Battery

[Lmckim]

Hello everyone. My question is about my battery. I have had camper in indoor storage. We went to put a few things in it to get ready for the season and the battery was dead. We had it turned off. Any ideas as to why it would have died. Camper and battery are only a year old.

[jxnbbl]

Originally Posted by Lmckim

Hello everyone. My question is about my battery. I have had camper in indoor storage. We went to put a few things in it to get ready for the season and the battery was dead. We had it turned off. Any ideas as to why it would have died. Camper and battery are only a year old.

I'm of the mindset of maintenance charging anything in storage, however there have been years where I have not done this for my boat battery and it was fine at the beginning of the season. Of course temperature and battery condition all play into this. And then if the engine doesn't turn over in the first 15-20 second...i need to charge it properly.



Question - what does "turn off" mean, did you disconnect the battery and/or

just use the switch on the camper? Is this a new gigi box switch?

[notanlines]

Judging by past posts over the years, you probably just turned your little red handle to OFF. You now need a completely new battery. Your original has been discharged by small electrical draws that don’t get turned off with the switch. Next year take your battery home with you.

[rhagfo]

Originally Posted by Lmckim

Hello everyone. My question is about my battery. I have had camper in indoor storage. We went to put a few things in it to get ready for the season and the battery was dead. We had it turned off. Any ideas as to why it would have died. Camper and battery are only a year old.

Well the factory switch still leaves several items connected. You need to install your own disconnect in the ground wire directly from the battery, this will totally disconnect the draws.

[dutchmensport]

Agree with others above. Even though you flipped the red switch, there are still other items drawing on your battery. Basically, that switch cuts off all lights and cuts off the converter.

If you plug in your camper to shore power then, the converter is still separated from the battery and will not charge. The house lights will now turn on though. But that is because they are being powered by the converter which is being powered by shore power.

Basically, that red switch is probably best used if, for some reason, you have to remove the battery and you don't want a current running to the un-attached ends of the cables that connect to the battery. The last thing you want is for the red (positive) cable to touch anything metal. This will imediately cause a short and will damage your converter.

THAT really is the only time the red shut off should be used and the only time it really makes sense to do so.

Again, if the battery is completely removed and you are also plugged into shore power, flip that switch. Otherwise, it really serves no other purpose.

If you want everything completely dead, then disconnect the ground wire from the battery (black wire) or, install a cut off switch for the negative (black wire). This truly turns everything associated with the battery off. But, again ... if you plug into shore power, the converter will still work and will still power everything DC, but not the battery.