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Old 11-12-2021, 04:22 PM   #1
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Battery issue/disconnect switch

Hello,
So I thought I had an issue with my water pump, may be an issue with the battery or just me not being informed enough. A little background:
A week and a half ago I discovered my water pump wouldn’t work at all. I ended up buying an external battery charger to charge my battery fully. This took a few days but I got it from one red bar to green on the charger. My water pump works now and the battery seems to be acting like when I bought it. My question that I can’t seem to find a solid answer anywhere (basically I’m getting two different answers, one from the dealership and one from YouTube); should I keep the battery disconnect switch on or off while it’s plugged into shore power to charge the battery? When I bought the trailer, the disconnect switch was off and unplugged. Was this the reason that my battery was not charging so the months I was using it the battery was just getting drained without getting recharged. I called the dealer and they told me that the battery disconnect switch has to be off for the battery to receive a charge while it’s plugged in. YouTube has told me the opposite from what I can find. Can anyone shed some light on this for me? Thanks

Ryan
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Old 11-12-2021, 04:35 PM   #2
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Originally Posted by Rlenno View Post
Hello,
So I thought I had an issue with my water pump, may be an issue with the battery or just me not being informed enough. A little background:
A week and a half ago I discovered my water pump wouldn’t work at all. I ended up buying an external battery charger to charge my battery fully. This took a few days but I got it from one red bar to green on the charger. My water pump works now and the battery seems to be acting like when I bought it. My question that I can’t seem to find a solid answer anywhere (basically I’m getting two different answers, one from the dealership and one from YouTube); should I keep the battery disconnect switch on or off while it’s plugged into shore power to charge the battery? When I bought the trailer, the disconnect switch was off and unplugged. Was this the reason that my battery was not charging so the months I was using it the battery was just getting drained without getting recharged. I called the dealer and they told me that the battery disconnect switch has to be off for the battery to receive a charge while it’s plugged in. YouTube has told me the opposite from what I can find. Can anyone shed some light on this for me? Thanks

Ryan
1. It would help others if you supplied your RV make and model without having to go to your profile to find it. Different units work different ways.
2. You could find out for yourself if the batteries are getting charged when plugged in with switch off or on by probing the batteries with a digital meter.
They’re not expensive and almost always necessary when trouble shooting electrical problems.
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Old 11-12-2021, 04:56 PM   #3
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To expand on the previous post. Multimeter from Harbor Freight:
https://www.harborfreight.com/7-func...ter-63759.html

$7. If your batteries are charging from the trailer, the voltage between the positive and negative connections to the trailer at the battery should be greater than 13 volts. If the voltage is less than 13 volts, the battery is not being charged.

Most trailers the battery disconnect switch on/off indicates if the battery is "on" or "off". On means the battery is connected to the trailer and will be charged by the converter when plugged in - or will be supply trailer loads such as water pump and lights when not plugged into shore power. Off means the battery should be disconnected from the converter and the main loads in the trailer. However things such as the propane/CO alarm and emergency breakaway brake switch will still be connected and the battery will still be discharging.

You can disconnect all cables from the negative side of the battery itself, and then the battery will just self discharge internally a small amount but will last for 6 months on a full charge.
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Old 11-12-2021, 07:40 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rlenno View Post
Hello,

So I thought I had an issue with my water pump, may be an issue with the battery or just me not being informed enough. A little background:

A week and a half ago I discovered my water pump wouldn’t work at all. I ended up buying an external battery charger to charge my battery fully. This took a few days but I got it from one red bar to green on the charger. My water pump works now and the battery seems to be acting like when I bought it. My question that I can’t seem to find a solid answer anywhere (basically I’m getting two different answers, one from the dealership and one from YouTube); should I keep the battery disconnect switch on or off while it’s plugged into shore power to charge the battery? When I bought the trailer, the disconnect switch was off and unplugged. Was this the reason that my battery was not charging so the months I was using it the battery was just getting drained without getting recharged. I called the dealer and they told me that the battery disconnect switch has to be off for the battery to receive a charge while it’s plugged in. YouTube has told me the opposite from what I can find. Can anyone shed some light on this for me? Thanks



Ryan
It should be on to receive a charge from the converter while plugged into shore power.

We keep Forest River videos at this link below which explain it.

https://www.forestriverforums.com/fo...d.php?t=217978
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Old 12-02-2021, 06:34 AM   #5
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On mine, FR 5th wheel, i have a battery disconnect switch.

If equipped, the 12VDC battery disconnect switch is used to disconnect the RV's 12VDC electrical system from the batteries to avoid battery drain by electrical items that are hooked directly to the batteries.

Turn the battery disconnect ON to allow the battery to provide 12VDC power to your RV. Turn the battery disconnect OFF to prevent the battery from providing 12VDC power to your RV. To prevent battery discharge from the effects of parasitic battery draw, OFF is the recommended battery disconnect position when your RV is in storage.

So for the average person. off is on an on is off. confusing for sure.
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Old 12-02-2021, 10:14 AM   #6
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Wouldn't it be less confusing if the Factory (and everyone else) stopped referring to the switch as a Batter DISCONNECT Switch. Just Call it "BATTERY SWITCH" and ON would mean ON and OFF would mean OFF.

Factory could also add the term "Charge" to the ON label (ON/Charge).
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Old 12-02-2021, 11:06 AM   #7
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Originally Posted by TitanMike View Post
Wouldn't it be less confusing if the Factory (and everyone else) stopped referring to the switch as a Batter DISCONNECT Switch. Just Call it "BATTERY SWITCH" and ON would mean ON and OFF would mean OFF.

Factory could also add the term "Charge" to the ON label (ON/Charge).
BRAVO BRAVO!!!

One thing to note is that the battery switch doesn't isolate everything. For example, the inverter. And there may be other items directly connected like the brakes or CO Detector.
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Old 12-02-2021, 06:34 PM   #8
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I think they have it the "confused way" so the engineer that get a 6 fig salary earns guy keep. It's like a car engineer's should ve required to work on what they designed.
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