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Old 01-30-2017, 07:11 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by camaraderie View Post
That draw can take out a Group 24 battery in less than a week if it is just sitting.
.430x 24 hours = 10.3 amp/hours draw per day... 72.1 amp/hours/week - dead flat.
Of course we don't know charging regimen etc. so even a new battery is no answer IF that is the passive draw in the system. I would like to hear from the OP what those amp draws represent and how he obtained them?
I agree more info would help. He stated this was draining his battery overnight and 430 ma should not drain on that quickly.
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Old 01-30-2017, 08:17 AM   #22
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You didn't list the small drain for the 02 detector / alarm. I suspect that this detector is what your calling your "low battery alarm".

Yes, some slides have a not running draw... very low, but something. It has a control board... it isn't a simple as a light bulb.

I must have missed it, but how are you testing when you are reading those small loads you quoted on the original post?

Does your battery have caps... a maintenance type or is it sealed?

If caps, is the water level good. If below one cell is below the plates, kiss it goodbye.

How old is it? With poor maintenance, battery life of 6 months to 2 years is not uncommon. What usually kills them is sufication cause by running battery too low and / or not fully charging when you do charge it. It is what it is, but these converter chargers take days, rather than hours to full charge a battery.

If your converter is good, that little 8 amp is pretty much useless... unless you have a week to get it recharged.

What does the battery voltage test in the morning? Even if its 11.0 vdc a cell isn't bad and I have never seen one come and go, in that regard.

When its fully charged (or you think it is) what is its specific gravity? ... if sealed, after charged and having rested (disconnected) for a minimum of 4 hours, what does it read voltage wise?

Taking a battery repeatedly down that low drastically reduces life and probably already has done the deed on your battery.

If you take it to a parts store to have it load tested, fully charge it first. If they test a dead battery, it will test dead (duh!)
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Old 02-01-2017, 12:27 PM   #23
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Thank you for your input

How I measured the draw: I removed the DC fuse, then used a multi-meter across the two poles of the fuse socket. Does that work?

Battery: It is a 3-month-old Group 27 Deep Cycle.made by Exide. It has caps on the cells, but they are recessed and don't look like they are intended to come off.

Fridge: The Fridge was on Auto even though I am dry camping. Based on someone's suggestion, I switched it from Auto to Gas. This helped, but didn't completely resolve the issue. If I turn the Fridge completely off there is no early morning alarm. I haven't yet looked into the door heater.

I have a Series 35 Safe-T Alert. When this started, the battery was at 1/3 when the alarm went off. Now the alarm goes off when the battery is at 2/3. This may be *part* of the problem. Is this a known failure mode for the sensor, and do you think it needs replacing? This is a 2015 model trailer that I purchased in May of 2016.
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Old 02-01-2017, 12:55 PM   #24
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You can remove the vent caps on any battery except a sealed AGM like a Hawker for instance or a sealed Lithium Iron battery. All the rest are removable, you might have to work at it a bit in the case of a deep cycle (like an Exide) but they come off.
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Old 02-01-2017, 05:49 PM   #25
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Originally Posted by SidecarFlip View Post
You can remove the vent caps on any battery except a sealed AGM like a Hawker for instance or a sealed Lithium Iron battery. All the rest are removable, you might have to work at it a bit in the case of a deep cycle (like an Exide) but they come off.
I agree.. remove the caps and check the fluid level.. If is down, the battery is probably toast.. A hydrometer would be helpful to determine the condition of the battery ( fully charge the battery before using the hydrometer in each cell)
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Old 02-02-2017, 10:53 AM   #26
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Originally Posted by eialbur View Post
How I measured the draw: I removed the DC fuse, then used a multi-meter across the two poles of the fuse socket. Does that work?
Excellent way to measure current.

Quote: Battery: It is a 3-month-old Group 27 Deep Cycle.made by Exide. It has caps on the cells, but they are recessed and don't look like they are intended to come off.

I've seen flush caps that can be removed. There are too many Exide battery types for me to know for sure. They make sealed and AGM types as well. Got a number on it? You might have a dual purpose marine? If you battery shows CCA, you don't have the best type.

Quote: Fridge: The Fridge was on Auto even though I am dry camping. Based on someone's suggestion, I switched it from Auto to Gas. This helped, but didn't completely resolve the issue. If I turn the Fridge completely off there is no early morning alarm. I haven't yet looked into the door heater.

On auto and without shore / generator power you were already on gas.

Quote: I have a Series 35 Safe-T Alert. When this started, the battery was at 1/3 when the alarm went off. Now the alarm goes off when the battery is at 2/3. This may be *part* of the problem. Is this a known failure mode for the sensor, and do you think it needs replacing? This is a 2015 model trailer that I purchased in May of 2016.

Battery status monitors that show percentages or have what some call idiot lights are pretty much useless. A hydrometer if the battery has removable vent caps, or voltage of a resting battery via a VOM on DC volts. I good battery monitor is the best choice, such Trimetric TM-2030.
W
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Old 02-02-2017, 11:13 PM   #27
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Power draw: Fridge on Auto

Evidently the Fridge draws a fair amount of DC when in Auto, even if you are not plugged into shore power. When I have the Fridge on Auto I get a drained battery in the morning, and when the Fridge is on Gas I don't. I haven't gotten out the multimeter to measure the difference, but it does seem to make a difference.
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Old 02-05-2017, 08:53 AM   #28
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Originally Posted by eialbur View Post
Evidently the Fridge draws a fair amount of DC when in Auto, even if you are not plugged into shore power. When I have the Fridge on Auto I get a drained battery in the morning, and when the Fridge is on Gas I don't. I haven't gotten out the multimeter to measure the difference, but it does seem to make a difference.
I'll want to test mine, to see. I haven't considered that it could make much of a difference, but maybe so.
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Old 02-09-2017, 01:58 PM   #29
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Originally Posted by eialbur View Post
Evidently the Fridge draws a fair amount of DC when in Auto, even if you are not plugged into shore power. When I have the Fridge on Auto I get a drained battery in the morning, and when the Fridge is on Gas I don't. I haven't gotten out the multimeter to measure the difference, but it does seem to make a difference.
It's checking for AC voltage every "so often". Once a second, twice a second, once every 5 seconds... Regardless, it's electronics and it's a draw.
I hadn't thought of it either, but it's good to know.

I'll be doing the heater MOD too. Probably put it on a toggle switch.
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Old 02-09-2017, 02:40 PM   #30
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The final solution (sort-of)

1) The Dometic refrigerator has a 'Climate Control' heater in the door - what that means is there is a 12v resistance heater around the edge of the door to prevent condensation and/or frost build-up. This pulls a lot of power. Dometic used to have a switch which allowed you to turn it off - now you have to get to the circuit board and pull a lead (or cut a wire) if you want to disable it. I chose to pull the lead (which also turns off the bulb in the fridge, but I don't want to cut wires just yet).

2) The Jensen stereo is never really off - it just goes into standy-by mode. This pulls a lot of unnecessary power. I pulled the fuse and will eventually put in a switch at the stereo.

3) The TV antenna amplifier is a constant drain on the battery if you don't turn it off.

Okay - so now I have much less drain on the battery ... but I'm still not happy.
4) Don't put mismatched batteries in parallel - the weaker battery discharges the stronger battery.

I stopped screwing around and bought two 6V AGM deep cycle batteries. They are a lot more expensive than regular flooded cell batteries but have a lot of advantages.

So - when I started out I would have charged batteries at 10pm and a low voltage alert at 7am. Now I have charged batteries at dinner and at noon the following day the battery idiot light still indicates a full charge.
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Old 02-09-2017, 02:44 PM   #31
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The carbon monoxide detector is also a constant draw.
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Old 02-10-2017, 10:55 AM   #32
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The carbon monoxide detector is also a constant draw.
FYI, its usually running on one of the 12v light fuses... mine is for the bedroom... the load was around .1 to .2 amps
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Old 02-10-2017, 11:04 AM   #33
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FYI, its usually running on one of the 12v light fuses... mine is for the bedroom... the load was around .1 to .2 amps
Probably do one doesn't just pull the fuse.....
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