2024 Winnebago Ekko Electrical Problems

1. An ATP connector on a solar charging system experienced a high resistance event and started a smoldering fire. It melted the connector and about 24" of 10 gauge wiring. It also melted the fiberglass roof material under the connector. The event was observed on Sunday morning, April 19, 2026 at approximately 9:30 am. It occurred while parked in our driveway. We disconnected the solar panel that was feeding this wire to remove the resistance to the system and stop the damage from spreading. 2. Had we not seen the smoke, a major fire could have destroyed the RV and endangered our house. 3. Problem was reported to the manufacturer who seemed most concerned that the RV was no longer in warranty. The damage was observed and repaired by a factory authorized service center on Monday, April 27, 2026. 4. There were no warnings.

NHTSA ID

11737377

Incident

Apr 19, 2026

Generator started on its own sometime yesterday evening. The motor home was plugged into 30amp outlet and on shore power. Based on generator hours compared to an inspection I made last week it ran for approximately 15 hours before detection. (we had t-storms all yesterday and I never went outside). I tried to shut off via the touch screen controller inside the motor home and it was frozen and not responsive. I had to turn off the generator from the manual switch mounted on the unit. Once I reset the main breaker on the home and the controller re-booted it seems to be operating normally at this time. I am fortunate that it was not parked indoors. I believe others in the last 2 years have reported this issue to you.

NHTSA ID

11730822

Incident

Apr 12, 2026

Driving down road started to smell smoke like burning electricity. Pulled over and opened hood. Secondary alternator smoking and inside vents there was red-hot burning of medal and near combustion. Belt running secondary alternator also split in two and denigrated. Very dangerous. I already preformed recall to lower amperage but his still happened. Many owners for same model Winnabago Ekko 22a with Balmar alternator have reported same.

NHTSA ID

11726420

Incident

Jan 6, 2026

The second alternator, Balmer, used to charge the lithium batteries overheated and failed. It is located under the hood near the engine. It made a whining sound and failed to charge. I took it to Camping World in Marysville and they said the sound was “normal” and preformed the deregulation . A few months later, I brought it back and after insisting on inspection and calling Winnebago, they said it had failed. This is the second time it has failed. I am still waiting for a replacement as Winnebago says they are back ordered. I am now without a charging system, but at least my vehicle didn’t catch on fire like others have. This is an unacceptable problem that Winnebago refuses to remedy.

NHTSA ID

11707214

Incident

Nov 3, 2025

The 2024 Winnebago Ekko Ford Transit base includes standard a second alternator in the engine bay manufactured by Balmer and installed by Winnebago to charge the house batteries, in this case two 320amp batteries manufactured by Lithionics. A service recall was completed by Winnebago Authorized Dealer in 6/2025 to reduce the charge capacity based on prior failures and fires in the alternator. Our vehicle has 26,000 miles and have had no indication of failure. After an 80 mile drive, we smelled burning electrics and smoke came from under the hood. I applied a fire extinguisher from underneath on the alternator to stop the burning and disconnected the alternator from the electrical system. I am aware of this happening to many additional owners via a group forum. Ultimately, it appears Winnebago has change suppliers of this alternator, but those with the original are subject to this risk. Also, many have replaced on their own or outside of the dealer network due to the lengthy time to replace so they need to have a mechanism to reimburse for those expenses. Thank you.

NHTSA ID

11702351

Incident

Nov 28, 2025

Upon return from vacation, the Onan generator was found to be running. It had self started and ran for 80 hours while we were gone using about 12 gal fuel. The generator was NOT on when we left 12 days prior. There was no evidence of bugs in the RV coach that could have contacted the touch screen to start the unit. This is a Winnebago Ekko, Ford Transit body, 2024 purchased Jan 2024.

NHTSA ID

11685159

Incident

Sep 2, 2025

In October 2024 our Rv was brought to the dealership due to the RV making a high pitch noise while driving. The dealership concluded that it was the Balmar alternator that needed to be replaced. March 2025 the Solar recall was completed as well as the alternator replaced. After a 30minute drive smoke was coming from underneath the hood and the alternator caught on fire. Luckily nobody was hurt and the fire was contained only because we were on alert due to so many other Ekko owners having the same problem!

NHTSA ID

11648395

Incident

Mar 14, 2025

This is a 2024 Winnebago EKKO (drivable RV). It has a second alternator (manufactured by BALMAR) for charging the house (RV) battery(s). On July 26th of this year (2024) our BALMAR alternator started to make a high pitched noise and failed to correctly charge the house battery. When I did some diagnostic work I noticed it was overheating. This issue has been reported numerous times so I knew what to do. I immediately unplugged the BALMAR device (disconnected the 4-wire connection to the BALMAR control center located next to our battery compartment) and scheduled an in-warranty service appointment with Winnebago in their Forest City, Iowa service center. On Sept 10th (2024) we had our Winnebago service appointment where they removed the BALMAR alternator (located under the Ford engine) and informed us it was cracked (like many others they had seen). It was replaced under Winnebago Warranty. They were great and we thank them for their help!

NHTSA ID

11627262

Incident

Jul 26, 2024

The A/C on our 24E/24T EKKO stopped working today, October 13, on old Route 66 in Oklahoma. The ICM870-16A-BH5400 easy start circuit board was fried. A portion of the circuit board had melted and the brown wire was loose and the connector melted. The ICM cover fell loose when I removed the GE A/C cover. See the attached photos. The ICM870-16A-BH5400 is included in GE Kit GEASST-1. The BH5400 suffix is unique to the GE sourced easy start. This may not be important, but upon inspection, using ICM680 installation instructions on-line (see attached), I noticed that the red and white/blue wires from the ICM controller were switched on the run capacitor H and C terminals. I assumed that the wire colors shown on the installation wiring diagrams are the same for all ICM680 controllers and all applications. If the installations are the same for all ICM680 controllers, then the red wire from the ICM controller is to be connected to the run capacitor on the C post. On our unit, the red wire is connected to the run capacitor H post and the white wire is connected to the C capacitor post. The wiring diagram on the blackened ICM cover, shows the red wire attached to the capacitor H post (also attached to the motor S post) and the white wire to the C post. As a reference, I am attaching the ICM680 installation instruction wiring diagrams found on web as well as written instructions. I could NOT find a wiring diagram like what is shown on our blackened ICM cover with the red wire attached to the H post. The QR Code for online installations on our blackened ICM680 cover resulted in a 404 Not Found notice. I called ICM technical service but could not leave a message as the voice mailbox was full. No serial number could be found on the ICM box. See the attached photos of the fried controller and the ISM wires attached to the run capacitor with the red and white wires reversed from what is shown on the wiring diagrams.

NHTSA ID

11621634

Incident

Oct 13, 2024

The Balmar alternator is going bad on my 2023 transit on my 2024 Winnebago Ekko. It is starting to whine which in the past leads to a fire in the engine compartment on others units. It is recommended to pull the 4 wire plug that goes Balmar regulator in the lithonics battery compartment, which I did to prevent any additional damage. So without the Balmar unit the batteries will only charge plugged into shore power. A Winnebago group recommended reporting this problem to NHTSA Thank you.

NHTSA ID

11618791

Incident

Sep 25, 2024

The second alternator, manufactured by Balmar and installed by Winnebago, failed. It began producing an audible whine whose pitch and volume corresponded approximately to engine RPM. The power output from the alternator began dropping, eventually reaching about 10-20% of normal. Additionally, after some time (several hours of driving), an odor of burning plastic was detected. At that time, we stopped the vehicle and disconnected this alternator, and the whine and odor has ceased since. No smoke or fire was detected, but we do suspect damage to the alternator, and have left it disconnected in the interest of safety. The primary alternator in the Ford chassis does not appear to be affected, only the secondary Balmar alternator installed by Winnebago. Note that a previous NHTSA recall applied to this vehicle model for apparently similar issues, but our unit was manufactured subsequent to and was not subject to that recall. We have service scheduled with a service center in the near future, but at this time have not yet had the system inspected or the problem confirmed by any other party.

NHTSA ID

11618350

Incident

Sep 15, 2024

The Zamp solar charge control panel 30 amp fuse melted. The wires got very hot. The solar charging system is overheating and susceptible to fire. We believe Winnebago is aware of this issue and is documented under NHTSA Campaign Number 25V-541. We were made aware of the potential problem by a Winnebago users Facebook group. When we opened the panel to inspect the fuse, it was melted so much that we cannot remove the fuse. We weren't aware of a problem due to any symptoms. The Balmar alternator and MC-618 regulator overheated and caused the 250 amp circuit breaker to blow and then the alternator went into a lock out state. The alternator is not charging the Winnebago batteries now which impacts how we can use the RV. We cannot unlock it ourselves and there are numerous reports of this happening after Winnebago recall 174.

NHTSA ID

11608593

Incident

Aug 12, 2024

Fuse for Zamp controller on 2024 Transit Ekko class C camper melted and caused a fire. Due to insufficient oxygen, the fire luckily self-extinguished.

NHTSA ID

11608293

Incident

Aug 3, 2024