2007 SuperNova Batteries

[NewbyRV'r]

I recently inherited a 2007 SuperNova, it is a on a International 4200 chassis, with the VT365 ( 6.0 powerstroke) engine. I have never had or used a RV. I am completely new to this. I am a auto mechanic with over 35 years of experience, many years at Ford dealership during the time this engine was a huge problem for dealers. So I feel even more dumb asking this question.
This truck has been sitting for several years the prior owner fought a long battle with cancer. I am in the process of getting it running again. The batteries are all completely dead. But they also seem to be wrong to me. I have found 4 batteries so far. In a compartment behind the driver area. They seem to be 2 pairs wired in parallel but when I looked closer, I noticed there was no power to the Rv coming from one pair. All power wires from the batteries were attached to one pair, nothing on the other.

My questions are, does this only have 4 batteries total? Or is there another battery bank somewhere else? Is there a separate battery for the Genset? It is an Onan, located in the far rear left side compartment. The batteries in the RV now, are all marine deep cycle. The cheapest I have ever seen, no model number, no company name, just the local Battery warehouse type company selling them sticker. I think they are group 24, that seems small to me.

Which batteries are for the engine? What would have been the house batteries? and what size should they be?

Sorry for the long story, and for what is probably a bunch of very basic questions.

 

[wildtoad]

Those batteries are house batteries, most likely two sets of six volt batteries. Two batteries wired in series to make 12v set, then the two sets wired together in parallel to make a single 12 volt source.

I'm definitely not a battery guy, but I would have thought one set would have a positive wire attached, and the other set would contain the negative. But I could be wrong. It should work if both are on the one set, but not optimal, or so Ive read.

There most likely is a separate starter/chassis battery some where, just where ?????

 

[FreedMeister]

I recently inherited a 2007 SuperNova, it is a on a International 4200 chassis, with the VT365 ( 6.0 powerstroke) engine. I have never had or used a RV. I am completely new to this. I am a auto mechanic with over 35 years of experience, many years at Ford dealership during the time this engine was a huge problem for dealers. So I feel even more dumb asking this question.
This truck has been sitting for several years the prior owner fought a long battle with cancer. I am in the process of getting it running again. The batteries are all completely dead. But they also seem to be wrong to me. I have found 4 batteries so far. In a compartment behind the driver area. They seem to be 2 pairs wired in parallel but when I looked closer, I noticed there was no power to the Rv coming from one pair. All power wires from the batteries were attached to one pair, nothing on the other.

My questions are, does this only have 4 batteries total? Or is there another battery bank somewhere else? Is there a separate battery for the Genset? It is an Onan, located in the far rear left side compartment. The batteries in the RV now, are all marine deep cycle. The cheapest I have ever seen, no model number, no company name, just the local Battery warehouse type company selling them sticker. I think they are group 24, that seems small to me.

Which batteries are for the engine? What would have been the house batteries? and what size should they be?

Sorry for the long story, and for what is probably a bunch of very basic questions.

We have the same year and model. The vt365 is substantially detuned from the Ford and as long as you keep the oil clean and use a good fuel additive with lubricant, you will get good life. I suggest the EGR delete, if allowed in your area, as it keeps a lot of ash from getting into the oil and messing with the injection system. The front set of batteries, usually 2x 12 volts is the engine battery system. The rear set us the house batteries. Often 12 volt batteries as well. The front set are starting batteries and supply the starter, engine, brake, and transmission PCB/computers and the rear are deep cycle and charge from the alternator and the battery charger/converter when plugged in. The engine batteries do NOT charge from the house system and we changed that so there us a trickle charge to them when the rug is on shore power due to several times having dead start batteries after sitting. Trouble spots on these are all electrical with the brake controller being number one, and supply wiring to the engine and it's harness being another weak design. We've redone a lot of wiring. Have fun with it and bleed the brakes!

 

[NewbyRV'r]

We have the same year and model. The vt365 is substantially detuned from the Ford and as long as you keep the oil clean and use a good fuel additive with lubricant, you will get good life. I suggest the EGR delete, if allowed in your area, as it keeps a lot of ash from getting into the oil and messing with the injection system. The front set of batteries, usually 2x 12 volts is the engine battery system. The rear set us the house batteries. Often 12 volt batteries as well. The front set are starting batteries and supply the starter, engine, brake, and transmission PCB/computers and the rear are deep cycle and charge from the alternator and the battery charger/converter when plugged in. The engine batteries do NOT charge from the house system and we changed that so there us a trickle charge to them when the rug is on shore power due to several times having dead start batteries after sitting. Trouble spots on these are all electrical with the brake controller being number one, and supply wiring to the engine and it's harness being another weak design. We've redone a lot of wiring. Have fun with it and bleed the brakes!

Thank you for the reply, that is all good info. Why the extra emphasis on bleeding the brakes? That seems like something specific to say. As a auto mechanic I would not think of bleeding brakes as a maintenance item. Only when some part of the brake system is replaced or a line is opened for some reason.

 

[FreedMeister]

The reason for that emphasis on bleeding/flushing the brakes will be evident when you open up those rear lines that are 30 plus feet long and see what comes out. This model has a complex hydraulic system (instead of a simple air brake system) that uses a large reservoir, several pumps and an expensive set of sensors and controll circuit. All of it is subject to failure and performance is degraded if the fluid is contaminated, and due to the routing and length if the lines, it degrades pretty quickly and likely wasn't serviced often enough previous to you buying it. I would also flush and clean the power steering system and filter. Transmission is another overworked hydraulic system on these rigs.

 

[LTC_R]

We have the same year and model. The vt365 is substantially detuned from the Ford and as long as you keep the oil clean and use a good fuel additive with lubricant, you will get good life. I suggest the EGR delete, if allowed in your area, as it keeps a lot of ash from getting into the oil and messing with the injection system. The front set of batteries, usually 2x 12 volts is the engine battery system. The rear set us the house batteries. Often 12 volt batteries as well. The front set are starting batteries and supply the starter, engine, brake, and transmission PCB/computers and the rear are deep cycle and charge from the alternator and the battery charger/converter when plugged in. The engine batteries do NOT charge from the house system and we changed that so there us a trickle charge to them when the rug is on shore power due to several times having dead start batteries after sitting. Trouble spots on these are all electrical with the brake controller being number one, and supply wiring to the engine and it's harness being another weak design. We've redone a lot of wiring. Have fun with it and bleed the brakes!

On my GS6400, the front 2 batteries are the house, and rear 2 batteries are the Chassis. There is a power distribution box in the same compartment. If you trace the wires, you can see which wires go into that box. That box has a 4 breakers in it and they all feed the House. There is a Intelitec battery Isolator in there as well, that allows the interconnection of the house and coach using the 'Emergency Start' rocker switch on the dash. Years ago, you used to be able to find technical information from GS online, that site is now gone, but I did download some of the stuff as I needed it. Attached is the 12v wire diagram that is accurate for my 6400. Image 3838, is a photo of my battery box, looking forward, the 2 batteries you see are the house, and you can see the distribution box in the upper right of the photo. The fullsizerender photo is of the distro box with the cover removed. I have more photos, due to trying to track down an electrical gremlin, that self-resolved, let me know if you need more assistance. Hope this helps.

 

[THenne1713]

I recently inherited a 2007 SuperNova, it is a on a International 4200 chassis, with the VT365 ( 6.0 powerstroke) engine. I have never had or used a RV. I am completely new to this. I am a auto mechanic with over 35 years of experience, many years at Ford dealership during the time this engine was a huge problem for dealers. So I feel even more dumb asking this question.
This truck has been sitting for several years the prior owner fought a long battle with cancer. I am in the process of getting it running again. The batteries are all completely dead. But they also seem to be wrong to me. I have found 4 batteries so far. In a compartment behind the driver area. They seem to be 2 pairs wired in parallel but when I looked closer, I noticed there was no power to the Rv coming from one pair. All power wires from the batteries were attached to one pair, nothing on the other.

My questions are, does this only have 4 batteries total? Or is there another battery bank somewhere else? Is there a separate battery for the Genset? It is an Onan, located in the far rear left side compartment. The batteries in the RV now, are all marine deep cycle. The cheapest I have ever seen, no model number, no company name, just the local Battery warehouse type company selling them sticker. I think they are group 24, that seems small to me.

Which batteries are for the engine? What would have been the house batteries? and what size should they be?

Sorry for the long story, and for what is probably a bunch of very basic questions.

Sounds like all maybe coach only? Two disconnected maybe bad? If you plan to mostly use while plugged in, often full battery bank not needed? Coach bank usually feeds GEN. Engine battery/ ies maybe somewhere else? But also possible disconnected was for the engine? Do you have stray cables? Coach bank can BOOST engine, or visa versa.