Mysterious chirping

starburst2 · 03-18-2011, 10:13 AM

I have a 2010 GT350 TS. Upon return from my winter vacation to AZ I have put it in storage. A couple of days ago I checked it and it has begun a mysterious chirping sound emanating from the little white gizmo near the floor at the entry. I thought this was the propane detector and usually when it is not chirping there is a green LED that is on. Now that it is chirping there is a red LED blinking. I have my propane turned off so it is a mystery to me why this is happening. Did I misunderstand that this was the propane detector? Any thoughts on why this new modis operandi?
Lloyd

Lostdog · 03-18-2011, 10:26 AM

Battery?

VTX Al · 03-18-2011, 10:36 AM

Yep !! Check the battery in your "little white gizmo", would be my suggestion as well.

...VTX-AL

tmmar · 03-18-2011, 10:45 AM

Might be a carbon monoxide detector (like a smoke detector) that has a battery. As others have said, check the battery.

**KyDan** · 03-18-2011, 11:39 AM

My LP gas detector is hard wired to the house battery.
If yours is the same, maybe your house battery is going down?

This is a "parasitic" discharge and one of the many reasons
to have a battery disconnect switch.

kenandterry · 03-18-2011, 11:41 AM

The smoke detector in our bedroom was doing the same chirping at one time. Replaced the battery, and cleared the problem.

TV and radio always mention replacing the batteries in your home twice a year when we move the clocks ahead and back for daylight savings. Not knowing exactly when the units in your RV were installed, maybe ALL detectors (smoke, propane, carbon monoxide) should be included to be changed by all of us!!!!!!!!

polkatronron · 03-18-2011, 01:32 PM

Had this happen to me. Mine was the carbon monoxide detector and it did this when it crapped out..had to replace it.

cfsoistman · 03-18-2011, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by starburst2

I have a 2010 GT350 TS. Upon return from my winter vacation to AZ I have put it in storage. A couple of days ago I checked it and it has begun a mysterious chirping sound emanating from the little white gizmo near the floor at the entry. I thought this was the propane detector and usually when it is not chirping there is a green LED that is on. Now that it is chirping there is a red LED blinking. I have my propane turned off so it is a mystery to me why this is happening. Did I misunderstand that this was the propane detector? Any thoughts on why this new modis operandi?
Lloyd

It is the propane detector. Either your coach battery disconnect is turned off, it does stay lighted though, or your coach batteries are down to a very low level.

starburst2 · 03-24-2011, 10:01 PM

Well I want to thank everyone for the hints. All of you were on the right track and a couple of people hit the nail right on the head. The propane detector is hardwired into the coach battery system which is comprised of 4 golf cart batteries. There was no where in my mind that the parasitic loads could discharge my batteries from fully charged to low in 2 weeks. Therefore I did not even consider that as an option although I had expeienced the chirping in previous coaches when the dry cell in the smoke detector needed changing. Well I was dead wrong. My battery bank was dead flat. Even the led on the propane detector was now dead. With my multi testor I found that the battery bank measured 10.2 Volts. In other word the electrolite was "like love in a canoe". I put my wheely 60 Amp charger plus my 25 amp smart charger plus my 10 amp smart charger to work and by the end of the day I had the batteries back to about 80%. By the next day with my 25 amp charger and the solar panels I had the bank restored to 100%. What an ordeal. Who would have thought that those little parasites could deplete 440 AH in less than 2 weeks. The astonishing part was I had the coach plugged in to shore power. This raised an obvious concern with me. Can the coach be plugged in but the converter not charging? I was down south for 2 months plugged into shorepower and along with the 2X135 Watt solar panels kept my batteries at near 100 %. Mind you, my disconnect was definitely turned on and that may have been the difference. Any thoughts out there on this mystery? Can the disconnect be "off" even when the little indicator light is glowing?
Someone please clear up this mystery?
Regards,
Lloyd

trailraider · 03-24-2011, 11:09 PM

Last chirping I had was a squirrel in the underbelly. Hope yours isn't . Lol

starburst2 · 03-25-2011, 12:59 AM

If it is a squirrel then the squirrel either died along with the batteries or has vacated the premesis. There is no more chirping
Lloyd

cfsoistman · 03-25-2011, 06:10 AM

Yes the coach battery switch can be in the off position and it stays lit. I guess they did that so it can be found easier in the dark? I'm not sure what powers that bulb though.

Lawfive · 03-25-2011, 07:29 AM

I had the same battery depletion problem. I put a disconnect switch directly on the battery so that any parasites got taken care of. Same as putting flea control on your dogs.

starburst2 · 03-25-2011, 11:41 AM

Thank you Charlie and Lawfive
Charlie, how does one know if the disconnect is on or off if the light glows regardless of whether it is turned on or off. It kinda defeats the purpose os having a disconnect. When I first read your comment I thought it was made with tongue in cheek but then thought about it some more and realized that finding it in the dark might actually be the rationale.
As Lawfivesuggests, the only sure way to eliminate the fleas and parasites is to put flea powder on the dogs..... er... I meant put in a manual disconnect at the battery. Lawfive, did you have the deletion problem when it was plugged in to shore power and the disconnect turned off? Or, was your experience of battery depletion just when it was not in use, unplugged and the normal parasitic loads caused the depletion? Draining 4 golf cart batteries with parasitic loads in under two weeks seems astounding to me.
Lloyd

Lawfive · 03-25-2011, 11:56 AM

My problems were at storage. A couple of weeks would take the house batteries to dead. With the cutoff I can leave it there for over a month and come back to working batteries. I don't know what the max time is cause I haven't gone longer than about 4 weeks. At that point the FR battery indicator shows 3/4 charged. Not that I really believe it. But it cycles the steps and starts the generator so it has to be pretty charged. Eight or ten bucks and 10 minutes worth of install time makes for lots of piece of mind.

When I get to storage on Friday with "She Who Must Be Obeyed", three dogs and groceries for a weekend of dog agility, things better be ready to roll.

starburst2 · 03-25-2011, 12:36 PM

Thank you Lawfive. I agree with you that the manual battery cutoff switch sounds like the most effective, inexpensive, low tech soluton to my problems.
Regards,
Lloyd

jsutherl · 03-25-2011, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by starburst2

Any thoughts out there on this mystery? Can the disconnect be "off" even when the little indicator light is glowing?

It's the same on my coach, when the shore power is plugged in and the disconnect is off the converter powers all the 12v loads but does NOT charge the batteries.

So those couple of things connected directly to the batteries, (LP Detector & Step) drain the battery. Parasitic load on mine seems to be about 0.4A with the LP detector on.

My short term solution has been to leave the battery disconnect on at all times. My long term solution is to rewire those couple of items so that they're on the other side of the disconnect switch.

Since the LP detector (and LP valve) fail closed when there is no power. And the disconnect swich can be reached with the step on or out. I don't see a problem with this. EXCEPT that the step won't retract if I start the coach with the step out, the battery disconnect off, and the converter not plugged in. Because it won't have power.

I bought a bunch of those "Remove Before Flight" red cloth tags that I put on things I need to do before I move the coach. For instance I hang one from the antenna handle when I crank it up. I'll have to put one of those on the disconnect too I suppose.

cfsoistman · 03-25-2011, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by starburst2

Thank you Charlie and Lawfive
Charlie, how does one know if the disconnect is on or off if the light glows regardless of whether it is turned on or off. It kinda defeats the purpose os having a disconnect. When I first read your comment I thought it was made with tongue in cheek but then thought about it some more and realized that finding it in the dark might actually be the rationale.
As Lawfivesuggests, the only sure way to eliminate the fleas and parasites is to put flea powder on the dogs..... er... I meant put in a manual disconnect at the battery. Lawfive, did you have the deletion problem when it was plugged in to shore power and the disconnect turned off? Or, was your experience of battery depletion just when it was not in use, unplugged and the normal parasitic loads caused the depletion? Draining 4 golf cart batteries with parasitic loads in under two weeks seems astounding to me.
Lloyd

I just push the top of the button for ON and the bottom for OFF. You'll hear a clunk type sound when you push it in. I'm not 100% sure what it disconnects because I've still had power when switching out a fuse to my inverter. I turned everything I could find off, unplugged the coach, disabled the inverter and still had power. I believe the steps stay energized as well.

Schwing2008 · 03-26-2011, 10:17 AM

Hi Lawfive

What kind of disconnect switch did you use
Where did you mount it

Lawfive · 03-26-2011, 12:29 PM

I can't remember the details but I vaguely remember buying a $6-8 screwed connector that mounted on one of the terminals of a house battery. If I had it to do over again I would have bought the knife switch connector - faster than screwing. Check Amazon or some of the RV equipment sites like PPL, Rvupgrades. They all should have them. Two or three days UPS and ten minutes of install and no more parasites.

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