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Old 08-09-2015, 09:47 PM   #1
skydiverchuck
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How long does you Battery last?

So the wife and I just returned from our first trip where we had to dry camp. We ran the generator during the day but had to shut it down at night due to quiet hours. On Friday night I shut the generator about 1015. By 3 am the refridige alarm was beeping low voltage, I attempted to crank the generator at 8am and the battery was dead. I know before we shut down for the night every switch was in the off position. Saturday night we shut it down about 11. Again before we went to bed every switch was in the OFF position and again at 8am when I went to fire the generator the battery was dead.... Is this normal? I would have thought the battery would last at least through the night. Thanks
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Old 08-10-2015, 04:12 AM   #2
SteveC7010
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Originally Posted by skydiverchuck View Post
So the wife and I just returned from our first trip where we had to dry camp. We ran the generator during the day but had to shut it down at night due to quiet hours. On Friday night I shut the generator about 1015. By 3 am the refridige alarm was beeping low voltage, I attempted to crank the generator at 8am and the battery was dead. I know before we shut down for the night every switch was in the off position. Saturday night we shut it down about 11. Again before we went to bed every switch was in the OFF position and again at 8am when I went to fire the generator the battery was dead.... Is this normal? I would have thought the battery would last at least through the night. Thanks
No, it is not normal unless you have a lot of stuff running. Have to deal with that first, then determine if you have a battery problem.

There are lots of threads here about battery use and conservation, I think you will find a wealth of detailed info in them about making your batteries last for days and days. Several of those threads are less than a week old. There are lots of vampire or parasitic current draws discussed in those threads. You need to find and eliminate as many of them as possible. This thread in particular (notice the dates of the posts) should answer a bunch of your questions: http://www.keystonerv.org/forums/sho...ight=parasitic

Search on parasitic and you will find lots more, several of them less than a month old

What was turned on at night? Have you converted to LED? Is the battery (or batteries) fully charged, topped off with distilled water, and properly connected?
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Old 08-10-2015, 05:50 AM   #3
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Personally, i'd suggest having your battery load tested at your local service station. Even with an abnormally high parasitic draw the battery should last more than 10 hours. On a previous camper I ran my refrigerator on 12 volt for 2 or 3 days at a time before having to charge.
I'm now using two Interstate group 27's in series on this camper. Last week my combined voltage was dropping to 11.2 by morning after charging to 13.3 every afternoon. Being in the bussiness I have a Midtronics tester which was unfortunately at home. Tested when I pulled into the driveway. One battery was pooched and was pulling the other down. The oldest of the two is two years old, which in fact was the bad one. The other has been replaced already under waranty. Both are heading for the scrap battary pile and being replaced with 2 new 6 volts.
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Old 08-10-2015, 07:36 AM   #4
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It seems the trailer is new and this is the first time you've used it. I would suggest that the first thing you might want to check is the two reverse polarity fuses in the converter. If it's "never worked correctly" (new and first use) chances are that when the dealership was installing the battery, the service tech may have touched a battery terminal with the wrong battery cable. All it takes is a "split second" to blow those two fuses.

They are located on the converter, usually adjacent to the 12 volt fuse panel, but with your specific model RV, the converter may not be "co-located" with the electrical distribution panel and the fuses may be "hard to find" without some diligent looking.... If those fuses (40 amp plug in) are good, then you may have other electrical problems, but I'd check the fuses first.

Good Luck
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Old 08-10-2015, 12:10 PM   #5
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This may help...

When dry camping, your RV uses 12vdc to power things. Many of those things run even when you think everything is turned off. These are called parasites or vampires. You’ll also hear the term parasitic draw quite a bit. There are dozens of threads already here discussing this whole situation in great detail. If you want to really fill in your knowledge about the issue, find and read some of them. It will be worth the time and effort.

Here’s a basic list of items to deal with or at least be aware of:

Propane detector: always on. It’s hard wired into the RV so disconnecting it is the only solution. That’s a personal choice. You may also have a hardwired CO or smoke detector system.

Refrigerator: The control board draws a bit of 12vdc 24/7 when on gas. Nothing can be done if you want to run the fridge.

Refrigerator: If your fridge is in a slide, there is likely a vent fan controlled by a thermistor on the backside of the unit. It runs whenever it’s too warm in the venting area. Not much can be done with this, either.

Refrigerator: The climate control heater may be turned on. This kills your battery fast! It is a heater strip that warms the edges of the fridge where the door gasket contacts to keep condensate from forming. If you're boondocking, turn it off as it will run down even the most hardy battery setup. The switch on many of them is located in the top of the frame of the freezer door. It’s hard to see if you don’t know what to look for. The switch may be elsewhere in newer units so consult your manual to find it. Here’s where it traditionally has been located.


AM/FM/CD entertainment center: draws a small amount 24/7 even if off. If left on, even more. The only way to truly disconnect it is to pull it from the wall and remove the fuses. Or install a kill switch next to the unit.

Master control panel: It’s back lit 24/7 plus any switches that are on have an indicator light. Again, there‘s not much to be done here. Newer ones may be even more complex such as LCD displays, etc.

TV antenna amp: This constantly draws current when on. It must be turned on to watch over-the-air television, but shut it off when done.

Built-in or plug-in USB power outlets: These draw current constantly and not just when you plug in your phone. If you have built-ins, you could install an on/off switch to completely shut them off when not in use. If you are using the plug-ins, pull them when not actually charging something.

Remote systems: The receiver is on even when not in use. Probably doesn’t draw much by itself, but coupled with other vampires, it does add up. Again, not much can be done to change this.

If you have not converted to LED lighting, and you chose to leave a light on as a night light, this pulls more current than you think. Use a battery operated puck light or similar to avoid using the RV’s battery.

There’s plenty that can be done to operate your RV in an electrically conservative manner. First, understand that there are very few 110-120 vac items in the unit. The air conditioner, microwave, television, and convertor are about it. EVERYTHING else is 12vdc and runs off the battery, even the fridge which uses 12vdc to operate the control board when running on propane. So when dry camping (boondocking) everything you use in the RV is dependent on the battery. The first and most critical point to RVing without hookups is to understand this and accept that you need to learn how to live with it. This means that you have to become knowledgeable about all of this.

Second, don’t use what you don’t need and turn off what you do use when you’re done with it.

Third, convert your lighting to LED. It uses an eighth or less of the power that incandescent lighting does. Most Keystones (or any other brand of towable) can be done for about $100 or so. There are plenty of threads on doing this so it won’t be discussed further here. It is the most effective way to greatly extend battery charge life that you can possibly do, except maybe for turning off the refrigerator's climate control heater.

Fourth, make sure your battery (or batteries) is fully functional. Have it tested at least once a season. Keep some distilled water with you and check the water level often. Those plates must be covered for the battery to perform properly. If you run dual batteries, remember that if one starts to fail, it will pull the other down, too. If you have dual batteries, you should have a shut-off switch that allow yous to run one battery or the other or both or full off. If one battery starts to fail and the other is still good, shut off the bad one to prevent damage to the good one.

Fifth, install or use a battery monitor of some kind. Even just a voltmeter will tell you quite a bit about battery performance.

Even when operating on full hookups, the 12vdc system is still predominate in your RV. Both the convertor and at least one battery need to connected and operating properly. Disconnecting the battery in this situation is an invitation to an overloaded convertor. Don't do it.
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Old 08-10-2015, 01:09 PM   #6
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As stated above, charge the battery (leave it on shore power), pull it, take it to Autozone and they'll tell you what kind of shape it's in. Full discharges are really hard on batteries and it won't take long to kill it.

The other thing that you could do is hook up a 12V amp meter between your battery and trailer to see what you're drawing with all systems off in terms of amps. Any automotive-inclined friend or neighbor would likely have a meter with an amp function.

For comparison, my trailer draws:
1) 1.4 Amps with everything in the OFF position. (I didn't try with the fridge on)
2) 0.04 Amps with the battery disconnect in the disconnect position (things like C02 detector continue to stay hooked up)

A group 27 battery is typically rated to 90 amp hours... IE - several day minimum with nothing running. Either you've got a high parasitic drain somewhere or a weak battery.. Maybe both.
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Old 08-10-2015, 07:11 PM   #7
skydiverchuck
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I took the rig back to the shop today. Being that I haven't even owned the unit for two months I figured, they need to fix it. Besides I wanted them to fix the door to the generator compartment it looks likes it warped or melted.... We are enjoying the RV, bit I'm looking forward to working the bugs out!
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Old 08-12-2015, 11:37 PM   #8
skydiverchuck
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So I got a call from the shop yesterday, they said the battery was nearly dead when they got to the shop in the morning, I told them I figured that would happen as that's why it was there. They said the battery charging system was fine and that the draw on the battery was minimal. They said I "must" have left something on the killed the battery, I asked was anything on when you got there this morning, they replied "no" Then how did I leave something on that killed the battery, it was on your lot all night and was fully charged when I left it. They said "oh" so they let it sit and charge all day, I guess they want to see what happens tomorrow when they come in.... I'm wondering if its not just a dead battery..... In the plus column they are replacing the melted generator compartment door, and they were very nice....
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Old 08-14-2015, 07:15 AM   #9
skydiverchuck
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So apparently the issue was simply a bad battery. They replaced it and said it seems to be working fine now. It held the charge and didn't die over night. I have to say I'm pretty impress thus far with the service department at my dealer.
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Old 08-15-2015, 03:56 AM   #10
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That was one thing that I didn't like about my raptor. They had the camper battery running the camper and the generator so if you ran the battery dead you can't start the generator. I now have two batteries to run the camper and one to run the generator. That way if the camper batteries are dead for any reason you can still start the generator. Only downfall with this is the generator doesn't charge it's own battery so you have to charge it a few times a summer.
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Old 08-15-2015, 07:10 AM   #11
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Originally Posted by spicercars View Post
That was one thing that I didn't like about my raptor. They had the camper battery running the camper and the generator so if you ran the battery dead you can't start the generator. I now have two batteries to run the camper and one to run the generator. That way if the camper batteries are dead for any reason you can still start the generator. Only downfall with this is the generator doesn't charge it's own battery so you have to charge it a few times a summer.

You could run a battery isolator so that when the mains run down and you turn the genny on so the coach batteries start charging it would activate and allow that one to charge too.


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