Battery Charging Question

[1st SGT]

2008 Flagstaff 831rlss TT
Charging Question. TT plugged in to electricity at home. Battery losing charge?
Took battery out to recharge and low voltage alarm starting chirping. Charged battery to full charge. 24 hours later battery down to 25% on control panel.
Any suggestions why battery is losing charge while plugged into current.
Battery is good.

[PhoneDude 8289]

Could be a bad battery, shorted cell

[Still Kickin]

Buy one of these that will tell you the battery status by cell Battery Hydrometer | eBay

[1st SGT]

Had battery tested yesterday and it tested good!
Main concern is that electricity is not maintaining the charge.

[MarsMan]

what is the voltage across the terminals when you are plugged in and the converter is charging... mine says 13.4 (ish)- I would not go by the lights on your panel.

[Still Kickin]

Test your individual cells as stated. Your relying on the load test I assume, and that it showed good bat. and assume done correctly, with good equipment for the deep cycle bat. Something is knocking your bat down in a 24 hr period. Unless you eliminate the bat from the equation, you're going to remain in a guessing game. It is a handy tool to own for testing bat status. If it test fine (all cells) then your on to what is drainingthe bat that rapidly. If all you said is correct, you have a seious drain somewhere after you eliminate the bat from the equation. Just sayin'

[mfMcFroggierPod]

Do you have a load tester to check current draw?
I had a similar problem and it was my radio. It was turn off but with display on was drawing 5 amps. Turned off problem went away.


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[Blackhat6mike]

There are several parasitics that draw down your batteries, some not easy to find. Put a cutoff switch between the bat and the camper and leave it off when not in use.
My outside entertainment center radio, tv signal amp, co2 detector were depleting my 2 batteries in 3 days. I installed a 4 way marine battery disconnect switch [bat#1, Bat#2, both or OFF] which cured the problem. I now have 24/7 solar and don't worry about turning anything off. Batteries never drop below 12.8 vdc. They generally stay around 13.8vdc.

[Flybob]

Check to insure that the break away switch has not been activated by accident. That will drain your battery in no time.

[harderd]

He said it is drawing down even when the camper is plugged in. Suggests the converter is not charging. It may just be a bad converter all around.

[Blackhat6mike]

Originally Posted by harderd

He said it is drawing down even when the camper is plugged in. Suggests the converter is not charging. It may just be a bad converter all around.

X2 I agree, sounds like the converter went south.

[mud yapster]

Originally Posted by Blackhat6mike

X2 I agree, sounds like the converter went south.

X3 if your connected to shore power the converter/charger should be keeping your battery fully charged. Check you converter/charger. Maybe you blew a low voltage fuse or worse case the converter is bad.

[Gee Whiz]

I installed a battery cut off switch at the battey neg. post. This will stop battery drain...

[fyrdad]

Along this topic ..

If I don't plan on any camping for a month or two. Does the group think/know it's ok to just let the battery die and then I recharge it fully prior to departure?
This is an alternative to purchasing a battery tender and leaving it plugged in for two or three months with no planned camping
Greg


Greg

2014 24 IKSS Roo
2012 F150 Quad cab eco boost w/tow package

[youroo]

Originally Posted by fyrdad

Along this topic ..

If I don't plan on any camping for a month or two. Does the group think/know it's ok to just let the battery die and then I recharge it fully prior to departure?
This is an alternative to purchasing a battery tender and leaving it plugged in for two or three months with no planned camping
Greg


Greg

2014 24 IKSS Roo
2012 F150 Quad cab eco boost w/tow package

Dont let it Die,just take off a cable,any Good Batt. should last 2-*3 months! Youroo!! PS a Dead Batt will freeze & Bust!

[fyrdad]

The battery is already dead(it's how sister in law left it to me) I removed the battery and have it in my garage, was planning on fully charging it and then leaving it alone


Greg

2014 24 IKSS Roo
2012 F150 Quad cab eco boost w/tow package

[northstar1960]

Originally Posted by fyrdad

Along this topic ..

If I don't plan on any camping for a month or two. Does the group think/know it's ok to just let the battery die and then I recharge it fully prior to departure?
This is an alternative to purchasing a battery tender and leaving it plugged in for two or three months with no planned camping
Greg


Greg

2014 24 IKSS Roo
2012 F150 Quad cab eco boost w/tow package

unhooked your battery should not lose full charge if it's a good battery . just charge when you get ready to leave

[ScottBrownstein]

If I read this correctly, all of this happened with the TT plugged in to shore power. If that is correct, the battery should never go dead in this situation unless there were loads turned on that in total, exceeded the output capacity of the converter. On my rig that is 70 AMPS of DC.

Now, when you are connected to shore power, the battery gauge on the panel will always read 100% since it sees the output of the converter which is at least 13.25 volts and a full battery is less than that. As such, if you are plugged in to 110V and the battery gauge reads less than 100% either your converter is dead, it has a blown fuse, it is turned off at the breaker panel or something is wired incorrectly.

When you take the battery out and are still plugged in to shore power, do the lights work? If they do, the converter is at least putting out 12 volts or something near that.

[Blackhat6mike]

If you let a battery go completely dead, odds are you won't be able to charge it up again. Dead is DEAD! If it does take a charge, it probably won't hold it. Install a new battery AND a disconnect switch and do it right. IMHO, I wouldn't leave home with the old battery onboard.

[northstar1960]

Originally Posted by ScottBrownstein

If I read this correctly, all of this happened with the TT plugged in to shore power. If that is correct, the battery should never go dead in this situation unless there were loads turned on that in total, exceeded the output capacity of the converter. On my rig that is 70 AMPS of DC.

Now, when you are connected to shore power, the battery gauge on the panel will always read 100% since it sees the output of the converter which is at least 13.25 volts and a full battery is less than that. As such, if you are plugged in to 110V and the battery gauge reads less than 100% either your converter is dead, it has a blown fuse, it is turned off at the breaker panel or something is wired incorrectly.

When you take the battery out and are still plugged in to shore power, do the lights work? If they do, the converter is at least putting out 12 volts or something near that.

Plugged into shore power 24-7 for a few months can ruin a battery . it will be charge all the time by the converter and no drain will cause the battery to sulfate and shorten it's life span . While i stay plugged in all the time i use the battery disconnect . then ill run the batteries down once a month about 40% and charge them up . this keeps them in good shape