender" or the like hooked up to it. It is only something like .75 amps, not a charger but a maintainer.
 

jayc

Texas-South Chapter Leaders
In my other life-when I was working-I tried the delivering RV's job for a couple of months. Most of the trailers that I delivered did not come with a battery either, and let me tell you, those trailers that had separate landing gear motors for each side would really give you a workout with the old crank handle.
 
Top