[mikem]

Looking for information

When my motorhome is in storage with everything apparently shutoff, my batteries go dead in 3-4 weeks. Has anyone had similar experience or any suggestions. Thanks.

 

[Arkie]

You need to put a battery disconnect or take one of the post off. There must be some pulling some juice. Have a good winter. Rick

 

[Country Squire]

Mikem, Yes the newer campers have parasitic drain on the batteries. Do you have a gas detector? Do you have a carbon monoxide detector? Those and various other things cause the batteries to discharge. I make sure mine are all charged up then I take the cables off or if you have access to electricity you can put a trickle charger on them. Hope this helps George.

 

[halfmile]

My trailer has a carbon monoxide detector. I installed a simple Radio shack switch on the breaker/fuse panel interrupting the power to it. Now my battery doesn't go dead, even after 2-3 weeks.

HM

 

[ec90t]

I would go out and get a Battery Tender to keep the battery up to snuff. This is very different from a battery charger and it won't cook your battery.

ec90t

 

[Rottweil72]

Yep --- the above is all true -- mine as well, has all kinds of monitors, boards for your water heater, furnace, control panels, etc./etc./ -- use a battery tender and get some sleep, don't worry -- use one on the motorcycle as well !

Bill

PS -- make sure your batteries are good..and check your battery voltage output before you hook up tender -- you will usually see full green charge light in short time and will stay that way --- otherwise, my batteries die in a few days

 

[Hydra]

I had a truck that would do the samething. I only used it for snow plowing but the battery would be dead the next day. I put a switch in the cab. Up it was on down it was off. It was easier then opening the hood each time I had to turn the knob. Besides with it in the cab I could see it and know if it was on or off. It only cost me if I remember right $20 to $25.00. I had to also buy longer cables to go to the battery and sylinoid(sp). Hey it worked great.

 

[Hydra]

Something else came to mind. Put a meter on the battery to see if power is being drawn from it with everything off on the RV. Then go to your fuse box and pull just one fuse at a time. Then look at the meter to see if it reduced the amount of power being taken. Put that fuse back and pull another one. Once you find the fuse that is cutting off the usage of power then you can look in your fuse chart to see what is shorting out or still on. In a work truck the glove box light was not shutting off and we did not know it till we started to pull fuses with a meter.

 

[Haskins Bill]

One of those battery tenders only puts couple of miliamps back into a battery not near as much as a trickle charger. Buy them at Harbor Freight. Yes they are from China but what the heck is not these days. I use one on my trolling motor battery. Good advice about looking for darin on the battery also. Bill

 

[635 G]

Never had a motor home but lived on a motor yacht for a good number of years-had the house bank, engine batteries & generator batteries isolated by a series of heavy duty switches. nothing could drain vital batteries unless I wanted it to happen, If I had a motor home I would isolate the engine start & generator system batteries from all the house systems & make sure I could start the main engine at all times. After the main engine is running, getting all the auxilliary equip. on line should not be a problem. You're in a much less severe environment that the marine environment its a piece of cake.

Lou

 

[omahasportingsupply]

Could you use the snap open jaws (on you meter) to determine where the drain is located? I am always using the snap jaws to make sure that I don't draw more amps than a wire or breaker is rated at. JMHO. I have no REAL RV experience, but I did stay at a Holiday INN last night.