Battery Shut off doesnt kill power

[Bigpoppa05]

Ah the woes of learning a new camper. Again. Picked up a new 22 36 Carbon 36. Has the solar 200 package and an external battery shutoff mounted on the front near the frame. Turning the shut off to "off" still allows lights inside to work. This due to solar? Dealer isnt too helpful

[dutchmensport]

Not familiar with your specific model, but you probably have more than 1 battery disconnect. If you have a residential refrigerator, you'll have a disconnect for the inverter that wired directly to the battery. You may have a disconnect for the solar, and you may also have a disconnect to the rest of the inside of the coach.

The only sure-fire way to disconnect the battery so there is no parasitic draw is to disconnect the battery, at the battery. Many folks who truly want the battery completely disconnected, including parasitic draw, will install a battery kill switch on the ground wire (black wire) between the battery and where it's grounded to the trailer. As there is only 1 wire going to the ground, when it's disconnected, then everything is truly disconnected from the battery.

Check a little deeper. You have another battery cut off switch somewhere.

[curtiscapk]

I installed mine at the battery when it's off, it's OFF!

[JRTJH]

Keystone uses two types of "battery disconnect systems".

The first is a "BATTERY CUTOFF SWITCH" that when activated, removes power to some trailer systems, but does not remove power to the safety monitors, the remote control/In-Command system or other "select components" which are wired "to bypass" they BCO switch.

The second is the "GIGGY BOX" which includes a switch to "completley disconnect all battery power to all trailer systems".... This is a "TOTAL BATTERY DISCONNECT" and there are no components wired "to bypass" the GIGGY BOX MASTER CUTOFF SWITCH.....

However, ALL Keystone trailers have two sources of "12 VDC, the battery AND the converter/charger. If the trailer is connected to shore power, the converter/charger will provide 12 volt DC power to the entire trailer systems "behind any cutoff switch". That means, that regardless of the position of any "battery cutoff device", if the trailer is "plugged in" then all the systems will work through the fuse panel, powered by the converter/charger, not by the battery....

You can "think of it" sort of like having two garden hoses filling a swimming pool. Even if you turn one of the hoses off, the other will continue to add water to the pool. It's the same with a Keystone RV. There's two 12 volt sources, turn one off, the other still keeps power on the trailer.

[GHen]

No matter what you do, remember to turn the batteries back on while traveling. The trailer batteries power the trailer brakes in the case of a disconnect from the tow vehicle.

That said, I have a factory disconnect (never used) and added a full disconnect. I use the full disconnect anytime I’m not using the rig for more than a few days.

[PatT]

I just bought a new Keystone camper that has the solar on it. When I looked at it in the dealers yard, the battery was not installed yet, and the camper was no plugged in to shore power. The lights were working from the solar system. I haven't taken possession yet so i don't know what is required to isolate the solar.

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by PatT

I just bought a new Keystone camper that has the solar on it. When I looked at it in the dealers yard, the battery was not installed yet, and the camper was no plugged in to shore power. The lights were working from the solar system. I haven't taken possession yet so i don't know what is required to isolate the solar.

Different trailers with different solar options are wired differently and will require different "switch methodology" to isolate the solar system. I'd urge you to REQUIRE the dealer to show you how to properly operate YOUR TRAILER'S solar system, then, when you get it home, open the Keystone website "SolarFlex information webpages" and follow the quick start guide for your specific SolarFlex system.

What a dealership does to connect batteries to the trailer and how they might wire the solar controller "could make a world of difference" in how the system operates. Confirm with them and then re-confirm with the Keystone website's instructions.....

[Fadotubby60b]

I have a 2010 Raptor 300MP. when I went to come home today from campground, my control panel had no power. I found a blown fuse, replaced fuse and it blew also. Long story short, I turned the master switch off(pushed in) underneath the gas detector, and put a fuse in and had power back to control panel, and was able to retract slides. What exactly does that master switch control? It is obviously getting shorted out from something. ANY IDEAS?
Not too good with this forum, my email is [email protected]

[pasayten]

I have a 2021 Cougar 26RBS with solar... I have the giggy box shutoff outside on the frame near the battery trays... There is a second shutoff switch near the inverter inside the passthru space. I always turn off both to shutoff power.

[RVGator]

My unit has the SolarFlex 200 system and the lights and a few sockets are powered by the solar even when battery disconnect off. Found that out this weekend when installing a hard wired surge protector. Unplugged from the pedestal and disconnected the batteries after turning the disconnect off. I also turned the inverter off but the Lights were still blazing away. So I pulled one of the “battery” wires out of the MPPT controller and that finally did it.

Not sure it was necessary for what I didn’t but didn’t want to take any chances when putting in the surge protector.

[madweazl]

Went out and messed with our system a bit. Looks like to kill everything, you have to turn off both disconnects plus the power switch on the inverter (still have lights in the trailer running off the solar panels if you leave the inverter powered on). This was with the 400i package.

[Fadotubby60b]

Keystone Raptor 300MP.
Does the generator recharge the battery through the converter charger? How long will it take if the battery is dead? I was just away dry camping, with no power, I ran my onan on board 5500 generator, probably about 8 hours each day. I woke up this morning and it was dead. I didn’t have enough juice to run my jacks up, when I got home and plugged it in they worked fine. Very bazaar.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

[JRTJH]

Most Onan 5500 generators do not have any "12 volt charging capability" and most will not even recharge their own starting battery... They do, however, provide 120VAC (shore power) to the power center where there is a circuit breaker dedicated to "REC/CON" which is "receptacles/converter". If that circuit breaker is working properly, 120VAC is sent to the converter/charger which converts it to 12VDC (battery power) and sends that to the DC power distribution panel where all of the 12 volt systems in the trailer receive power. Things like the lights, the refrigerator, RV furnace, water pump, 12 volt outlets all draw power from the converter output.

Now, the important part: WHAT'S LEFT OVER IS WHAT GOES TO THE BATTERY BANK TO RECHARGE THE BATTERIES.

So, if you have a 55 amp converter/charger and are using 10 amps in lights and refrigerator, then 45 amps is available to the batteries and they will recharge fairly quickly. On the other hand, if you have a 75 amp converter/charger and are using 65 amps in lights, furnace fan, refrigerator and the exhaust fans in the range hood, bathroom and running the water pump, you'll only have 10 amps left for the batteries, so it will take about 4 times as long to recharge, even though you've got a much larger converter/charger.

So, you may have a problem with your batteries, a problem with your converter/charger or, it's quite possible that everything is working like it should and you were just using too much power while trying to recharge the battery bank....

The fact that you towed home and they worked fine, may be an indication that there's an issue with the generator suppying power to the converter/charger. Have you checked the transfer switch output to make sure both legs are providing power the the trailer power center? If one leg is "dead" and the converter/charger is on that leg, that would account for all your problems and explain why it works with shore power (both legs active) but not with the generator.... Lots of possibilities that will take some good troubleshooting to resolve.