Battery discharging ... but everything is off

[Nail56]

Have been on the road for three months and the last three weeks this has come up. We park the 2011 Georgetown somewhere with no shore power. It's locked up and everything is turned off, as far as we know. We go away for a day or three and when we come back, the battery is dead. The chassis battery is fine and the engine starts right up. With that we can get the generator rolling and in a few minutes we have DC power back. What am I doing wrong on shutdown, though?

[Trempert]

Are you turning off the disconnect switch? It's the one with the orange light by the door. If you are, I had the same problem and the batteries had an internal short. New batteries solved everything.

[njfishing]

First thing I would do is have the battery tested. If it tests fine then you have something going on that's drawing it down.

Not sure how handy you are but there are some simple things you can do yourself.

First thing I would do if you don't already have one, is install a battery kill switch.... If your battery is in a spot where it's convenient to access, a simple switch like this can be connected between the negative battery post and the negative wire. https://www.amazon.com/NUZAMAS-Disco...291895&sr=1-92 This will completely eliminate any draws you have that are draining your house battery.

As far as what's drawing it down, it could be your parasitic load. Things like your radio are still alive and in stand by mode even though you have them shut off as is your CO detector. A kill switch will cut them off completely.

Having said that, the normal parasitic loads typically aren't enough to drain your batter down in a few days, it would likely take a week or so, so I don't think that's going to be your issue.

Next thing to check is to follow your wires from the house battery to your camper and look for relays and solenoids. A friend had this same issue. Although he had a brand new house battery, it would completely drain over night. Turned out he had a bad relay between the engine alternator and his house battery and once he had it replaced his issues were over.

In either case, if you install the kill switch it will eliminate what ever is causing your battery to drain down. Unless you determine it is your parasitic load, you want to get to the root cause of this issue in case it's something that could cause a short somewhere.

Hope this helps and best of luck.

[CHICKDOE]

are you sure you are getting the batteries fully charged before you leave?

[Kimber45]

Battery disconnect? many many parasitic draws that will kill a battery. co2 detector antenna booster stereo receiver etc

[cavie]

Have the battery load tested

[tomkatb]

Reguardless of parasitic loads you should be good for several days assuming you do not have a residential fridge. They use a ton of battery.

So either the batteries are toast or they are not charging correctly when plugged in is most likely.

When you plug the shore power in voltage at the batteries should be 14+. Easy to check. Voltage should lower as the batteries recharge. Recovery would take a while.

If the house batteries are over 3 years old likely they are the issue. They do not take full discharges well. The no more than 50% discharge rule is important. About 12 volts with a meter.

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by Nail56

Have been on the road for three months and the last three weeks this has come up. We park the 2011 Georgetown somewhere with no shore power. It's locked up and everything is turned off, as far as we know. We go away for a day or three and when we come back, the battery is dead. The chassis battery is fine and the engine starts right up. With that we can get the generator rolling and in a few minutes we have DC power back. What am I doing wrong on shutdown, though?

An ammeter could help diagnose the issue. Don't mount it; just put a couple of heavy alligator clips on it.

Disconnect one side of the house batteries and plug the ammeter between the cable and battery. Shut down as normal and measure the current. It should be less than 1-2 amps. If it is, you may have a defective battery. If there is higher current draw than that, something's drawing current that shouldn't.

Larry

[pdqparalegal1]

Simular test. Connect a 12v test light between neg terminal and frame. If light is on. You have current flow, draw. Pull fuses, disconnect things till light goes out. Thst is your problem circuit. Amp meter works the same but may be harder to read in tight spaces

[Scrapper]

Another thing to think about is the auto cutoff for your LP tank. I believe they are powered all the time until the CO/LP detector tells it to turn off.

[Splitshaft]

Easy fix, have the batteries tested (they are likely failed from being completely discharged). When the coach battery is disconnected with the “cutoff switch,” if you have one, check for current draw with a 12V test light. If it does not light, any current draw won’t drain the batteries for several weeks. If the test light lights, find the source of current draw and correct that before it destroys any new batteries installed as completely discharging batteries is the absolutely best way to ruin them. Nothing could be more simple. Likely an RV mechanic could fix the problem if not wishing to repair it on your own.