New Airstream, Old Batteries

[PDX007]

Just thought I'd add our 2¢ to things to check when taking delivery. When we picked up our 2017 25' Serenity International the house batteries were over 7 years old... not sure how batteries from 2011 make it into a 2017 trailer, but it's definitely something to check for!

[JMynes]

That’s the dealership putting the boots to you right there.
Somebody came in raising a stink about their batteries, so the dealership gave them the ones out of your trailer. Guess who got the old ones...

[HowieE]

Yes the dealer or an employee needed batteries when that trailer came in but that doesn't matter. Even if the trailer was delivered with new batteries from Jackson and sat on the lot for a month or more the batteries would have gone dead against the gas detector and needed to be replaced anyway.

Those detectors should not be wired in at the factory. That should be done just before delivery to a customer by the dealer.

Anyone taking delivery on a new trailer should question when the trailer was delivered to the dealer and get new batteries, at no cost, before leaving the shop. Same problem with most new cars. The body computer, radio memory, and several other draws are always running in background.

I have had to install a trickle charger on my TV because it sits for weeks at a time between usages.

[rmkrum]

Yeah, managed to kill the 12volt batter on a shiny new Prius in 6 weeks of sitting. High tech as that car is, no 12volt power, nothing works. Dealer replaced it under warranty. It sits on a battery minder now if it is scheduled to sit a lot...

AS products have similar issues. Slow ‘phantom’ drain will kill the batteries eventually. Ours has 150 watts of aftermarket solar power to keep our batteries hot even in winter...

[ghamr]

Picked up our 2018 Flying Cloud from Camper Clinic 2 in Austin and after 2 days on shore power, tried to spend one night off grid & with no power used overnight, except 15 minutes of TV, we were 'dead in the water' next morning. Dealer checked the batteries and found a dead cell in each one, however when they took them into the Interstate dealer, they tested them as good! When we got 'home', attempted to stay off grid in our driveway and same thing happened. Called Bryan @ CC2 and he arranged with our local Interstate store to give us 2 new batteries and we are now good to go! It was frustrating & we wondered how often this happens. Not good that the dealers & AS aren't proactive with this problem!

[KWN306]

Originally Posted by PDX007

Just thought I'd add our 2¢ to things to check when taking delivery. When we picked up our 2017 25' Serenity International the house batteries were over 7 years old... not sure how batteries from 2011 make it into a 2017 trailer, but it's definitely something to check for!

That is an AS trade mark. When we purchased our 2015 23 FB International the batteries were 5 yrs old. When we purchased our 2017 30 FC they were 2 yrs old. I made the dealer swap them for newer batteries.

[dilly dally]

We bought our new AS in May (from Portland, OR dealer as well) and we too couldn't last two days of the grid with minimal use, no TV, no heater, etc. We had it in for service and had them check and they said they were fine. We didn't want to fight and just replaced the batteries on our own and an independent battery shop found they were old. The battery issue was very disheartening because we struggled all summer with it thinking it was us and wasted a lot of time when we should be enjoying our new toy. I mentioned this to the service people in our review of service. Let's hope they are listening and others can benefit.

[rocco52]

I am not trying to defend anyone here but we used to stock Interstate Batteries for sale where I work. They came with no Electrolyte in them. We had a 5 gallon container of it that we filled the cells with upon sale. Until the Electrolyte is installed there is no chemical process and therefore no degradation of the plates. I imagine that Airstream buys hundreds maybe thousands at a time and does the same thing.