how to connect coach batteries

in10ceone · February 07, 2013, 04:50 PM

Hello everyone New member here... I recently purchased a 1980 minnie but it had no house batteries. I wanted to ask 2 questions about this.

I have the tray below next to the propane tank which has one connection for the screws on the battery.. then another connection with regular battery post connections in the cab.. which would have been under the passenger seat (if I had one).

My main questions are this...

Did these older motor homes use 6v batteries in series or should I use 2 12v using the existing hookups?

Why are there two locations for the battery? I would have thought you would put two down in the tray and that is it. There is a lot of wiring looks like a blooming onion under the positive side in the cab connection, is that where the solenoid is?

I don't have any experience in this type of motor home..please help.

cosmic · February 07, 2013, 05:30 PM

6 Volts in parallel is no different the 12. Its all 12 volts in the end. more storage in the 6 volt that why people use them. Longer amp hours.
Yes that is your solenoid.
Not sure why you have 2 battery locations. I have a A class. 1 location.

Good luck
and
Welcome to the forum

LJ-TJ · February 07, 2013, 06:06 PM

Where's the pictures. A picture is worth a thousand words. Hm?

in10ceone · February 07, 2013, 06:09 PM

i will post some pics tomorrow please check back.. i'm very confused by this.

in10ceone · February 07, 2013, 06:44 PM

here is the connection from the cab

in10ceone · February 07, 2013, 06:45 PM

here is the tray

in10ceone · February 07, 2013, 06:49 PM

the tray connections are both like this just a ring for the bolt side of the battery poll

DaveVA78Chieftain · February 07, 2013, 07:17 PM

Performing a little research, a 1980 21ft Minnie Winnie would be a WD420RG L1 model. According to the 1980 brochure (http://www.winnebagoind.com/products/previous-models/1980/pdfs/winnebago/80-Winnebago-bro.pdf) the only Minnie Winnie that had house battery storage up front was the WD424RH LO. Apparently a previous owner removed your passenger seat and added another battery. The tray back by the propane tank was the original location.

Parts book: http://www.winnebagoind.com/service/wincd/1980/80wd-wc420rg-l1.pdf
1980 Common Parts Book: http://www.winnebagoind.com/service/wincd/1980/80common.pdf

Dave

in10ceone · February 07, 2013, 11:08 PM

Thank u very much for the info i will check it all out. I did read somewhere once that the 20.5rg had a battery under the pass seat but who knows maybe he set it up for 3 batteries. Thanks again and any other input is appreciated