Battery being drained

[TandE]

If you have a multi meter I would test to see how much the rv is drawing when at rest. Take the negative battery cable off and connect the multi meter between the post and the cable with the black lead on the com connection and red on the amperage connection. With a car 25 milli amps or more is too much drain. On an rv I'd expect to possibly see more than that due to the lp detector and radio that still stays somewhat on.

But the way to tell what is drawing the most is to remove the fuses one at a time and see if the drain disappears. Once you find the circuit that is causing the problem you need to figure out what on that leg is bad by leaving the fuse in and disconnecting each item on that leg one at a time and look at the meter to see if it goes away.

With cars I have seen shorted bulbs drain batteries in a couple hours.

Travis

[gvansickle1]

Originally Posted by TandE

If you have a multi meter I would test to see how much the rv is drawing when at rest. Take the negative battery cable off and connect the multi meter between the post and the cable with the black lead on the com connection and red on the amperage connection. With a car 25 milli amps or more is too much drain. On an rv I'd expect to possibly see more than that due to the lp detector and radio that still stays somewhat on.

But the way to tell what is drawing the most is to remove the fuses one at a time and see if the drain disappears. Once you find the circuit that is causing the problem you need to figure out what on that leg is bad by leaving the fuse in and disconnecting each item on that leg one at a time and look at the meter to see if it goes away.

With cars I have seen shorted bulbs drain batteries in a couple hours.

Travis

I appreciate it Travis, I'll do the draw test first thing before loading for the trip this weekend and see what I get. The rest I can work some during the trip when I need a break from the excitement!

[SAABDOCTOR]

IF YOU GET BORED YOU CAN PULL A BATTERY CABLE EITHER ONE ( I WON'T YELL jOHN) put an amp meter inbettween the post and the wire. pull the fuses from the converter then start pulling the 12 volt fuses. see which circut drops the reading on the meter. with my original disconnect switch the current draw was 600 milli amps. so if your reading more than that you need to pull fuses till it drops and then that is the circut you need to check out for the source of the higher draw. what a way to spend the week end

[gvansickle1]

Originally Posted by SAABDOCTOR

IF YOU GET BORED YOU CAN PULL A BATTERY CABLE EITHER ONE ( I WON'T YELL jOHN) put an amp meter inbettween the post and the wire. pull the fuses from the converter then start pulling the 12 volt fuses. see which circut drops the reading on the meter. with my original disconnect switch the current draw was 600 milli amps. so if your reading more than that you need to pull fuses till it drops and then that is the circut you need to check out for the source of the higher draw. what a way to spend the week end

It'll give me and the little man something to do when the wife and daughter go on one of their runs! A little quality time do'in manly things and... at least we'll be camping!