Battery Drains w/BCC Disconnected.

[SoMoney]

Greetings,

I'm a new owner of a 2010 Georgetown 320Bunkhouse with BCC (Battery Control Center.). I'm having an issue where two fully charged 12V batteries drain down too 1/3 charge after 12hours...

1. The RV was on shore power all morning/day/afternoon BCC Enabled for charging (BCC's little fan in the rear is spinning telling me its probably charging..)
2. I disconnect shore power.
3. Drove to Walmart who tested both batteries as good (700CCA PASS)
4. Drive home, parked, and verified my battery levels were FULL via panel.
4. I hit the BCC's Battery Disconnect switch (I hear the relays snap below me)

The coach is dark; According to my manual, only the LP leak detector will run in the BCC disconnected state. It doesn't seam reasonable to me that the coach would loose 2/3 of its charge running an LP leak detector that pulls maybe .5ah.

I'm leaking someplace and it's not LP.

[LadyWindrider]

Get a voltmeter. Connect to shore power and charge both batteries however long that takes. Now disconnect shore power. Now physically disconnect the batteries and and wait an hour. Measure the voltage of each battery, and write it down. Wait 24 hours, measure the voltage of each battery and compare with day before readings, should be within a few tenths of a volt, and 12 volts or over.

Report findings back and we'll give you some more stuff to check. As for Wal Mart testing your batteries, that is about as good as me saying I tested them. There is no quick way to test a battery.

[SoMoney]

No time to play battery doctor this week so I put her back in storage until the weekend. 30+ hours charging, Battery Disconnect in the OFF position, and LPG valve twisted off.

PS.
A LPG Electrical question. Right before the hose to my 29gal LPG tank there is what looks to be a SMALL inline heating element. It has two wires going to it with a little silver nub on top that is HOT TO THE TOUCH. My LPG manual makes no mention of it. I imagine it heats the LPG into PG? What is it called?

[flyrotor]

[A LPG Electrical question. Right before the hose to my 29gal LPG tank there is what looks to be a SMALL inline heating element. It has two wires going to it with a little silver nub on top that is HOT TO THE TOUCH. My LPG manual makes no mention of it. I imagine it heats the LPG into PG? What is it called?[/QUOTE]

I don't know what you are talking about here, but I have never heard of a heat element on a propane tank system, seems to me that heat and fuel spells trouble...... just needs oxygen and kaboom

[dimurrrw]

I don't get the "hot" part. Could it possibly be the sending unit for a remote read (inside) gas level monitor? Do you have one in your coach?

[SoMoney]

Um, now you guys got me a little worried.
I don't have anything like it in the coach nor have I seen anything like it before.. I doubt I'm the only Goergetown owner that has this... Any 2009-2010 owners with the 29gal LPG tanks?

I didn't think it was a leak detector BECAUSE it was hot/uncomfortable to the touch. I thought maybe it was some arctic pack add on. It's not a regulator thats for sure.... Its very small, right next to the hose, and the silver nub rises off it about 1/2in for what I can only assume to be a heat-sink of some kind?

Or delayed detonation device?

I'll take a picture this weekend after I re-charge my drained batteries again...

[jimh]

with the bats having nothing connected to them, do they hold a charge? i've had a bad battery behave like that.
disconnecting the bat is the ultimate test of the bat. the load test should have detected a problem but...
if that proves that the load test was correct, connect one thing at a time.

[n1joh]

i think what you are talking about is the gass shut off which is connected to the gass detector . whe the detector smells gass it sounds and sends a signel to that relay to shut down. i have a 2009 george town.

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by n1joh

i think what you are talking about is the gass shut off which is connected to the gass detector . whe the detector smells gass it sounds and sends a signel to that relay to shut down. i have a 2009 george town.

Now THAT will kill your batteries! If the detector is bad (or really detecting gas) it will send a shutoff signal to the LPG tank solenoid and power it closed. It is 12 volts. It gets HOT when being pulled closed. Has to be pulling several amps continuously.

Reset your LPG detector and see if that part cools off.

[n1joh]

try sutting off the the gas at the tank the disconnect the wire (one) at the switch and tape the wire so it dos not ground out and see if the battery goes dead. of it does the the switch could be bad.i don't have my coach here so i can't check the switch to see if it get hot? hope this helps

[SoMoney]

Today (4/14) I pulled my 2010 Goergetown from storage, sitting Dark/OFF since 4/9.

1. Turn the LPG valve on the tank on, noted the LPG Shutoff solenoid was cool to the touch (Thanks n1joh for confirming the LPG cutoff).
2. Open the front door, Entry streps retracted slowly (not good sign).
2. Went to the Power panel, hit the Battery test, quick flash, and nothing.
3. Opps! Turned BCC switch to the ON POSITION. (Hear the relay under me.)
3. Went BACK to the Power Panel, hit the Battery test, Lights up "E"


Soooo, I go ahead and start my coach's engine (and generator with help of boost button) and drive home to get her on AC power to recharge overnight. I grabbed my IR TEMP PROBE and measured the LPG solenoid to give you an idea of how hot it gets. To test if this is my culprit I turned my BCC disconnect switch off, waited an hour, and confirmed the LPG Solenoid was cooler to the touch (DARN! not that easy....)

She's in my front yard right now charging back up.

[SoMoney]

Batts fully charged......
I went to clean my terminals, re-check the fluid levels on the battery, etc.

Question before I start my voltage readings.....

I'm unclear on what those two wires (blue 15A, green 30A), hooked directly up to my batteries positive terminal do exactly.... I know if I tap the green wire to the positive terminal I get a nice spark.

Those two wires are obviously bypassing the BCC .... I think I found my drain. now I gotta relocate them....

[n1joh]

check under the cover(step) there should be a wiring diagram for your coach i don"t know why they put them there? i thing the wires you are talking about are for your steps if they are electric. one is for the switch and the other is for the motor. if you look at the control box there should be a white,red,and yellow and a brown?

[SoMoney]

Not enough hours in the day with us camping this Easter weekend. I'm going to take the georgetown into the shop tomorrow and tell them whats happening.

On a side note when the batteries are charging one is warm to the touch while the other is cool to the touch. Not sure what that means as both water levels are fine and bubbling up a storm.

To me it means their not equal.

I cant even run the fridge 12h without draining the batteries dead.

[Herk7769]

If you remove the fuse from the green fuse holder, what stops working?

[jimh]

sk

[SoMoney]

Originally Posted by herk7769

If you remove the fuse from the green fuse holder, what stops working?

The Green 25A line is for the entrance step.

Another green wire can be seen on the bottom left of the picture. Is too short to be factory installed, its stretched from the step control box to the battery's ground directly.
I'll be speaking with Mike Thompsons RV about this entire step installation.

[jimh]

that added wire, lower left, brings u questions...why did they add it?
if u disconnect from the steps (the pos lead), do u still get ur spark? i'm wondering why they would run a seperate wire back the the bat unless the pos and neg were in the same harness and wound up shorting together.

[SoMoney]

The dealer checked it out and one of my batteries was bad. I asked if I could pay the diff for a bigger battery that would fit the tray. I didnt pay anything when I left so when I popped the battery door I see they replaced them with the cheap o' 27's

2 x INTERSTATE SRM-27's.
600CCA
750MCA
160m@25A
17h@5A
5.2h@15A

Originally Posted by jimh

that added wire, lower left, brings u questions...why did they add it?
if u disconnect from the steps (the pos lead), do u still get ur spark? i'm wondering why they would run a separate wire back the the bat unless the pos and neg were in the same harness and wound up shorting together.

I suspect wiring the steps DIRECT TO BATTERY is a dealer trick to allow the coach to sit on a lot with BCC Off yet keep the steps running for sales prospects. I'm wiring everything to the BCC (The 30A and the 12A). OFF should be "OFF"... The Steps work with or without the green wire touching the negative pole so I'll relocate that ground wire to frame.

[Herk7769]

An excellent Dual Purpose Battery.