How to stop parasitic draws

[Kvickers96]

We’re new to the 5th wheel life, so were struggling with our batteries and solar.

Our Sabre 37FBT is brand new and came preinstalled with a solar system. We have the batteries set to on as well as the solar system.

My question is, is it safe to turn off the breakers for everything but the converter, inverter, and batteries? In order to stop parasitic draws.

Is it safe to just unplug the things that are drawing such as the fridge?

What is the best way to prevent these things from happening?

TIA

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Kvickers96

We’re new to the 5th wheel life, so were struggling with our batteries and solar.

Our Sabre 37FBT is brand new and came preinstalled with a solar system. We have the batteries set to on as well as the solar system.

My question is, is it safe to turn off the breakers for everything but the converter, inverter, and batteries? In order to stop parasitic draws.

Is it safe to just unplug the things that are drawing such as the fridge?

What is the best way to prevent these things from happening?

TIA

Why would you turn off the breakers, to save battery power?
Breakers are for 120v AC and have no affect on 12v DC power.
Now if your inverter is for a residential fridge, you have to leave the inverter on.
Have you tested your batteries, converter and solar outputs with a multimeter?
How big is your solar system?

[Quadna71]

If your fridge is a 12v residential fridge, you might be able to turn it off directly on the controls of the fridge. Mine is an EverChill 12v unit with 10.7 cu ft of space. There is no readily visible on/off switch at the controls when you open the fridge door, but if you press/hold the button on the right (which normally increases the cold level) for 10 seconds then it puts the fridge into standby mode and will drop the energy consumption. Press/hold it again for another 10 seconds returns it to active mode.

[Chuck_S]

How your camper is wired will take some investigation on your part since wiring diagrams are often missing or wrong.

If the solar charging system is connected directly to the battery you can stop parasitic discharge by disconnecting everything else from the battery by switching/disconnecting the cable from the battery negative pole to the trailer frame (ground). This will cut all 12v power to the trailer if it's also disconnected from shore power (110vAC).

In my almost totally unrelated wiring my portable solar system connects directly to the battery which had been isolated (switched off) from supplying 12v to the trailer. Power goes into the battery, nothing comes out.

-- Chuck

[Toy4Rick]

Personally I just finished installing on/off switches for the TV, Antenna, Sound system and the 12vdc fridge... the only thing left (that I can think of) is the converter and the CO/Propane detector, those I'll leave as is...

The fridge was really important for me since it has an auto on feature, every time the battery is turned on, the fridge also turns on, hated that... now it only turns on when I want it on

[lazyjj]

Your Stereo, Propane/Carbon Monoxide detectors all have parasitic draws. There is constant pull on the battery. I have a 50 amp service at home for my unit so I am plugged in year round and battery stays charged. If your fridge is on and you don't need for it to stay cold, like posted above just turn it off. You could even use an adapter to plug into a 120v outlet at your home if you are not going to run AC or Microwave etc. If your rig is at a storage facility I would recommend removing battery and storing it at home on a trickle charger so that it will be ready to go when you use your unit next time.

[rvflyer57]

I may find I’m doing it totally wrong, but I only turn off my 12v refrigerator. and inverter. All other appliances that would have draw are on. Therefore the battery disconnect is on. Batteries are staying fully charged as viewed on the Go Solar panel when I check each week. We get a reasonable amount of weekly sun during the winter (rain periods followed by clearing), so it would differ depending on your particular weather. I have the optioned 380w solar installed by Rockwood.