Battery Dead

harpo029 · 02-06-2015, 09:15 AM

We just bought our first RV. It is a Grey Wolf 25RL. We picked it up from the dealer Tuesday night. During the walk through they told us it was a brand new marine battery. They had it plugged into shore power during our walk through. They shut everything off and we hooked it up and brought it home. We set it up in the driveway, still with everything off and left it that night. The next night probably less than 24 hours later we went to start setting things up and the battery was dead. This doesnt seem right to me. We are going to be leaving tomorrow for our first trip and I wonder if we shouldnt go back to the dealership for a new battery. It seems with nothing on in the camper the battery should last longer than that!! Any advice would be appreciated!!!

fonzie · 02-06-2015, 09:32 AM

Is there a battery disconnect switch? It might be off

Brother Les · 02-06-2015, 09:42 AM

These are parts of learning your unit. Did the connection at the battery come loose on the way home? Check the connections. Look things over. Do you have a volt meter to check the battery directly? Do that. If you live close to the dealer, give them a call and talk to them. The battery should be no way 'dead'. Something that you did not openly see may have been left on. Can you plug in your unit at home to shore power. I am sure that you may not have a 30 amp plug at your house, so you should have/get a 30to15 adapter. Walmart sells these. If not able to plug into the house just yet, back your truck up to the unit and with the truck running, plug it into the cord (make dang sure that you unplug it when done and not rip it out of the connector,if you are not 'on the ball' and pull away) does the lights, etc. work now? Is the 'converter' switches on for 12v, look at the panel? Should be an easy fix if you take you time and walk through things.

**Flybob** · 02-06-2015, 09:42 AM

Check to see if everything is shut off , Furnace, Fridge, WH. If you have a battery disconnect, make sure it is not turned off. Make sure the breakaway switch has not been activated. If you accidentally pulled the breakaway cable while unhitching you may have pulled the pin out enough to activate the brakes. Brakes do not go through the convertor fuse system. Check to make sure you did not hit the tongue jack light switch and leave the tongue jack light on. Check lights in basement/pass through to make sure they were not left on. You will always get some current draw from the propane detector, but that should take weeks to kill a battery. If you have a battery charger I suggest you use it to get a base charge in battery before charging it via the convertor in the RV.

harpo029 · 02-06-2015, 09:56 AM

As far as we know nothing came lose. I know for sure fridge and all lights were turned off. Husband hooked up a battery charger to it the next day at 10 amps for about 5 hours and we had lights last night. But after maybe 30 minutes in the camper with just some of the lights on and nothing else it was almost drained again. He plugged it back in on 2 amps for about 6 hours after we were done and the smoke detectors inside are still beeping. I think I am going to call the dealer because none of this seems right to me.

**Flybob** · 02-06-2015, 10:02 AM

Check the breakaway switch and make sure it not activated. ( push the plunger in as far as it will go). That's a lot of current draw so it has to be something big like the brakes.

harpo029 · 02-06-2015, 10:05 AM

I have mssg my husband to have him check the breakaway. I also have a call into the dealer. We live less than 1/2 mile away from them so if we need to we can bring it up there and have them check or replace that battery if needed. I appreciate the advice!! When we find the culprit I will let you guys know!!

elind · 02-06-2015, 10:11 AM

Start at the battery and follow the red wire. It should go a terminal with mini breakers. On the side of the mini breakers is a mini reset button on the side of it. Press it in, done!

harpo029 · 02-10-2015, 03:57 PM

We did end up taking it back up to the dealer and they checked it out and everything was fine. It seemed there was not a full charge on the battery when we first brought it home. We are still not sure why the smoke detector was beeping again the next night because the other power was working. He is set up at his camp ground now and on shore power and everything is working as it should. Thanks again for all the suggestions!!

Brother Les · 02-10-2015, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by harpo029

We did end up taking it back up to the dealer and they checked it out and everything was fine. It seemed there was not a full charge on the battery when we first brought it home. We are still not sure why the smoke detector was beeping again the next night because the other power was working. He is set up at his camp ground now and on shore power and everything is working as it should. Thanks again for all the suggestions!!

Your smoke detector should have a small 9v battery in it. If it is beeping, then the battery is dying. Replace it.

The Dealer should have replaced the battery AGAIN when you took the unit back, with a NEW fully charged one. 'If' it was 'dead' (died) because it was not fully charged, it now has a greatly reduce 'life' because of being full discharged. I would tend to not believe the excuse that the dealer gave you, it 'still' 'discharged' too quickly, even for a partially charged battery. imo. a loose connection or a fuse 'popped' and the dealer reset it and does not want you to ask any more questions.....

techntrek · 02-11-2015, 01:01 PM

The beeping was your LPG detector, not the smoke detector. LP detectors emit a beep when the voltage is too low for them to operate - which is what I would expect with a dead battery.

First test is to disconnect the battery from the camper and put it on a charger overnight to make sure it is fully charged. Then let it sit - no charging or discharging - for at least 3 hours. Take a voltage measurement and it should be 12.7 volts. Then hook it back up to the camper and turn on all the lights. Assuming you have incandescent lights and not LEDs, that should be a good amperage draw. Take another measurement while the lights are on and the voltage reading shouldn't drop much. If the first measurement wasn't 12.7 and the 2nd one wasn't fairly close, the battery is damaged.

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