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Marathon Mess
I need a little help to see if I’m missing something or being
unreasonable. A few months ago I was notified by Marathon that my battery
equalizer was being recalled and I needed to bring the coach to them to have
the battery equalizer replaced free of charge. Since Florida is a good
haul from NJ I decided to add a few items to the list to make the trip worth it
for Marathon and myself. In addition to the recall, along with some small
items, I added replacement of the lifeline batteries, replace the
generator battery, replace the rusted Garrard awning brackets, install
the Aqua Stop roof coating and at the last minute as I was looking over my list
and wanted to cover every base since I was here ,I added check the inverters
operation as I never understood the various lights and what they meant on the
remotes. I made a little diagram of the lights and what I was experiencing and
thought nothing more of it. I want to repeat again…..I didn’t have a
problem I just wanted to understand the indicator lights. I always
monitored and understood the “Techlink” display. The Techlink display was
always ”green” and “GOOD” and I NEVER had a problem. (Techlink is like electrical
systems for dummies) Other than the items that I listed to repair,
EVERYTHING worked flawlessly in the coach, we used it this summer (dry
camped in the heat of the summer) and up to the day I dropped her off I had not
one problem with the operation of any component. So I catch a plane home
and I get a call on Wednesday that in addition to my list, the microwave is
inoperable, 2 circuit boards in the awnings are burnt (the boards are no longer
available so the upgrade is about $2600), a breaker in the bathroom keeps going
off, the generator needs a new SCR module and silicone control rectrifier,
Inverter #2 is flashing a red error light, and the evaporator pumps in the roof
A/C’s are inoperable (I replaced those myself this year). Honestly I thought
they had the wrong coach. To make a long story short, their analysis is
AFTER they replaced the batteries and the new equalizer, they fired up the
generator to diagnose the problem I was having with the inverter ( I NEVER said
I had a problem with the inverter) and the generator over charged the system
with 145 volts on each leg and that’s what caused the damage……not their problem
or fault. We haven’t finished this up yet nor have we discussed a bill
but I am concerned what else could be damaged, Marathon’s position is
that nothing they did would cause the damage. I’m looking for some
feedback from those of you who know these systems much better than I, but
my feeling someone screwed up the installation of either the batteries or the
equalizer. -
34 Replies
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I have zero knowledge of Marathon systems but as I read your description of things that have failed the single common theme is every single item is all problems are electrical. I cannot speak for your conversion, but my coach has very specific steps that must be followed just to shut off the batteries, something that has to be done to change batteries. Does your coach have similar requirements?
What also leaped out at me was when I read your list of desired service, I did not see anything that suggested items like the microwave, generator, air conditioners, etc were part of the needed service so I am wondering why anyone would even know there were defects or more importantly why anyone would even be operating them?
Someone with an understanding of the systems and the needed procedures needs to analyze your wish list and the resultant previously non-existent failures to try to determine what could have tied the cause and effect together.
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It sounds to me as though someone made a mistake in changing out the 2 equalizers and battery bank. I just recently did the equalizer recall for my chassis, a simple procedure of 3 wires and 4 bolts and done. But if there was a short or wrong cable installation of the battery bank, all sorts of things could have happened. We just had one of our members needing to take his bus back to Marathon after the equalizers were changed, one equalizer was fried and the fairly new battery banks health is now in question. So this equalizer issue makes one wonder if the new replacement has problems.
When changing out the batteries, the Marathon needs the shore power disconnected, gen remote disabled, gen breakers off, house 12 & 24 disconnect switches off, inverter disconnects to off and ground cables to the equalizers disconnected. Since the house batteries are 12/24 wired in series/parallel, a mistake made with cabling or shorting out a terminal without all of the above done could lead to bad electrical problems.
If the generator was running fine prior to the coach being worked on and was putting out high voltage on start up after the batteries and equalizers were changed out, that sends up the red flag to me. And to make matters worse, all the other electrical components that just all of a sudden failed due to high voltage also points to an installer mistake somewhere in the work performed.
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Sounds like someone made a mistake when hooking things back up
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Ok, Here’s my take as a Marathon owner, an XLII owner and and owner that has had the change. When Marathon Texas did ours, they did exactly as Tom indicated. Everything was turned off, disconnected for the whole day! in 100 plus heat…. On our XLII, a new bracket had to be made as the new equalizer did not fit exactly as the old. All cables were marked, taped and not one cable touched another nor any other metal. Everything went back together and tested before anything was turned on.
I suspect someone screwed up. I would bypass FLA and go directly to the mothership and start there.
Tradewinds Coach
Kyle Bennett (Service)
Brian Miller (Sales) -
Rick,
The Marathon owner that had issues after his equalizer was changed had a substantial issue that had to have been the result of a mistake during the repair. The problem was so serious that he had to return to Marathon and to be safe his house electric system had to be disabled and completely disconnected because of the problems and concern over addition damage being caused. It is probable his entire set of batteries was ruined.
My point is something happened and because you were not there you have no way of determining what that was. But it is too much of a coincidence that you turned over a perfect coach and from the moment Marathon took possession all of these things took place. If they fight you on this it turns into a he said, she said discussion and you have no proof. But you have one thing going for you. You listed all the things you wanted worked on listed. If those other things were issues they would have been on the list, but they weren’t and a fair question is how did Marathon know most of those items were bad if there was no need for them to ever even touch them in the first place. Those things were checked by Marathon because they knew something happened and they checked those items expecting to find issues. I would guess your coach got a shot of very high voltage somehow.
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Rick,
Our advice is to put call into Steve Schoellhorn, or Steve Irvin. As our two past coaches were Marathons, as Tom and Bill and Truk said, the whole coach needs to be powered down before any disconnection. Also how many years does the Tech involved have. Maybe lack of knowledge or experience. 1-800-234-9991
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FWIW, I know Marathon owners in Fl that will not go to San Antonio, but drive to Tx instead…just sayin.
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Tom is referring to my 08 XLII that I had the equalizer recall repair down in Dallas. I noticed my electrical system going awry the following day while hangin out at the OKC no-rally. 3 of my batteries were being overcharged, gassing off, and the other 3 were depleted. Not a pretty site, since I bought them this year.
I had to return the coach to Dallas with all systems shut down where I was told the new equalizer(s) was (were) defective. If that was the case, I’m not quite sure why the problem didn’t rear its ugly head at the time of the repair, if checked out properly. Well, they have been replaced again and my coach remains sitting there waiting for panel delamination repair. We have yet to finish discussions regarding the integrity of, and responsibility for my batteries, of which I have Lifeline involved in making that determination. Now, I’m a little nervous about other problems vis-a-vis Rick’s issues. I’ll have them go through my systems thoroughly and report back if there are any other findings.
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Thanks for jumping in Kevin.
And yes it would be a good idea for you and Rick to compare notes. I am not slamming Marathon because you both may be having completely unrelated issues, and some are very difficult to sort out. But if all who have problems are willing to share information (maybe not publicly) you likely are not only going to help yourselves, but you may actually help Marathon who appears to be blind sided by this also.
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General question. What was the recall on your equalizers actually for , since apparently no or, Kevin or Rick, were having issues? Are new equalizers made in China??
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When you’re talking about equalizers, are you talking about the SurePower recall? I haven’t heard of a recall on equalizers . . .
Cathy Lamb
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Is there a Marathon owner who can post the recall?
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This is disturbing. I got the recall letter (Jon, I will post it if its still on my desk tomorrow) about 60 or 90 days ago and had planned on getting the work done sometime this winter. This causes me to queation if I should even bother. Ironically before I receive the letter my Sure Power equalizer had been dying a slow death earlier this spring and I replaced it myself (with the power cut off) the same sized Vanner unit that I bought locally. I’m currently running two Vanners and everything is working normally. Perhaps I should just absorb the cost of the replacement unit and feel fortunate.
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Now the damn thing won’t let me load a PDF file. I’ll send it to you
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After talking to a few Kohler generator specialists, the chances of things happening as reported by Marathon are remote at best. The jury is still out as hopefully we will come to some resolution soon.
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