Battery Dead, no good... what did I forget?

[jack65]

Went to get the two batteries off my 20' 18RS Outback trailer to top off the charge to get ready to sell this trailer and buy a new one.

Got home hooked up the charger and it said. Charge Aborted - Bad Battery What the heck??? They were at full charge all last summer and now dead? I didn't have that problem last summer/fall? I forgot to disconnect the battery last November when I put it in storage, so something completely drained the battery. But make it a bad battery? Would a completely drained battery make it go bad?

Could this cause the drain? The storage manager told me when I went to check on the trailer, an alarm was going off inside all day a month ago, nothing he could do about it. I have no idea what alarm, unless it's the Gas alarm? Maybe that ran the batteries down?

These two batteries were new when we bought the trailer, I was told by dealership and they look new, but when I looked at the sticker that shows the date/year punch ticket, nothing is punched so no proof of how old the battery is without a receipt. I think the dealership pulled one on me with those two batteries.

As you can tell, I'm still new to this trailer business.

[nellie1289]

Your trailer is still pulling juice even with the red battery disconnect trailers come with these days turned to off. Smoke detectors. Carbon detectors. Clocks....All pull juice. Less than a month till the battery is dead. Then If it sits dead for extended period of time then likely the battery torches itself quickly. Your problem is very common. I just bought new batteries and put one of these on my fifth wheel to never have this problem again.

https://youtu.be/NBRFAuAVBS8

[jack65]

Originally Posted by nellie1289

Your trailer is still pulling juice even with the red battery disconnect trailers come with these days turned to off. Smoke detectors. Carbon detectors. Clocks....All pull juice. Less than a month till the battery is dead. Then If it sits dead for extended period of time then likely the battery torches itself quickly. Your problem is very common. I just bought new batteries and put one of these on my fifth wheel to never have this problem again.

https://youtu.be/NBRFAuAVBS8

I did forget to disconnect the two batteries. I guess like you said, after being drained, they sat for awhile and it ruined them. It's my fault as I was going to pull both and put them in the garage, but forgot since I was so busy getting our house ready to sell this spring. Yup, we're moving out of Tacoma into the country... I hate city living.

[OregonDuck]

Yup, what nellie1289 says. When I bought my rig I put it in storage, pulled the disconnect, and there it stayed for a little over a month. Came back and the batteries were completely drained. The gas alarm is hard wired as I learned, and it doesn't take long for the batts to completely discharge.

Placed a true disconnect on the batteries and it allows me to store longer now. That said, they discharge on their own, so I still need to pull them home to charge-up when stored over a month.

[nellie1289]

My new solar charger is working great. I get a couple hours sun even in covered storage which is enough to keep them topped off. I was far too lazy to take two batteries out every time. This killed them prematurely over time.

[OregonDuck]

Originally Posted by nellie1289

My new solar charger is working great

Would love to keep the batts maintained... Mind sharing your set-up?

[nellie1289]

Look at that you tube link I posted earlier in this thread