Current draw when parked

[travelin texans]

Every rv I've owned the CO/LP detector was hardwired to the RV battery with no internal battery, the smoke alarms had an internal battery.
While in storage in Arizona, lots of sun, I disconnected the negative cable going to ground & connected a 2 amp solar charger, pointed west, to the positive on #1 battery & negative to #2 battery which kept the system at 12.7 volts all winter.

[Cometman]

Went to load some things into the Bullet today, and the CO2 alarm was beeping! The propane was turned off, opened the windows.... it kept beeping. Looking at the light it was alternating red/green and beeping once every 30 seconds.


Checked the paperwork it came with it said that it was showing a faulty unit. Also said it will do this if the battery was low. Checking the battery level it showed no power.
I plugged my truck into the trailer and after a few minutes the alarms stopped and the light went to green. Yeah!


But now why was my battery draining- looking around the only thing I saw on was the Furrion radio. Obviously I did not turn the radio completely off last time (holding down the power button).



It's the little things that drive me crazy- something new to add to the checklist!
2020 210RUDWE

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by Cometman

Went to load some things into the Bullet today, and the CO2 alarm was beeping! The propane was turned off, opened the windows.... it kept beeping. Looking at the light it was alternating red/green and beeping once every 30 seconds.


Checked the paperwork it came with it said that it was showing a faulty unit. Also said it will do this if the battery was low. Checking the battery level it showed no power.
I plugged my truck into the trailer and after a few minutes the alarms stopped and the light went to green. Yeah!


But now why was my battery draining- looking around the only thing I saw on was the Furrion radio. Obviously I did not turn the radio completely off last time (holding down the power button).



It's the little things that drive me crazy- something new to add to the checklist!
2020 210RUDWE

How long has it been since you had the battery charging? The parasitic drains will kill a battery in less than a week if you don't have it charging. There is the CO detector/alarm, the radio memory, and if you have in command or other systems the memory in those will drain the battery.

If you have a factory installed battery disconnect they do not disconnect everyhthing. Search the forum for "parasitic drain" and you will find many posts on the subject.

[CedarCreekWoody]

Your C/O detector is itself a parasitic draw. As stated previously these will drain your battery in a few days if not disconnected.

[GaryUT]

On my trailer I had a 500 MA parasitic draw, 200 MA of that was the antenna amplifier in the wet bay which has no power switch.

I have since rewired the battery disconnect switch to completely disconnect the batteries. I also installed a breaker for the solar charger next to the battery disconnect, it is wired so that the solar panel can charge the batteries when the battery disconnect is turned off.

Gary

[wiredgeorge]

Not sure I have a CO2 detector... where would it be? I have a propane detector and it is a draw on the battery when parked with no connection to shore power. My battery got low after a week from the thing when all else that I can think of was not on. I tried a motorcycle float charger (2A slow carge) and it couldn't keep up with the parasitic draw and I finally ran a 110V extension cord down and hooked it up with an adapter and the battery got full charge once after a bit.

[tech740]

Originally Posted by NH_Bulldog

Interesting reading this thread and how everyone keeps mentioning 12v parasitic load on 120v appliances with no 12v connection. Am I missing something here?

I understand it is a real issue, but when was the last time your car battery was dead after a week because of the clock on the radio? Let’s talk reality and what IS drawing power; the gas leak detector (smoke and CO are not hardwired and have their own batteries), a light left on somewhere, the power panel for the fridge (the primary circuit is 12v), USB ports (if you have them), We have like a dozen of them and they are powered on 12v all the time, and finally the converter “might” be part of the problem.

The easy fix? Disconnect the battery cable, and if there is still battery drain, the issue is with your battery.

There is not a 12V load on 120V appliances. That is why your microwave needs reset when you plug in. It is the 12V load on 12V appliances like the radio that you can use when not plugged it. I have been chasing this a lot myself lately. What I have found is that the LP/CO is a combo unit in most newer rigs and 12V @about 0.5amps. The antenna booster is 12V @ about 0.1 amp. The clock and memory in the radio is 12V @ about 0.3 amps. My Invertor for the residential fridge is 12V @ 2.4 amps at idle. So depending on the rig and amp hours on the batteries you are using roughly 0.9-1.2 amps. without the invertor. If you have a 100 amp hour battery and dont go below 50% to preserve the battery that is 50 hours(2 days) til it needs recharged. After 4 days with no use the batteries are bad and most likely not going to take near as good of charge for future use.

[wiredgeorge]

I can vouch that the RV microwave clock is part of its 110V configuration. I have mine wired to an external outlet and the light is off when not plugged into a power pedestal.

[Cometman]

Just added a kill switch to the battery. That should solve the power drain issue.