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coder · 02-24-2016, 12:59 PM

You may remember from postings last year that I am having so much trouble with my Airstream Interstate that it qualifies as a Lemon under my state’s Motor Home Lemon Law. In Washington state, the Lemon Law was enacted to help new motor home owners who have substantial continuing problems with warranty repairs, as I have had.

It’s been a long, slow, unpleasant process, and it’s still dragging on. The Interstate was with the dealer for two weeks in November, to diagnose and fix a number of things. The repairs then were not successful, so I put Airstream on notice in a letter in November that I would be using the Lemon Law.

My local dealer applied SB-164 to my Interstate on January 19, and I had brand new Lifeline batteries installed. Airstream hoped SB-164 would fix the persistent battery draw my van experiences while parked unplugged.

It didn’t. I parked the van on January 21st, with the batteries fully soaked to 12.8V. After 12 days, the batteries were down to 12.5V. On February 3, I charged the batteries for 9 hours on 110V, back up to 12.8V. On February 19, two weeks later, the batteries were again down to 12.3V or 12.4V. That’s losing 25% or more in 2 weeks. So, the truck still cannot be parked for more than a month without damaging its batteries.

I am well and truly screwed, and so discouraged. If I do anything to change the truck, such as adding my own battery disconnect, I literally lose the protection of the Lemon Law. I can pull my batteries out and pull the wires off with a wrench whenever I park the truck. Anyone who’s done that can tell you what a hassle it is, and I’m always afraid I’ll leave something hanging wrong and start a fire after I’ve left.

I’m going to have to take the truck to a marine or RV electrical specialist and have the entire electrical system checked out and fixed. It’s going to be expensive, and it’ll void my Airstream warranty and screw me on the Lemon Law, but the Airstream warranty is worthless (they haven’t been able to fix anything so far) and at least I’ll have a working truck at last.

I loved my Airstream trailer. This truck, not so much.

gmillerok1 · 02-24-2016, 01:13 PM

The reason it draws current is because there are devices that use power if left on even with the battery disconnect in the off mode. What these may be are hard to ascertain. One could be the propane solenoid. If you leave that in the On mode, it will certainly drain the batteries in two weeks. I believe the carbon monoxide detector may also be hard wired and draws power. If the inverter is on, it will also drain the batteries.

It's an easy fix. Just rewire every positive lead from the house batteries so it can be disconnected. No more draw.

If that's your only problem with a new Interstate, count yourself lucky.

coder · 02-24-2016, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmillerok1

The reason it draws current is because there are devices that use power if left on even with the battery disconnect in the off mode.

The propane solenoid is disconnected when the house battery disconnect switch is set to OFF, or it should be. The carbon monoxide detector draw is tiny, or it should be. I'm not leaving the Inverter set to Invert. I even switch the Inverter to SEARCH OFF, fat lot of good it does. I and others have counted up all the devices that should be running and how much they should use. I should be able to park the truck for a couple of months with no problem, and the Airsteam owner's manual explicitly states as much. The truck has been serviced 5? times now to try and fix the battery drain.

And, the battery draw is not my only problem with this 2014.5 Interstate.

markdoane · 02-24-2016, 01:34 PM

Give us the details of the Washington Lemon Law - do they need to buy it back? Depreciation? I hope you get this resolved.

gmillerok1 · 02-24-2016, 01:38 PM

Should be is the key. I've learned that how things should be, and are, in an Interstate, are not necessarily one and the same. There could be many suspects in your case causing the issue.

coder · 02-24-2016, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markdoane

Give us the details of the Washington Lemon Law - do they need to buy it back? Depreciation? I hope you get this resolved.

Yes, if they cannot fix the Interstate, Airstream gets to buy it back for what I paid originally. It's a long, slow, unpleasant process. Working with Airstream on repairs has been pointless and aggravating.

http://www.atg.wa.gov/motor-home-lemon-law

coder · 02-24-2016, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmillerok1

Should be is the key. I've learned that how things should be, and are, in an Interstate, are not necessarily one and the same. There could be many suspects in your case causing the issue.

Airstream has had plenty of time and chances to figure out what's wrong. The nice thing about living in a state with an actual Motor Home Lemon Law is I don't have to argue about how many times I have to send the truck in to be repaired before I can officially say they are not able to fix it. It's set by the law.

switz · 02-24-2016, 01:53 PM

Not many states have a lemon law for RVs. That is the ultimate consumer weapon we all should have access to when all else fails.

SeeMore · 02-24-2016, 02:29 PM

coder - may this be your problem?

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f240...ml#post1753974

ROBERT CROSS · 02-24-2016, 03:13 PM

Ok I admit...I'm 'lectric challenged, but is .3v in 10 days/.5v in 14 all that bad?
A lot of stuff never sleeps on todays vehicles.

Bob

coder · 02-24-2016, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeeMore

coder - may this be your problem?

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f240...ml#post1753974

That's my post. In November, when Service Bulletin SB-164 was released, there was a discussion here in the forums whether this service would fix the battery drain problem. Many of us hoped it would. I'm more than 30 days past the service, and my truck's batteries are still draining. My problems with the Interstate go beyond the battery drain, though.

InterBlog · 02-24-2016, 04:13 PM

Sorry for your troubles. I was hoping they would find the problem both for your sake and also because the rest of the ownership community would certainly benefit from the knowledge. It's a troubling issue because of the immediate hardship it places on owners, but the thing I worry about is what might be next down the pike because of it. Today it's an unexplained parasitic draw, but might it also be associated with unknown future sequelae as the vehicle ages? Not a pleasant thought.

coder · 02-24-2016, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

Ok I admit...I'm 'lectric challenged, but is .3v in 10 days/.5v in 14 all that bad?

Yeah, a half volt in two weeks is bad. That's almost half the bank's capacity, just sitting around doing nothing.

The Interstate includes Lifeline batteries. Voltage is a good, quick indication of state-of-charge. For Lifelines at 77F,

12.8V is full
12.5 is 75%
12.2 is 50%

Voltages at 40F might be a tenth lower. Dropping to 12.3V is losing a a huge amount of energy in two weeks, enough to damage the batteries before the end of a month. Did I mention that the solar controller reported 40 Ah added during that month?

According to my owner's manual, that's broken.

Boxster1971 · 02-25-2016, 12:55 PM

The sad truth is an Interstate (2012-2014) by design must stay plugged in to keep the batteries charged when left parked - even for just a few days. Some parasitic drains remain even with the disconnect turned off. The poor solar charging system just will not keep the batteries topped of in real world conditions.

The addition of SB-164 stops the Magnum Inverter/Charger parasitic drain, but the Kenwood radio standby drain remains. I understand why Airstream wired the Kenwood that way. After rewiring my van and adding a total disconnect switch I realized the Kenwood enters the setup mode if totally disconnected from 12v power. It retains the settings in memory, but it's a minor inconvenience to have to go through the setup screen to get the radio functions back.

I like the layout, utility and interior styling of my Interstate. I didn't like the electrical system design so I changed it to better suit my needs. With 400 watts of PV solar panels and a Blue Sky MPPT controller, combined with a 440AH battery upgrade my Interstate is now a go anywhere, stay anywhere camper that can also haul 6 people when needed.

- - Mike
2013 Lounge EXT on 2012 Sprinter

lewster · 02-25-2016, 01:05 PM

Simple fix with Blue Sea Systems 300 amp marine disconnect switch on the positive battery cable.

Plus, if your Lifelines have already been compromised, they won't hold charge regardless of what you do to them....... Short of Lifelines' recommended conditioning charge.

Lew Farber
RVIA/RVDA Nationally Certified Master Tech
ABYC Certified Master Marine Electrician
Master Tech Energy Systems, Inc.
AM Solar Certified Installation Center*AMS Lithium Batteries
Lifeline AGM Batteries**Magnum Inverters
541-490-6357

UKDUDE · 02-25-2016, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boxster1971

With 400 watts of PV solar panels and a Blue Sky MPPT controller, combined with a 440AH battery upgrade my Interstate is now a go anywhere, stay anywhere camper that can also haul 6 people when needed.

440AH of battery????? Wow, which batteries and where? And are your front wheels off the ground sometimes?
I'm planning on getting Lew to upgrade me to 300AH; I'd love to have 440 but I wouldn't want to risk him getting a hernia!

gmillerok1 · 02-25-2016, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UKDUDE

440AH of battery????? Wow, which batteries and where? And are your front wheels off the ground sometimes?
I'm planning on getting Lew to upgrade me to 300AH; I'd love to have 440 but I wouldn't want to risk him getting a hernia!

Better yet, where the heck did he hang 400watts of solar! There must be one trailing behind... .

I can't see how more than three could go up there. Any photos?

tjdonahoe · 02-25-2016, 05:42 PM

Batt disconnect or remove the negative battery cables, all newer vehicles have parasite draws, my sisters honda sits 4 days, it won't start, so many electrical draws...

switz · 02-25-2016, 05:57 PM

We got creative with cardboard cut outs the size of the solar panels to try various positions for the panels. We removed the factory Winegard crackup antenna and replaced it with their Rayzar automatic antenna. That freed up an additional space so we were able to put five AM Solar GS-100 100 watt panels on the roof of our 2015 23D. Those panels are nominally about 20" x 40". The lithium battery can come in four 3.2 Vdc pieces with the total number of cells needed (i.e. each 3.2 Vdc cell is 100 amp-hours).

So for our 600 amp-hour battery, we had four 3.2 Vdc pieces with six cells for a total of 42 pounds per group. The assembled battery is now 168 pounds under the front sofa of the Classic.

The 300 amp hour lithium came fully assembled at 84 pounds and was the limit of my lifting abilities now. A 400 amp-hour lithium would weigh 112 pounds.

Boxster1971 · 02-25-2016, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UKDUDE

440AH of battery????? Wow, which batteries and where? And are your front wheels off the ground sometimes?

I'm planning on getting Lew to upgrade me to 300AH; I'd love to have 440 but I wouldn't want to risk him getting a hernia!

I hung four Lifeline 6v GPL-4CTs behind the rear wheels. They are 64 lbs each and about the limit I can handle. I'll have to switch my iPhone for pictures.

Edit - pictures in next post.

- - Mike
2013 Lounge EXT on 2012 Sprinter