Chassis Battery loses charge rapidly...even with disconnect in store position

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
L

Lunadogs

New member
Joined
Dec 2, 2019
Posts
4
Hi guys! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend.
I have a 2001 Rexhall Roseair that is having some electrical issues. Replaced chassis battery about two months ago and it has already lost its charge. It is NOT the alternator. It loses charge even with the battery disconnect set to "Store" Any ideas as to what might be drawing from the battery? Thanks!
 
It is possible that you got a bad battery.  Is it possible you never had it fully charged?  Also, are you sure the disconnect works as it should?  There are many things that can draw on a chassis battery, even a main door left slightly ajar, glovebox light, you name it.  I would start with a fully charged battery, then disconnect the negative, not just the 'store' switch.
 
I would start with a clamp on amp meter and check for what draw is at the battery.

If you do have a draw on the battery then start pulling fuses to find the source.
 
Check your battery terminals - previous owner could have added a load between the battery and the switch.
Can you access the connections on the store switch? If so, then take a voltage reading across the terminals in the 'off' position. If no voltage then the switch is stuck 'on'.
 
John From Detroit said:
How are you determining it has lost charge. Dropped from 13.6 to 12.6 (normal) Lower. No Start? How?
Click to expand...
First off, it doesn't turn over. When using my multi-meter, it registered 3 volts. When it was new, it started, no problem. After it went dead, I jump started it and removed the jumper cables, it tested 14.3 volts so, the alternator is doing its job. The disconnect is working because when the new battery was installed and we switched to store, you could not start it. Switching to active, it started right up. After a couple of weeks being in the "store" position, it lost charge and wouldn't start.
 
SpencerPJ said:
It is possible that you got a bad battery.  Is it possible you never had it fully charged?  Also, are you sure the disconnect works as it should?  There are many things that can draw on a chassis battery, even a main door left slightly ajar, glovebox light, you name it.  I would start with a fully charged battery, then disconnect the negative, not just the 'store' switch.
Click to expand...
The battery was good when new. Took a 1000 mile trip and also have new house batteries. The house batteries are fully charged after the trip, but the chassis battery died after a couple of weeks. Thanks for the negative terminal disconnect...I'll do that! There is, however, something drawing on the battery while in store mode. I've heard the LP Gas detector might be one culprit, but now during all of this, the Generac generator will not start, either. I realize you need to have a fully charged battery in order for the generator to work properly. My next step will be to check ALL of the fuses located to the left of the brake pedal where the fuse block(many fuses) for the disconnect are located.
 
Lunadogs said:
First off, it doesn't turn over. When using my multi-meter, it registered 3 volts. When it was new, it started, no problem. After it went dead, I jump started it and removed the jumper cables, it tested 14.3 volts so, the alternator is doing its job. The disconnect is working because when the new battery was installed and we switched to store, you could not start it. Switching to active, it started right up. After a couple of weeks being in the "store" position, it lost charge and wouldn't start.
Click to expand...

Well you answered my questions, and very well (voltmeter) yes 3 volts is seriously dead. for a starting battery it is "Stick a recycle tag on it" dead.

NOW,  This brings to the disconnet... On my Rig there is none. .  There is for the HOUSE but not the chassis. (Well technically there is but it's ignition switch operated. does nothing even resembling a full disconnect. a whole lot of RV is still connected including lights and such)  Has caused me to use the Emergency Start (Boost) switch more than once. and one time due to an isolator failure even that did not help. had to jump start ye old Onan. that worked.
 
Sounds like you could also have some bad battery cables or connections.  If you were charging, maybe just didn't transmit through to the battery.
 
Lunadogs said:
Hi guys! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend.
I have a 2001 Rexhall Roseair that is having some electrical issues. Replaced chassis battery about two months ago and it has already lost its charge. It is NOT the alternator. It loses charge even with the battery disconnect set to "Store" Any ideas as to what might be drawing from the battery? Thanks!
Click to expand...

\
Best to put a kill switch on the battery. The eliminates all parasitic draw possibilities
 
I'm with Gizmo100, put a meter on it and prove what the parasitic draw is.  With any OBDII chassis there will be some amount of current but it shouldn't be so much as to draw the battery down in a couple weeks.  Measuring the current will tell you if it's getting drawn down, or if it's something with the battery where it wasn't getting charged or the least likely, bad from the start.  In a perfect world you shouldn't have to disconnect the cables but it is the only way to know for sure, even to cover for simple issues like forgetting to turn something off.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
 
I don't know about a 2001 Rexhall, but late model motorhomes power a number of things from the chassis battery so that they remain active with the house batteries in "store" mode. Common examples are entry steps, LP & CO detectors, and leveling systems. The RVIA construction standards now require many of those to be on the chassis battery, but back in 2001 there was more variation among builders. Besides, Rexhall often went its own way on design matters, whatever the engineering whim of founder Bill Rex determined.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 988 (members: 37, guests: 951)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,917
Posts
1,387,454
Members
137,672
Latest member
Davestic
Back
Top Bottom