Boss DVD monitors in bunk models - power consumption when off

[ronhanson]

Just an FYI about something interesting I discovered this last weekend which might be of use to anyone concerned about maximum battery life when boondocking with these DVD monitors.

Above each bunk they have included (2) Boss DVD monitors and players. These are nice units and great for the kids but when closing one up last weekend I noticed it was warm, even though it had been off. I checked the other one which has never been used and it was the same way. I tracked the wiring down to it's common point and measured a .5 amp draw when both units were off. This might not sound like much but add that up over a week and it's a significant drain. Unless you have solar it would kill the stock batteries in 2 weeks without the disconnect flipped in storage. I added a separate switch to cut power to the bunk areas since I boondock a lot and try to conserve power.

[tmmar]

Great idea. Also, do you know if you can watch regular TV on the units or only DVD's? I can't seem to be able to find a way to do this.

[ronhanson]

The bunk monitors and the dvd players don't have TV tuners, so you couldn't do it without getting creative.

Since the monitors do have another video input it's possible you could wire a seperate tv tuner to it (vcr,etc). I'm not sure how the sound would work though since I dont know if the wireless headphones get the sound from the monitor or the dvd player itself. You could add some seperate powered speakers meant for mp3 players. I did this for the dvds playing since my 2 year old doesn't keep the headphones on very long while mommy and daddy are trying to get an extra hour of sleep

[tmmar]

Ahh yes- no tuners. Didn't think about that!! Thanks.

[NWJeeper]

Good information Ron. It's amazing how much draw there is from things that are turned "off"

[Schwing2008]

so where in the wiring did you put the switch to kill the power

I want to do the same

Do you have any pictures

[ronhanson]

My rig is in storage until the 29th so no pictures for a while, but on mine the power to that area comes into the slide through the floor of the clothing cabinet, under the left closet drawer. Pull that bottom left drawer out and you should see 120v wires to a junction box and some 12v wires just wire tied together. The 12v wire looks like heavy gauge speaker wire and that is the wire you want to switch. My main source was blue on the hot and the feeds that penetrated the bunk wall to the monitors were red. Those are the wires you want to switch or you loose your closet lights if you just switch the main feed. (To be honest, I didnt even realize there were lights in the closet until doing this). Their is no telling if this coloring is a "standard" for them though, so check them with a multimeter, you can use that 120v junction box as a ground. I installed my switch through the cabinet frame to the left of that bottom drawer close to the floor so you don't see it but can still reach it while closed up. You'll need a switch with a pretty long reach since that wood is thick.

BTW, the lights in the bunk are also tied to the same power source as the DVD monitors. No way to separate them that I could find since the wiring is hidden in the slide. You loose the bunks lights when cutting out the monitors.

[Schwing2008]

Thanks for the info as when I leave my motorhome for long periods of time, I use the disconnect and my coach batteries still go dead. I am going to try this to see if this resolves my issue

[NWJeeper]

Originally Posted by Schwing2008

Thanks for the info as when I leave my motorhome for long periods of time, I use the disconnect and my coach batteries still go dead. I am going to try this to see if this resolves my issue

I would try disconnecting the batteries with your disconnect switch as you would for storage, then try and turn on a monitor. If it doesn't work (and I'm betting it won't) then doing this will make no difference to your batteries going dead when in storage. On many motorhomes the LP gas detector and power entry steps are attached directly to the battery. If left for long periods of time and you only have the stock batteries the LP detector could be, and probably is, your culprit.

[ronhanson]

Not many seem to know the LP detector is not connected to a disconnect switch. When I was working on my rig in the storage lot early this spring. It sounded like a chorus of low battery beeps from the LP detector from people that had left the batteries connected for 5 months. You learn new things every day, I just hope they all figured it out.

It might not be something to worry about for a week or 2, but months is another thing. When storing you probably have you LP valve closed anyway so might as well turn off the detector.

NWjeeper, what's the Trimetric tell you about the draw on that detector?

[NWJeeper]

Originally Posted by ronhanson

Not many seem to know the LP detector is not connected to a disconnect switch. When I was working on my rig in the storage lot early this spring. It sounded like a chorus of low battery beeps from the LP detector from people that had left the batteries connected for 5 months. You learn new things every day, I just hope they all figured it out.

It might not be something to worry about for a week or 2, but months is another thing. When storing you probably have you LP valve closed anyway so might as well turn off the detector.

NWjeeper, what's the Trimetric tell you about the draw on that detector?

Ron, the Trimetric was telling me .2 amps draw on the LP detector alone. Not much really but if a guy has the crappy group 24 or 27 batteries then they don't have much amphours to begin with. Add to that the fact that most people don't have 3-stage chargers and aren't getting a full charge on the batteries and over time that .2 amps will draw your bank down to the 50% level quickly. Let's see that would be about 4.8 amps per day times 30 days, that's 144 amps in one month! Ouch!

[Schwing2008]

so where is the LP detector

is that the switch to the right of the disconnect, as I shut the LP gs switch there all the time

how do I shut that LP detector off??

[Schwing2008]

I wonder what batteries came with my 2009 unit

Would they be the crappy group 24 or 27 batteries

Do the Georgetown's come with the 3-stage chargers

[NWJeeper]

Originally Posted by Schwing2008

I wonder what batteries came with my 2009 unit

Would they be the crappy group 24 or 27 batteries

Do the Georgetown's come with the 3-stage chargers

Your unit probably came with group 27 batteries

NO you dont have a 3 stage converter/charger if it is made by Parallax.

I have already replaced mine with a PDI 9200 converter/charger. Simple swap.

The LP detector is the little switch with the blinking light near the floor just inside the door of your rig on a brown panel (might say CCI on it). It actuates a shutoff solenoid on your LP gas pipe at the tank when turned off.

[ronhanson]

On mine, the LP gas detector is to the right of the disconnect switch. It says something like CCI LP Gas detector. If you're turning that off every time, it must be something else draining you. I haven't found any other parasitic draws yet that bypass the disconnect but I don't have a handy way to look for it like NWjeeper does. (that trimeteric is on my list for next year)

My 2009 came with (2) Group 27 12V. I can't remember the brand but I remember being pleasantly surprised at the amp hrs when picking it up. Shortly after receiving it I replaced them with (4) Sams Club GC2 6V batteries.

You likely have a parrallax 7400 series (7455 i think?) converter. This is a single stage charger that runs between 13.2V at full load and 13.85V at no load. It can not push the batteries over 13.85V no matter what condition exists. Many experts recommend more than this. Trojan Battery for example recommends a daily charge of 14.8V on their flooded deep cycle 12V batteries. That seems a little excessive compare to other information out there but you obviously can't get anywhere close to that using the stock converter. A typical 3 stage charger usually has a "bulk mode" of around 14.5 so that gets you closer, but even those are not necessarily in that mode for very long from testing information I have seen. So how much better is a 3 stage vs the Parrallax in the real world? I don't know, but it's probably not worse. If you're looking to get 5-10 years out of batteries you should not be relying on a converter for your battery maintenance anyway. A good solar charger or specialty battery charger or expensive inverter/charger would be a better option. Battery tech is confusing and even the battery and converter manufacturers seem to disagree about "best practice".

[NWJeeper]

Originally Posted by ronhanson

On mine, the LP gas detector is to the right of the disconnect switch. It says something like CCI LP Gas detector. If you're turning that off every time, it must be something else draining you. I haven't found any other parasitic draws yet that bypass the disconnect but I don't have a handy way to look for it like NWjeeper does. (that trimeteric is on my list for next year)

My 2009 came with (2) Group 27 12V. I can't remember the brand but I remember being pleasantly surprised at the amp hrs when picking it up. Shortly after receiving it I replaced them with (4) Sams Club GC2 6V batteries.

You likely have a parallax 7400 series (7455 i think?) converter. This is a single stage charger that runs between 13.2V at full load and 13.85V at no load. It can not push the batteries over 13.85V no matter what condition exists. Many experts recommend more than this. Trojan Battery for example recommends a daily charge of 14.8V on their flooded deep cycle 12V batteries. That seems a little excessive compare to other information out there but you obviously can't get anywhere close to that using the stock converter. A typical 3 stage charger usually has a "bulk mode" of around 14.5 so that gets you closer, but even those are not necessarily in that mode for very long from testing information I have seen. So how much better is a 3 stage vs the Parallax in the real world? I don't know, but it's probably not worse. If you're looking to get 5-10 years out of batteries you should not be relying on a converter for your battery maintenance anyway. A good solar charger or specialty battery charger or expensive inverter/charger would be a better option. Battery tech is confusing and even the battery and converter manufacturers seem to disagree about "best practice".

Well put Ron and incidentally the Trimetric computer is set to show batteries to be fully charged when two conditions have been met:

1. Charge voltage has peaked at 14.4 volts
2. Charge amperage has dropped below 14 amps

These seem to be the set standards that battery companies use to consider a battery "fully charged" and is configurable in the Trimetric if one wishes. This is what it uses to determine whether your batteries are at 100% charge or not.

Also I was really surprised that the PDI 9200 series converter/chargers were around the same price online as the Parallax converter/chargers which made me wonder why manufactureres continue to put such a crappy converter in rigs from the factory. I can only assume they have a deal worked out where they get the Parallax units for a better bulk price.

[Lawfive]

I kept finding my house batteries dead when I went to my storage yard. I finally bought a cheap battery switch that goes on the negative terminal of the house batteries. When I store the rig I cut off all battery power. Since I put in the switch I haven't had a single problem. Beats installing separate switches, tracing wiring and still missing some parasitic little bugger sucking amps someplace.

"Off with their heads", said the Queen of Hearts and Lawfive too.

[NWJeeper]

Originally Posted by Lawfive

I kept finding my house batteries dead when I went to my storage yard. I finally bought a cheap battery switch that goes on the negative terminal of the house batteries. When I store the rig I cut off all battery power. Since I put in the switch I haven't had a single problem. Beats installing separate switches, tracing wiring and still missing some parasitic little bugger sucking amps someplace.

"Off with their heads", said the Queen of Hearts and Lawfive too.

If you have a situation where your rig is parked where you don't always have access to it this is the way I would do it too. If possible putting a battery tender on it would be optimum.

[ronhanson]

This is also a situation where even a single solar panel is nice. You never have to worry about it. Of course it's much more expensive than a switch.

[NWJeeper]

Originally Posted by ronhanson

This is also a situation where even a single solar panel is nice. You never have to worry about it. Of course it's much more expensive than a switch.

Absolutley, Especially since most solar charge controllers are really nice 3 or 4 stage chargers too!