GOOD battery still discharging- Cruise Lite

[Bushbunch]

2015 Cruise Lite : A GOOD load tested (at the Exide factory) Interstate battery as good. They would not sell me another battery! Towing vehicle confirmed is sending current while towing. I pulled the fuses for the radio and the LP detector. The refrigerator is not on. The inverter brings the battery up OK. Disconnect shore power and the lights are dim in 48 hours. Even traveling (with all fuses back in place), the battery seems to be only 3/4, per the wall meter, after stopping after a few hours. I have owned a FAN, a Layton and a Shasta and camped since 1988. No trailer ever drained a battery like this. WHAT could possibly be doing this??????????

[KyDan]

You can pull each fuse one at a time and place an ammeter across the empty fuse slot. This should show the current flow at each one.

You don't have a 3 way power refrigerator do you??? I don't know if they still make those any more. I had one years ago and it was a power hog!!

[bikendan]

Newer RVs have more parasitic power drains than older ones.
You should install a battery disconnect switch.

And you have a CONVERTER, not an inverter.

[KyDan]

Do the -missing fuse- ammeter test as I suggested in post 2!!
Possible drains are a light bulb in a forgotten place left on.
Do you have lights in the storage area?
Even a defective converter might drain when off shore power...

[camaraderie]

May I suggest that you confirm for yourself what is going on with fully charged bvttery and a clamp on amp meter as follows.
REMOVE the battery from the trailer and charge it with a normal battery charger overnight. Then let it sit for a full 24 hours. Measure the voltage with a voltmeter and it should be 12.6 or 12.7 volts. If is is less than 12.4 Volts you have a loss of capacity. If it is 12.2 or less you have a battery on its' last legs.

If you get a good reading it is time to find out what is draining the battery. With the battery reinstalled...and a clamp meter... clamp on to any wires leading to the positive terminal of the battery one at a time (with everything in the coach turned off.) Suggest you try any small wires first as these are likely parasitic drain sources. If you see any current....that is a culprit. If not..move on to the big positive wires and look for any current. If you find some...start pulling fuses one at a time till the current disappears.
Here's a reasonably priced meter that will do all of the above accurately:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...55011&sr=8-143

[KyDan]

Clamp on ammeters work on AC or pulsating DC. They don't work on pure DC.
Many multimeters have amps ranges that will allow the fuseholder test I suggest.

[Flybob]

Originally Posted by Bushbunch

! Towing vehicle confirmed is sending current while towing.this??????????

You don't say how much current. The wire gauge in most TV's is not large enough to eliminate a significant voltage drop. This will result in less than optimum battery charging while towing. Check the voltage at the Bargman and at the Battery when TV is running at higher RPM, I think you will be surprised at how low the voltage is.

[camaraderie]

Thats funny...I just measured my converter putting 16amps into my battery bank a few days ago. I also measured a .004 amp draw when everything was turned off. Here's the instruction manual from a similar Sears branded ac/dc clamp ammeter and apparently they've not heard about this either. http://c.shld.net/assets/own/03482369e.pdf
Perhaps you are remembering ac clamp meters which are widely used if HVaC & other 120V situations. ac/DC clamp meters in this price range are a relatively new development. From Fluke:

"
Clamp meters measure any combination of alternating and direct current. This includes static dc and charging dc as well as ac.Clamp meters measure dc current using Hall effect sensors. A Hall effect sensor, basically a kind ofmagnetometer, can sense the strength of an applied magnetic flux. Unlike a simple inductive sensor, the Hall effect sensor will work when the applied magnetic flux is static, not changing. It will work for alternating magneticfields as well.
A clamp meter contains a toroidal iron core that clamps together with a Hall effect chip in the gap between the two halves, so that the induced
magnetic flux from the current-carrying wire is channeled through it"

[camaraderie]

Originally Posted by Flybob

You don't say how much current. The wire gauge in most TV's is not large enough to eliminate a significant voltage drop. This will result in less than optimum battery charging while towing. Check the voltage at the Bargman and at the Battery when TV is running at higher RPM, I think you will be surprised at how low the voltage is.

+1 Yup...that's exactly why I wanted him to remove the battery and charge it on a regular charger. I suspect it's been murdered by undercharging and subsequent over depletion.

[ornery]

Originally Posted by camaraderie

May I suggest that you confirm for yourself what is going on with fully charged bvttery and a clamp on amp meter as follows.
REMOVE the battery from the trailer and charge it with a normal battery charger overnight. Then let it sit for a full 24 hours. Measure the voltage with a voltmeter and it should be 12.6 or 12.7 volts. If is is less than 12.4 Volts you have a loss of capacity. If it is 12.2 or less you have a battery on its' last legs.

If you get a good reading it is time to find out what is draining the battery. With the battery reinstalled...and a clamp meter... clamp on to any wires leading to the positive terminal of the battery one at a time (with everything in the coach turned off.) Suggest you try any small wires first as these are likely parasitic drain sources. If you see any current....that is a culprit. If not..move on to the big positive wires and look for any current. If you find some...start pulling fuses one at a time till the current disappears.
Here's a reasonably priced meter that will do all of the above accurately:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...55011&sr=8-143

Pardon me but a fully charged battery should be 13+ volts. ALSO put a DIGITAL volt meter on the battery and just watch for voltage leak. That is see if the voltage drops noticeably. If your battery isn't holding a charge you will see the volt meter dropping. Set the meter to at least 2 decimal places and see if the voltage drops.

[camaraderie]

Originally Posted by ornery

Pardon me but a fully charged battery should be 13+ volts. ALSO put a DIGITAL volt meter on the battery and just watch for voltage leak. That is see if the voltage drops noticeably. If your battery isn't holding a charge you will see the volt meter dropping. Set the meter to at least 2 decimal places and see if the voltage drops.

Sorry but WRONG on both counts.
1. a 100% fully charged battery is 12.7 volts. The 13+ volts you see immediatey after charging is called a surface charge and is entirely misleading...as even a badly damaged battery will read over 13. This is WHY I said to set the battery aside for 24 hours to allow the surface charge to disappate BEFORE taking a reading.
2. The same applies to your "leaky" voltage. Every single battery on earth will show leakyvoltage after charging as it slowly drops form 13.2+ V to 12.7 or 12.4 or whatever its' true state of charge is. Furthermore...this has no useful purpose in tracking down minor parasitic loads because they have nothing to do with the battery not holding a charge.
Don't believe me?? Here:


Source: Trojan BatteriesBattery Testing

Battery testing can be done in several ways. The most popular includes measurement of specific gravity, and battery voltage. Specific gravity applies to wet cells with removable caps, giving access to the electrolyte. To measure specific gravity, buy a temperature compensating hydrometer at an auto parts store or tool supply. To measure voltage, use a digital voltmeter in the DC voltage setting. The surface charge must be removed from a freshly charged battery before testing. A 12 hour lapse after charging qualifies, or you may remove the surface charge with a load (20 amps for 3 plus minutes).
State of Charge / Voltage/ Specific Gravity/ 12V 6V
100% 12.7 6.3 1.265
75% 12.4 6.2 1.225
50% 12.2 6.1 1.190
25% 12.0 6.0 1.155 Discharged 11.9 6.0 1.120 Source: Battery Charging Tutorial | ChargingChargers.com
**********

Finally...I'd note that I use 24 hours as a wait time instead of 12 because surface charge removal is temperature dependent... the colder...the slower. In northern climates you can often come back even two or more days later and still find the battery over 12.7 (or whatever its' true SOC is).
...a cheap $20 load tester from Harbor Freight can cut the wait down to about 3 minutes.
This shows an experiment done by a friend of mine on static state of charge and the need to let a battery rest...complete with pictures. Case closed..
Measuring A Lead Acid Battery State of Charge Photo Gallery by Compass Marine How To at pbase.com

[pmsherman]

Testing a deep cycle battery isn't as simple as it might seem. Voltage and specific gravity testers can show the current charge state but do little to show battery capacity. Automotive battery testers place a large (100-200A or more) load on the battery for a very short time to simulate the starter motor load which is not what you're interested in for your house battery.

Both house batteries in my 2011 Georgetown failed in less than a year because they had two extended periods where they were left fully discharged. (One was before I purchased the new unit, the other was caused by a wiring short in the hydraulic jack system.) When tested with an automotive tester, they tested ok. I pulled one and took it to a local outlet store for a major battery manufacturer. They told me that their staffing that day prohibited them from using the special deep cycle tester they had.

I built my own deep cycle tester and ran a test on the battery myself. The battery initially tested good but, at the end of the test, I determined the battery capacity was only 50% of its rated value. I turned my documentation over to the dealer and FR replaced both house batteries. The replacements are now over three years old and are still in good condition.

Phil