Atlas Chassis Battery Woes - Storage Compartment Problems

[Clay_Statue]

SO my storage compartments along the skirt of the Atlas have been unresponsive to the clicker. This meant they were permanently unlocked. I think this is symptomatic of the greater issue, which is the chassis battery having a parasitic charge being drawn. Something I've long suspected but recently confirmed from combing these forums.

Does the chassis battery *NOT CHARGE* when connected to shore power?! I swear it went flat even though it was plugged in. As a result I've been plugging a battery tender to the chassis battery in addition to plugging into shore power.

Recently I was forced to park for an extended time (six weeks) in a location that received lots of sun, but didn't have access to shore power. I was hoping the roof solar would keep everything alright. Well the house battery survived pretty well with the solar keeping it within parameters, but the chassis battery finally gave up the guts entirely. *DOES SOLAR NOT CHARGE THE CHASSIS BATTERY?!*

Unfortunately the chassis battery was flat and I had to use a battery booster in addition to pressing the button on the dash to draw current from the house battery to get it started.

After getting it started I sent it for an Airstream to fix the storage compartments being unresponsive and they said they fixed it. They didn't address the chassis battery issue and I had to boost it similarly to get off the lot. Foolishly I trusted them and drove off, but then as I was filling with diesel I checked and all the storage compartments were all still unresponsive to the clicker.

I called them back and they said they would look at it again. This time I changed the chassis battery with an AGM just to be able to start the vehicle reliably, also I was pretty certain the low chassis voltage was responsible for these electrical gremlins with the storage compartments not responding to the clicker. *WHY DON'T THEY HAVE A MANUAL OVERRIDE!?*

Well I took it back to Airstream a week later with a fresh chassis battery hopeful that would solve things and they said the problem was with the Mercedes Power Service Module (PSM) and that a Mercedes tech needed to look at it.

So then I took it Mercedes and they say I need a new PSM for $2065!

Anyways I wanted to catalogue these issues in the forum here so that anybody running into similar problems can find solace and comfort in our shared misery with the Atlas chassis electric issues.

I absolutely loathe the Fusion entertainment system with a passion now. I never even use it and it's been nothing but a headache from day one, sabotaging my pleasure and enjoyment of my motorhome.

How can Airstream design something as expensive as this Atlas motorhome and ship it as a finished product with a parasitic draw on the chassis battery!! A parasitic draw on the chassis battery is possibly one of the worst design bugs you could have on a motorhome.

Can anybody direct me to a thread that details how to install a cutoff switch for the fusion entertainment system? I'd rip the bastard out except it would leave a gaping hole in my dashboard and hurt the resale value for people who value such things.

[Hawk-ination]

More than likely, no, the chassis battery does not charge when connected to shore power. Like 99.9 percent sure no. We own an Interstate, not an Atlas, but highly doubt this would ever be the case with either. You have to remember that ECMs (vehicle computers) are fussy to voltages and such. It would probably be very sketchy to tie one system into the other for charging purposes on the chassis side.

Just FYI, there’s been many Airstream owners and RV owners in general that depend on solar to keep their batteries charged who end up running their batteries low on charge and fry a good set of AGM house batteries. It’s something dealers and our manuals don’t explain for obvious reasons.

It’s best to make sure you are plugged into a trickle charger on the chassis side, and plug in your house batteries when letting your Atlas sit for any amount of time unless you want to risk having to replace either sets of batteries.

You might check into whether your MB needs to have a computer memory store unit when you change out your chassis battery. Might save you some headache if need be again.

[SaltyDogs10]

This thread has been really helpful. I keep my Atlas in a garage and normally connected to shore power when in storage for more than 2 weeks. However, I notice if it sits for 3-4 weeks it has a really hard time starting. I have to use the button as well to pull from the house battery.

Sounds like I need to have a trickle charger on the chassis battery? If so, any recommendations on a good one for this type of coach?

[Cfk3]

[QUOTE=Clay_Statue;2577911]SO my storage compartments along the skirt of the Atlas have been unresponsive to the clicker. This meant they were permanently unlocked. I think Asthis is symptomatic of the greater issue, which is the chassis battery having a parasitic charge being drawn. Something I've long suspected but recently confirmed from combing these forums.

Does the chassis battery *NOT CHARGE* when connected to shore power?! I swear it went flat even though it was plugged in. As a result I've been plugging a battery tender to the chassis battery in addition to plugging into shore power.

Recently I was forced to park for an extended time (six weeks) in a location that received lots of sun, but didn't have access to shore power. I was hoping the roof solar would keep everything alright. Well the house battery survived pretty well with the solar keeping it within parameters, but the chassis battery finally gave up the guts entirely. *DOES SOLAR NOT CHARGE THE CHASSIS BATTERY?!*

Unfortunately the chassis battery was flat and I had to use a battery booster in addition to pressing the button on the dash to draw current from the house battery to get it started.

After getting it started I sent it for an Airstream to fix the storage compartments being unresponsive and they said they fixed it. They didn't address the chassis battery issue and I had to boost it similarly to get off the lot. Foolishly I trusted them and drove off, but then as I was filling with diesel I checked and all the storage compartments were all still unresponsive to the clicker.

I called them back and they said they would look at it again. This time I changed the chassis battery with an AGM just to be able to start the vehicle reliably, also I was pretty certain the low chassis voltage was responsible for these electrical gremlins with the storage compartments not responding to the clicker. *WHY DON'T THEY HAVE A MANUAL OVERRIDE!?*

Well I took it back to Airstream a week later with a fresh chassis battery hopeful that would solve things and they said the problem was with the Mercedes Power Service Module (PSM) and that a Mercedes tech needed to look at it.

So then I took it Mercedes and they say I need a new PSM for $2065!

Anyways I wanted to catalogue these issues in the forum here so that anybody running into similar problems can find solace and comfort in our shared misery with the Atlas chassis electric issues.

I absolutely loathe the Fusion entertainment system with a passion now. I never even use it and it's been nothing but a headache from day one, sabotaging my pleasure and enjoyment of my motorhome.

How can Airstream design something as expensive as this Atlas motorhome and ship it as a finished product with a parasitic draw on the chassis battery!! A parasitic draw on the chassis battery is possibly one of the worst design bugs you could have on a motorhome.

Can anybody direct me to a thread that details how to install a cutoff switch for the fusion entertainment system? I'd rip the bastard out except it would leave a gaping hole in my dashboard and hurt the resale value for people who value such things.[/QUO


SAME PROBLEMS ….no help from airstream

[trance]

Do you think the fusion entertainment system is the parasitic draw on the chassis battery? We always double check to make sure it is turned off but sometimes we get in later to find out it is on.

[Clay_Statue]

Originally Posted by trance

Do you think the fusion entertainment system is the parasitic draw on the chassis battery? We always double check to make sure it is turned off but sometimes we get in later to find out it is on.

I have it on authority from Airstream that when the keys are in the cabin the Fusion entertainment system is on some sort of "standby" that draws power.

If you are RV'ing then your keys are basically constantly in the vehicle which means you have a 24/7 parasitic draw from the Fusion entertainment system (which I vehemently hate with a passion) and there is no way to disable it.

[dmark1]

I have a 2022 Atlas that has the same issues with parasitic draw in the chassis (Mercedes) side,,,. The problem is precisely what is discussed above. The key sends a signal every few seconds to the internal software for whatever reason. If you leave it in the vehicle it will draw the battery down over a few weeks. The reason I know this is I have owned several SL55 Mercedes that have the same problem.

When you leave the vehicle in storage take the key with you.

It has nothing to do with the Fusion Entertainment system…by the way why all the hate on it?

[Mary Van]

I feel your pain! I recently purchased a new battery for the chassis hoping it would take care of the issues I’ve been having with the power drain on the chassis battery.

I thought it was the fusion radio draining the battery because it never would completely turn off. I too despise the fusion.

I followed a YouTube video and disconnected the wiring to keep it from constantly staying on. The fusion did not work anyway, replaced speakers 4 times because of a crackling noise. Very disappointed in the Fusion. After 2 new Fusion installations and several attempts to fix the issues, Airstream’s solution was to install an aftermarket radio since they were unable to fix it. Crazy how I bought some thing that never worked and it’s my problem.

Unfortunately, my battery continues to lose voltage and within 4 to 5 days I have to do a long drive to recharge the battery. I’m really not even sure that helped much because I drove from Dallas to Austin and back within one day and my battery was at 12.1 three days later. It was at 11.9 before I left for Austin, which is why I drove my RV instead of my truck. Does anyone know what the danger zone is on this battery?

I have noticed the stabilizing unit on the air suspension takes a while to level and drops my power several volts.
I have also noticed that running the water Also drops my battery level.

it is a gradual discharge on my chassis battery. I’ll check a few more things before I spend the $2500 – it’s probably $3500 now. I’m wondering if keeping a trickle charge on the chassis battery will help.

if anyone has any other suggestions, I’d love to hear them!

[Mary Van]

Your Fusion must work otherwise you would know what we’re talking about.

[Clay_Statue]

So after a few years with this vehicle I've decided that I'm going to rip out the stock inverter house battery and just replace it all with victron lithium system. The standard electrical system is poorly implemented and the house batteries are woefully under powered. The victron inverter has a connection to trickle charge the chassis so that's going to be "always on" when it's plugged or through solar and I never need to worry about hooking up a separate trickle charger under the hood.

For a vehicle of this value there should be a low voltage battery shutoff for the chassis battery, it's a marginal cost and EVERY SINGLE RV has some version of this problem of going dead when sitting. Despite it being a common frustration nobody implements an obvious an inexpensive solution stock from the dealer.

The value of the Atlas is the shell, chassis, and interior design. All the other technical details are poorly implemented or badly designed. I have never ever had any meaningful resolution from dealer servicing. The wait takes forever and the unit always comes back with the issues unresolved so you need to send it back again and again and again until you feel insane.

Nothing will be fixed or resolved from the dealer, you need to study the technical schematics and basically become like ship's engineer to keep the thing functioning normally. Get used to workarounds.

I installed a simple push switch on the electrical cabinet next to the door to lock/unlock the skirt compartments. It's vastly superior to using the clicker because it's always in the same place and you don't need to hunt for your keys to lock the skirt. Also I won't need to go to mother Mercedes for a $2000 PSM replacement to make the clicker activate the skirt compartments. My push button workaround cost maybe $20 and is actually more convenient overall.

While I'm riding the gripe train I want to point out the ceiling skylight broke almost immediately so it wouldn't open. Warranty repair, worked for a minute and immediately broke again. The skylight is garbage that is designed to fail. Instead of a janky switch and a motor a simple hand crank would have made it at least functional. At least it doesn't let in water.

Also touchscreens are poison. They are difficult to troubleshoot or repair. Rocker switches are easier to diagnose, test, and replace on your own but don't appear "fancy". I really cannot wait for this moronic "touchscreen = luxury" mentality to go away because it is dumb and false.

You need to be a DIY wizard to own one of these things and get any level of functional usage out of it or else it'll basically just live on the service lot and drain your money.

The whole point of "buying new" is to avoid all this hassle and bullshit. For my money I'd rather buy used and save so that when all these bullshit problems happen you don't feel exploited and abused having to fix them yourself because you expect some amount of trouble from a used RV. Having all these issues from a top-shelf brand new RV is heartbreaking. The Atlas is a heart breaker from day one and you need to wrestle it into submission to get basic stock functionality from it.

We bought he first Atlas available in Western Canada as soon as it was approved for sale by Transport Canada so buying used wasn't ever really an option for us.

[Mary Van]

Originally Posted by Clay_Statue

So after a few years with this vehicle I've decided that I'm going to rip out the stock inverter house battery and just replace it all with victron lithium system. The standard electrical system is poorly implemented and the house batteries are woefully under powered. The victron inverter has a connection to trickle charge the chassis so that's going to be "always on" when it's plugged or through solar and I never need to worry about hooking up a separate trickle charger under the hood.

For a vehicle of this value there should be a low voltage battery shutoff for the chassis battery, it's a marginal cost and EVERY SINGLE RV has some version of this problem of going dead when sitting. Despite it being a common frustration nobody implements an obvious an inexpensive solution stock from the dealer.

The value of the Atlas is the shell, chassis, and interior design. All the other technical details are poorly implemented or badly designed. I have never ever had any meaningful resolution from dealer servicing. The wait takes forever and the unit always comes back with the issues unresolved so you need to send it back again and again and again until you feel insane.

Nothing will be fixed or resolved from the dealer, you need to study the technical schematics and basically become like ship's engineer to keep the thing functioning normally. Get used to workarounds.

I installed a simple push switch on the electrical cabinet next to the door to lock/unlock the skirt compartments. It's vastly superior to using the clicker because it's always in the same place and you don't need to hunt for your keys to lock the skirt. Also I won't need to go to mother Mercedes for a $2000 PSM replacement to make the clicker activate the skirt compartments. My push button workaround cost maybe $20 and is actually more convenient overall.

While I'm riding the gripe train I want to point out the ceiling skylight broke almost immediately so it wouldn't open. Warranty repair, worked for a minute and immediately broke again. The skylight is garbage that is designed to fail. Instead of a janky switch and a motor a simple hand crank would have made it at least more functional.

Also touchscreens are poison. They are difficult to troubleshoot or repair. Rocker switches are easier to diagnose, test, and replace on your own but don't appear "fancy". I really cannot wait for this moronic "touchscreen = luxury" mentality to go away because it is dumb and false.

You need to be a DIY wizard to own one of these things and get any level of functional usage out of it or else it'll basically just live on the service lot and drain your money.

The whole point of "buying new" is to avoid all this hassle and bullshit. For my money I'd rather buy used and save so that when all these bullshit problems happen you don't feel exploited and abused having to fix them yourself because you expect some amount of trouble from a used RV. Having all these issues from a top-shelf brand new RV is heartbreaking. The Atlas is a heart breaker from day one and you need to wrestle it into submission to get basic stock functionality from it.

We bought he first Atlas available in Western Canada as soon as it was approved for sale by Transport Canada so buying used wasn't ever really an option for us.

CLAY-

Thank you for your reply! So many comments II should’ve said along time ago.but I didn’t want to be the “hater”. Well said! I have been quiet about all of the issues I have had. Many are the same ones you have experienced.

I installed 2-500 AH GoPower lithium batteries . I started with one battery, 3 year later installed the second. I’ve got plenty of solar power for my needs.. GoPower has great customer support! It was a huge learning curve for me!

I appreciate the “fixes” you have made along the way, I will incorporate some of those myself.

I reached out to my son about the issues I was having with the house battery and he told me there was an inexpensive fix that would allow my chassis battery to recharge from my house battery. I’ve written that down and filed it away for later use. I’ll put it in the thread when I’m done traveling this week.

Another thing I’ve learned the hard way, don’t lose your key(s)! Mercedes won’t sell you a key unless you are towed to a Mercedes dealership. It has been an extremely expensive lesson for me. The towing company damaged the back of my RV when they lifted it onto their tow truck. Mercedes will also only make one key at a time. It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard! If I lose this key, I have to do the same thing all over again… It makes no sense!

I’m thankful for YouTube videos and the people that share what they’ve learned! I am not a technical person, but I have learned how to do so many things myself. Unfortunately, there’s only so many things I can DIY But I continued to learn.

What was your fix on the Infusion? I still have mine disconnected.

Have you had any issues with the airbag stabilizers? I can’t seem to find any good information to research. I had new ones installed last year. The company who installed them has been extremely helpful with my questions, but I just like to have a better understanding of the remote system! The videos I have seen have been in a foreign language. If you know of a good video or piece of literature, please let me know.

One more thing - since you’re listening, The water display is not showing water levels any longer. Any idea what may have cause this? This happened about a month ago. It hasn’t been a priority because I wasn’t traveling. I’m about to take a big trip. I’ll start my research. It comes on occasionally, it’s very random.

Thanks for venting your RV issues! I thought I was the only one having these crazy issues. I really appreciate you sharing your fixes!

[Clay_Statue]

Hi Mary,

I need to make a youtube video showing how to do the aftermarket push button skirt compartment lock/unlock. It's not that difficult once you know but it took me forever to figure out which wires were the ones controlling the signal to the locks.

No problems with my suspension airbags so far. Pretty much the only thing that hasn't been an issue are all the stock Mercedes stuff. They cannot level left/right only up/down the bum of the vehicle. Sometimes you get a weird alarm when you lock it at a certain height and drive the vehicle. It sounds different than the alarm from the touch screen system above the passenger's head. That means I forgot to release the airbags back into "travel" mode or whatever it is.

Pre-covid going through Arizona in the winter we got chased out of the Grand Canyon by snowstorms. That trip the propane heater kept blowing 5 amp fuses non-stop. Over and over... it was infuriating. Probably hit every autoparts store along the way searching for five amp blade fuses. Then it never happened again. Didn't do anything to remedy anything. It just stopped doing that. These type of "ghost in the machine" issues are very difficult because it's a real head-scratcher why these problems come and go.

The propane diverter to attach a BBQ has never worked. Never been able to power a stove or BBQ from the onboard propane tanks.

The macerator pump quit working near San Diego on us at one point. I think it activated from a bump in the road and burned itself out while we we are driving. Then we got it replaced at the dealer and it still didn't work even though it was a new part. I had to crawl underneath and reinstall it because they put it on backwards since the pump didn't fit the space available under the chassis. By turning it backward it technically fit, but wouldn't pump because the intake port was blocked. So I had to "hack" the pump and do a DIY retrofit and reinstall it myself.

One of the stabjacks seized (fortunately in the up position) and this would throw off an alarm code making it necessary to get up and silence the damn buzzer every time we turned on the vehicle. A repeated and irritating chore.

The big slab of a bathroom door whangs back and forth on the track when driving. The little tiny slider they give you to "secure" it is laughable and ineffective. I just take one side of the door off the slider track before moving so the door is rooted and not banging all over.

Last trip the generator fuse kept blowing. It is conveniently located basically under the middle of the vehicle tucked up behind the slide-out house battery compartment. Those fuses are marine terminal fuses and not easy to get in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately we were going down the West Coast so we had to continually stop at marine supply stores wherever there was a town with a fishing fleet searching for these specific fuses. However replacing it meant rolling the vehicle up onto blocks, crawling on my back underneath with the frame inches above my face and undoing the thick battery cable on the terminal and replacing the fuse, extricating myself, get the vehicle off the block, and I'm on my way. Looking for paved areas to do it during wet weather was a priority. I have maybe a dozen blown fuses as a reminder. By the end of the trip I could swap the fuse in maybe five minutes. Something that was originally a 15-20 minute ordeal.

I still don't know why the genset fuse flows sometimes and not other times. It's for the starter motor. The dealers solution was "change the fuse" which is obviously not a solution at all.