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Old 03-03-2009, 12:52 PM   #1
river
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I have had a trailer and enjoyed the off grid type of camping with our 18 foot Sunline, we would get about 4 days with two batteries before a generator would be used. Now we have a 1006, 23 foot Gulfstream and we only get one day?s worth of battery power. I added another battery and I get no difference. My question is what is sucking so much power that the two batteries can?t keep up? I have had some issues with connections just twisted together instead of a mechanical connector in the brake lights and I was concerned this kind of connection might weaken the batteries. Any thoughts?
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Old 03-05-2009, 09:14 AM   #2
IOWA HAPPY CAMPER
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are they the same 2- batteries ? or are they new,,, there is a differance in the amount of power they will store
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Old 03-06-2009, 12:31 PM   #3
river
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Two new ones, I also find it strange that when the batterys run low you can't start the on board generator and no pull start for it. The fridge is larger than my old camper and I think that is the only amp draw. I have no idia what is drawing so much juice.
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Old 03-07-2009, 08:07 AM   #4
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It's Winter -- are you running your propane furnace? If so, the furnace fan can drain a battery over a cold night's usage.
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Old 03-07-2009, 08:17 AM   #5
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Normally 2 batteries connected together (in parallel) will have an internal current flowing between the 2 that will eventually cause a full discharge. To avoid this as much possible the batteries need to be the same type, size and age as well as having the same state of charge to begin with. It looks like you already have that. Besides the interior/exterior lights and water pump, and furnace fan, your RV does not have many other heavy users that come standard. The electronics in the fridge don't use much. Your brakes should be isolated when you are not towing. There is also the CO/Propane detector alarm which needs some juice. What additional appliances do you normally use? The only way I know for you to pin down the culprit is to disconnect or turn off all 12v loads and take a current reading at the battery(s) as you connect/operate each one back. By the way, the current should be zero with everything disconnected/off. If not , that indicates internal wiring leaks. Good Luck!
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Old 03-09-2009, 09:17 AM   #6
river
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Good stuff; the CO detector was having some issues and has been disabled as for heating we don?t use the furnace. I went through the fuse box one camping trip and did an amp draw on everything running and what I found was the fuel gage, the awning wind censor were drawing juice and not needed so I put a switch for both under the cabinet to isolate them. The inside lighting is fluorescents (I don?t like them) and I have all but one turned off. And with all this I still only get a day or a day and a half. We run a small quiet generator that is good on gas and save the on board one that drinks gas and is only electric start.
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Old 03-09-2009, 11:07 AM   #7
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River:
Your search for a battery drain villain is excellent. My thought is you may need to check the charging system as well. Hooked up to shore power, or connected to your towing vehicle, you should show the batteries receiving a charge.
You could also put a battery charger on your system and fully charge both batteries, to see how fast they drain after being fully charged.
Finally, what make, brand, and type are the batteries? Is the battery water level full? Low water will greatly decrease the charge.
What are the batteries specs?
The fact that the batteries are new means little, as they could have sat on a shelf for years prior to being used.
Good luck.



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Old 03-10-2009, 09:09 AM   #8
river
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Rdlamb I?m glad you stepped in and jogged my memory, at my age I write things down but forget about it. The trailer is across the state in storage but my notes are with me and this is what I found last spring. Lets back up for a moment, I don?t like the battery gauge supplied with the trailer so I built my own and the readings when I check them at the source is with a Fluke that I trust. When plugged in over night I get a reading of 13.37 plugged in, when I disconnect the power I get 12.57. With the on board generator running after they have drained the batteries show 13.36 running after 15 min. the batteries show 12.40. More background; we use to have a normal tv running on a 300w inverter and we never worried about running out of battery juice for 4 days now we have a LCD and an 80w inverter and get one day/night. As you can see we spend alot to time looking into this issue. One night I plugged the car into the trailer using the car connection and it the morning we had to walk two miles to get a battery charge for our tow vehicle. (a great morning for a walk we were lucky) I was just looking to see if this was a common thing with the 2006 models of If I got a mystery to solve. Thanks for the input some times it helps to have several heads working.
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Old 03-10-2009, 09:34 AM   #9
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Hi River:
From the specs you listed, your batteries are not working correctly. When charging, your volt meter should show 14 - 14.4 volts. Fully charged, the battery should show 12.75 volts, and is exhausted at 10.5 volts.

If these are the deep cycle type, that have caps so you can check their water levels you should do so every week. The charging/discharging cycles boil a lot of water out of a battery.

If these are not deep cycle, they will burn out quickly. Be careful, many so called "deep cycle" batteries are not well made.

Check out the information on Trojan's battery site.

http://www.trojan-battery.com/Products/ ... hicle.aspx

Also, the battery connections can become corroded, which allows energy leaks. The connections should be cleaned, well tightened, and protected with your favorite battery protectant.



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Old 03-16-2009, 11:48 AM   #10
river
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Thanks I over looked the simplest, did some research about the charging system built into the trailer and I will look into an automatic battery charger instead. And if for some reason I need to replace my batteries I should think along the lines of two 6 volt instead.
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Old 03-16-2009, 11:54 AM   #11
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Hi River:

Lots of discussions on 6v vs. 12v batteries. If you must buy new batteries, I've weighted in on 12v deep cycle, in lieu of the 6v. Main reason is keeping everything 12v, if you lose one of the 6v you lose your entire system, and the new 12v deep cycle cost the same per battery as the 6v, and provide equal energy to run your coach/trailer.



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Old 03-19-2009, 08:44 AM   #12
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Valid point and makes a lot of sense, I?m looking at this situation this weekend so your timing is spot on, Thanks
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