House Batteries draining to fast

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RobertR

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Sep 19, 2011
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163
I have a 2004 Winn Journey.  The house batteries drain down in a day.  The only thing that is on is the fridge, which should not drain that much juice.  It has 3 12v Interstate batteries. 

What should I look for?

Already had it in the shop twice.  First dealer replaced the inverter charger, second dealer replaced a battery.  Replacing the battery that the dealer said was bad seemed to help a little.

I have solar cells on the way that may help keep it charged up, but the batteries should not be running down as fast as they do. 
 
You probably have a 4-door Norcold 1200. The dual fans do burn some power. Beyond that, perhaps a storage compartment light on?  You should have an equalizing cycle on the inverter. If the batteries are more than a couple of years old, equalizing can sometimes make a big difference.  Oh, and replacing only one battery in a multiple bank is not a good idea as the new battery is overworked to compensate for the older ones.
 
I just replaced my batt. One dead cell can in a single batt can cause problems in the compleat system. I ran a cell test and found the dead cell and now the problem is fixed. A good shop should be able to test each batt and find the cell that is the problem.
 
Finding a bad battery is not rocket science. Split all the paralleled batteries apart and measure the voltage of each one separately. If you find one substantially lower than the other(s) (IE 12V or below) you have likely found the bad one. But, as mentioned above, it would be bad practice to replace only the bad one in a battery bank unless they are all relatively new and you got a bad one initially.
 
A fully charged 12V battery should read 12.6V without a recent surface charge on it.  Meaning it just came off a charger.  Let the battery sit for several hours and then check the voltage.  Try not to let your batteries get below 11.6V.
 
One thing that can do it and is often overlooked is the basement lights. Make sure that the switch is off and all the individual basement door switches are actually working.
 
One thing that can do it and is often overlooked is the basement lights. Make sure that the switch is off and all the individual basement door switches are actually working.
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I agree, this will kill them in about a day and the first thing I check. Also, you can check amp draw at the battery cable to see if there is a problem. With everything off (including the fridge) you should be app. 1/2 amp max from phantom loads. Above that and you have a problem or something is left on. If amp draw is correct then start looking at batteries again, etc. and turn on the fridge and see what it actually draws. Walmart has a voltmeter that will measure up to 10a current for about $15.
 
My experience has been that the inverter on "stand-by" will pull a couple of amps depending on the inverter...  if the batteries are even slightly weak, this could draw them down pretty quickly, especially if one is weaker than the others.
 
the inverter on "stand-by" will pull a couple of amps
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Absolutely!  We learned that the hard way ...batteries wouldn't even last overnight with "nothing" running. Now I NEVER have the inverter on unless we are using it for TV, etc. As soon as we are not using it, it is turned off.
 
afchap said:
Absolutely!  We learned that the hard way ...batteries wouldn't even last overnight with "nothing" running. Now I NEVER have the inverter on unless we are using it for TV, etc. As soon as we are not using it, it is turned off.
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That could be it, because on wall panel it says the inverter is on stand by.  I assumed stand by meant "off" but obviously not. 

If it pulls 2 amps in stand by mode, that will run down a battery. 

Is that 2 amps at 12 v or 2 amps at 120v?  10 times different there  24 watts is enough to run down a battery in a day.   

How do you turn it off?  I don't see an off stting anywhere. 



I have not checked the basement lights to see if they really are being turned off.  I will do that as well.  Thanks
 
John Canfield said:
So you're saying with the coach plugged in to shore power, your batteries will still discharge?
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One battery did, but I replaced it.  The converter would start charging, then click off, then charge , then off, repeatedly.  Seemed like it was over loading or something.  The dealer replaced the inverter / converter, and that didn't fix anything. 

I found the bad battery by isolating them and charging them with an external charger one at a time.  Two of them took a charge, the 3rd one didn't.  So I replaced the one that didn't, which was a substantial improvement to things but still not up to par.

I was thinking about replacing the other two.  Sounds like that might be a good idea.
 
RobertR said:
That could be it, because on wall panel it says the inverter is on stand by.  I assumed stand by meant "off" but obviously not. 

If it pulls 2 amps in stand by mode, that will run down a battery. 

Is that 2 amps at 12 v or 2 amps at 120v?  10 times different there. 

How do you turn it off?  I don't see an off stting anywhere.
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Uhhhh,  it's 2 amps at the battery IIRC; when you are on shore power, the inverter will show "standby" so that it comes on if you lose shore power; if you press the middle "button" on the inverter/converter control panel once (at least on our panel) you will switch it to "off", then press it again to go to standby or "on" if you are not on shore power; if your batteries are going down I assumed it was when you did not not have the generator or shore power???
 
taoshum said:
Uhhhh,  it's 2 amps at the battery IIRC; when you are on shore power, the inverter will show "standby" so that it comes on if you lose shore power; if you press the middle "button" on the inverter/converter control panel once (at least on our panel) you will switch it to "off", then press it again to go to standby or "on" if you are not on shore power; if your batteries are going down I assumed it was when you did not not have the generator or shore power???
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Correct
 
Have the non-new batteries load tested.  If the batteries are a few years old or if they have been abused (uncovering the plates via a low water level or frequent very deep discharging), they should be replaced in any case.  I always replace batteries as a group as a matter of course (like tires.)
 
When plugged to shore power the inverter on standby uses no battery power at all - it is operating solely as a charger.  It is "standing by" in case shore power is lost.  The only time an inverter wastes power is when it is ON (inverting 12v to 120v) but there is little or no 120v load. The inverter will waste energy at the rate of a couple amps/hour even though it produces little orno120v  output.
 
The inverter is off.  When fridge is off and nothing on that I can see the battery is putting out ~ .5 amps.
with the fridge on it is meter reads 1.5 amps

But I noticed something odd.  There are 3 batteries in parallel.  There is a positive and negative out put cable from the 1st and 3rd battery, i.e. at each end.  2 + cables and 2 negative cables. 

The amps on the positive cable are being drawn from the rear battery cable while the amps from the negative are being drawn from the front battery.  That should only be true if the batteries were in series.  I'm replacing the 2 old batteries tomorrow.  The .5 amps could be being dawn by one of the batteries. 

None of the basement lights work.  There is no voltage going to them, and the 12v breakers are all pushed in. 
 
The inverter is off.  When fridge is off and nothing on that I can see the battery is putting out ~ .5 amps.
with the fridge on it is meter reads 1.5 amps
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Robert, sounds like your amp draw is pretty normal at 1/2a. The fridge drawing another 1a sounds about right but your batteries should last longer than a day. I would guess that even though the other 2 batteries took a charge they probably have some bad cells and are pulling your bank down as you indicated. I suggest replacing these two with the same as the one you just purchased to make sure the charge rates are the same.
But I noticed something odd.  There are 3 batteries in parallel.  There is a positive and negative out put cable from the 1st and 3rd battery, i.e. at each end.  2 + cables and 2 negative cables.

The amps on the positive cable are being drawn from the rear battery cable while the amps from the negative are being drawn from the front battery.  That should only be true if the batteries were in series.  I'm replacing the 2 old batteries tomorrow.  The .5 amps could be being dawn by one of the batteries.
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Your battery wiring sounds correct also. It is common to pull the pos cable off one battery and neg off another to help the battery bank share in the load. If you pull both wires off the same battery that battery will always die first.
None of the basement lights work.  There is no voltage going to them, and the 12v breakers are all pushed in.
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Not sure about your MH but mine has a separate switch that controls all the basement lights by the passenger side seat with the awning switch etc. I can shut all the basement lights off at this one location. Hope this helps.
 
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