Interstate 19 no power in back

[Interstate D]

The power in my Interstate 19 is gone. Nothing works even when plugged into external power. I found the battery for the engine dead and jumped it to restart it. The car drives fine but nothing except for the door step works in the back. When I plug it into external power only the inverter shows any life and it says fault. Any ideas where to start? I checked the GFI, breakers and fuses and didn't find any issues.

[Pahaska]

You may need to put a charger on the coach batteries. If these batteries are dead, the Magnum will not pick up and charge them from the external hookup. The battery manager that Airstream installs is a very poor piece of equipment and may very well be not passing the charge from your generator to the 12v system in the rear if the coach batteries are too low.

[Interstate D]

Thank you for the help. I thought that might be the case. I'll give it a try. Can you tell me where the charge access is to the house batteries? I'll review the manual too.

[Pahaska]

Originally Posted by Interstate D

Thank you for the help. I thought that might be the case. I'll give it a try. Can you tell me where the charge access is to the house batteries? I'll review the manual too.

Pretty much need to hook to the batteries themselves. Kind of tight there under the coach.

[Idaho Kiwis]

Wondered if Interstate D’s power issues were solved by forum suggestion to place battery charger directly on battery terminals? I am new to this forum, and found this thread when searching for possible solutions to a similar problem with my 2019 Interstate Lounge: i.e., no power to any of MH chassis features even when plugged into shore power. Only the microwave light comes on - no other 12volt supplied function works. Checked main power supply switch and breakers but nothing abnormal found. Wouldn’t the engine charge the leisure batteries while engine is running, if depleted batteries are the issue? Is there another main circuit breaker that I am missing? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Interstate D]

It appeared when I attempted to directly charge the old batteries that they had been drained beyond the point where they could be recharged so I decided to bite the bullet and buy new ones. They direct charged fine and everything works great now. The biggest issue I have noticed is the drain from the refrigerator when it is left on. Does anyone know of a solution for this?

[Lily&Me]

If your refrigerator runs off your battery when not plugged into electric, that is a notorious and oft-complained of issue with these larger frig/freezer units that don’t also run off propane.

Some have replaced with lithium batteries to help with this.

Maggie

[Idaho Kiwis]

Thanks, Interstate D, for the followup. As indicated in my earlier post, we are having similar power issues with our 2019 Interstate Lounge and may have to replace our leisure batteries if direct charging is also ineffective at correcting the problem. I will update this string if we discover alternate solution.

[Vacayourway1]

You can recharge AGM batteries if there completely dead I’ve done it several times, a friend of mine that’s own golf cart shop showed me years ago how they take supposedly dead batteries and recharge them. First you need to take a known good 12v battery and hook the battery charger to it and jumper cables from the good battery to the bad AGM battery, the charger will keep charging because it see’s a good battery. Another way is to have a old charger that doesn’t have all the smart sensor installed.

[Interstate D]

Thank you for the great battery charging hack. I hope I can remember that next time I need it.

[PNWnChill]

Watch that disconnect switch just inside the side door. If it gets bumped, it can cause some headaches like you have described