2002 Fleetwood Flair House Batteris Are Being Drained

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crashtoy2026

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Joined
Dec 27, 2012
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5
Hi all, I'm new to the forums here. I see a lot of great info, but I'm still in need of help.

So the RV is a 2002 Fleetwood Flair,( which belongs to a friend) and the batteries are being drained after about 36hrs while parked and unplugged with the batteries at full charge. Shore power will charge the batteries, but it takes about 3 days to reach full charge. I've had her replace the batteries because the old one's were bad and I figured that might be the problem. It wasn't. According to the battery monitor inside, one battery is full and the other is not. These are 6v batteries wired in series. So now I'm looking for some good advice as to where to start.

Some background on me, since I'm the helping her with this issue. I'm a motorcycle technician that graduated from Motorcycle Mechanics Institute, so I am mechanically incline and had a decent understanding of electricity, however not on an RV. So I feel a little out of my realm here. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

    Thank you,
                Tony

 
 
Welcome, Crashtoy

First let me explain the battery monitor that you are looking at.  The battery that is indicating full is most likely the CHASSIS (starting) battery.  The battery that is indicating less than full are the HOUSE (the 6V series pair) batteries.

The cause of the battery drain could be several things. (i.e.an unnoticed basement bay light left on, the outside utility light on, any 12v device in the entertainment center, inverter, DVD player, etc...

The first thing i would check is the battery disconnect switches near the entry door.  These are used to remove 12v power from all the usual house appliances during storage periods.  These are toggle type switches (and poorly labeled by Fleetwood).

Press the TOP of the AUX (house battery) switch to CONNECT the batteries.  Press the BOTTOM of the switch to DISCONNECT the batteries when leaving rig NOT plugged to shore power.  The later is what you want to do in your situation.

This should result in disconnecting the majority of loads that could be responsible for the large battery drain that you are seeing.  If it does NOT, let us know, and I'm sure others here will have additional ideas.
 
Ok, so I've tried the disconnect switches, still have a drain. Also flipped the breakers into the off position, still has a drain. I didn't have an AMP meter with me, but did have a volt meter. While reading the volts with all power and switches off, I'm was reading 13.24v( fresh charge). As I continue watching the meter, I see a slight voltage drop to 13.20, then back to 13.24. This happens about every 10-12 secs. After about five minutes of the continuing fluctuation, the voltage has dropped 12.94v. This will continue to happen until the batteries have drained completely. Hopefully this will give some insight as to what is happening and someone can chime in.

  Thank You
 
It is not unusual for the batteries to drain off the surface charge (the approx 13.X volts) down to about 12.6 fairly quickly.  You will have to watch them for a longer period of time (with those disconnect switches in the disconnect position) before you can say that they will continue to drain until dead.
 
Understandable, however, this already an on going problem with batteries being drained until dead. The tests I performed were with freshly charged brand new batteries so that I have somewhere to start.

    Thank you.
 
I didn't have an AMP meter with me, but did have a volt meter.

Sounds like you have digital voltmeter.  My little one has a DC amp scale starting at 10 amp.

  If yours does too I would suggest disconnecting a battery cable and putting the meter in series with the battery post and the disconnected cable.  See what happens...start with the 10 amp scale and move lower if necessary to find the actual drain.

  That should tell you what kind of problem you are facing. Any lights left on in storage areas, outside lights, lp alarm etc.


 
If your battery disconnect switch (that Lou mentions above) is on, I have found that app. 1/2 amp of drain is in the normal range which might be what you are seeing. This is from various phantom loads that you cannot eliminate. Use the amp gauge on your VOM and connect as Carson describes to measure what kind of draw you actually have. (Walmart has one of these for about $15).
If your battery disconnect is off and you still see this draw then look a little closer at the wires hooked to the batteries. There might be something wired direct by a previous owner. Unhook the wires one at a time until you find the culprit. Don't forget your safety glasses, hope this helps.
 
A fully charged 12 volt battery will show 12.7 volts but within a day or so from being charged it will read above that, 13. 1 or more. That is known as the "surface charge"  that Lou mentioned. After about 24 hours or some load is applied to the battery for a bit the voltage reading should settle in at 12.7 for a fully charged battery. If using a digital voltmeter you probably see it down to hundredths, i.e. 12.70. The hundredths number usually fluctuates so you can ignore that. To find the draw you really need to be looking at amps.

The circuit beakers are likely for the A/C side of the electric system, the D/C side is normally protected by fuses. So to disconnect the batteries from any load you should use the main disconnect switch. To see if you have a current draw measure the amps at the battery as described by Carson. Another way to narrow it down would be to pull fuses one by one and check amps there. You could also have something individually wired direct to the battery but usually you would see that. I have the propane gas detector wired direct for example so there is no way to switch it off and then forget it is off.

There is another active topic http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php?topic=59898.0 about replacing a built in battery charger/converter that you may want to check out. The original battery issue may be similar to what is discussed there. Good luck.

 
My buddy just bought a 96 Storm has the same problem if left unplugged. If his lp monitor is left on, as it powers the solinoid for the lp tank. Check to see if that may ne yours as well.
 
Thank you for all the replies. I will give these idea's a try and see what i come up with. Hopefully a solution. Lol
 
Also note that shutting off the breakers has no effect on 12v battery usage. The circuit breakers are strictly for 120v (shore or generator) power. You have to remove fuses to find what is drawing the 12v power.

Your 12v loads are things like lighting, water pump, LP detector, and the controller boards for fridge, water heater & furnace. These all have fuses rather than breakers.
 

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