what does battery disconnect switch not disconnect?

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by WolfWhistle

Mine is LCI In-Wall type, with dual velocity controller
WW

What I meant, but didn't communicate well, was that I have heard some of the slides with electric motors are 'free' when there is no 12v. Ours are hydraulic and are never free unless I cut a hose.

[#1BAMAFan]

Converter has not been tested but I have done Voltage test with Voltmeter -- and here is the kicker: Yesterday when I put new batteries in, Control panel said I had 14.2 volts; I went back today with voltmeter, and now control panel says 13.6 volts and I confirmed that with voltmeter. This is with BCO off. Thanks

[rockfordroo]

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

What I meant, but didn't communicate well, was that I have heard some of the slides with electric motors are 'free' when there is no 12v. Ours are hydraulic and are never free unless I cut a hose.

X2. Schwintek's (at least some of them) have a motor brake that holds the slide in during travel (and presumably, any other time you have the slide pulled in - don't know about extended); so I'm guessing your slides would take some amount of current from your battery any time your slide is in (like in storage) if you don't have a battery disconnect. See page 3 of the attached Schwintek troubleshooting guide.

[WolfWhistle]

Originally Posted by ancilhicks

Converter has not been tested but I have done Voltage test with Voltmeter -- and here is the kicker: Yesterday when I put new batteries in, Control panel said I had 14.2 volts; I went back today with voltmeter, and now control panel says 13.6 volts and I confirmed that with voltmeter. This is with BCO off. Thanks

14.2 sounds like converter in charger mode called Bulk (14.6 is typical); then the 13.6 is called Normal by the makers. This tells me that the charger is working. If you check tomorrow you will probably read 13.2 volts. BCO off, meaning that it isn't cut off?
WW

[#1BAMAFan]

Thanks so much for your attention to this; checked again today and batteries remain at 13.5. Then the tech from the dealer called: seems they had given me wrong info 3-4 months ago when they were concerned that factory installed BCO was not working properly; they then installed a second BCO with a manual gate right on to the battery; well they had told me wrong about charging battery so for months I was not charging. Part head space on my part but not good on theirs. Bottom Line, when BCO gate open, no charge and no battery drain; when closed, charge and battery drain.

[fobagbob]

Thought I would share what I found regarding the battery disconnect switch on my 2017 Forester. After noticing that the batteries were still being charged with the disconnect switch open, I crawled around under the RV and behind panels to follow the wiring. I made the attached schematic to help me understand the wiring. Looks like all loads that may have standby current draw (TVs, CO det) are disconnected with the switch but some benign items are still on the batteries, also the converter is always charging the batteries and fortunately the converter must be a quality one because the batteries are not losing water like they did in my last RV.