2018 Sportscoach 404RB Parasitic Drains on House Batteries?

[Tech514]

Hi,

I always store my coach during the winter with my whole house disconnect switch in the off position. During storage I always exercise the generator with load for 1-2 hrs every 2 weeks, occasionally every 3 weeks. This normally charges up my batteries to 13+ volts. The problem is that my house batteries are then discharging down to below 10 volts (dead) routinely during these two week intervals while in storage. This requires me to jump the generator to start from the chassis battery emergency boost switch.

There are no obvious appliances or devices that look to be active while the disconnect switch is off. Why are my batteries discharging so fast while in storage?

Thanks

[A32Deuce]

Try charging your batterys then disconnect the ground wire and see if they hold their charge. Factory disconnects don't turn off everything.

[houstonstroker]

Several parasitic loads are still consuming power. LP detectors, radio presets, furnace and fridge "brains" to name a few. Batteries will still self discharge.

[CHICKDOE]

i agree with the above comments. i would exercise the generator and the batteries would be fully charged. i had the factory disconnect set to disconnect the batteries. within a couple of weeks the batteries would run down to the point that they would not start the generator. i installed my own disconnect to disconnect all loads. now when the batteries are fully charged they still show 12.7 volts (fully charged) 4 weeks later when i again connect them. they start the generator just fine. i like the idea of just disconnecting the lead from the batteries to prove that this would correct the problem. one point though, make sure the batteries are fully charged before you do this. if they are low they may not be getting fully charged from a couple of hours of generator recharge time each month.

[camaraderie]

Originally Posted by CHICKDOE

i installed my own disconnect to disconnect all loads. now when the batteries are fully charged they still show 12.7 volts (fully charged) 4 weeks later when i again connect them. they start the generator just fine. i like the idea of just disconnecting the lead from the batteries to prove that this would correct the problem. one point though, make sure the batteries are fully charged before you do this. if they are low they may not be getting fully charged from a couple of hours of generator recharge time each month.

+1 ...spot on!