Parasitic battery drain

[Ken & Joyce]

I am reading a .14A battery drain off my house batteries with the house switch on. With the switch off I get zero drain. Does the .14A drain sound excessive. Everything inside the RV was off.

[Ken & Joyce]

I am reading a .14A battery drain off my house batteries with the house switch on. With the switch off I get zero drain. Does the .14A drain sound excessive. Everything inside the RV was off.

[TomHinMd]

Was your LP detector off? Do you have a radio with a clock in it in the bedroom or outside compartment. They also drain your hose batteries. Your dash radio can be connected to either the engine or house battery and it has a clock in it. So no matter what you do, it is impossible to get a zero drain with the switch in the on position.

[John_Canfield]

140 milliamps is a very minimal drain. Tom is right-on.

[Ken & Joyce]

Thanks for your response. I wasn't sure if the .140 Amp drain was in the narmal range.

[glenda1908]

Sometimes I would leave the steps out while parked at home. Just to make it easier to go in and out of the coach and not have to wait for the steps to extend when entering. I was told that alone puts a drain on the battery so now we keep them in and have to wait the 10 sec. for them to come out !! Gee, are we impatient or what? But I have noticed that the battery doesn't drain as fast. We still have to hook up the "trickle charger" occasionaly anyway to deal with the drain that occurs from the things mentioned above.

[Ken & Joyce]

I also always leave the steps extended for the same reason you mentioned. Tomorrow I will get my meter out and make another test with the step retracted. Thanks for your input.

[abn]

The reason you get a power drain when the steps are extended is that there is a caution light underneath them. It comes on when the steps are out. Most don't realize this cuz it is not very bright, especially during daylight hours. I found it when doing maintenance on the frame.

[Tom N]

To keep the steps out you have to turn them off with the switch near the door. When they are turned off the light goes off. Thus no battery drain.

[skipsor]

I had the same situation about a year ago. I keep the MH in a storage yard and when I went to pick it up for a trip the house bateries were dead because I didn't dsiconnect the batteries with the switch. That's how I found out that the solar panel will not keep up with the equipment that uses the batteries for power. No more problems after that.

If you are concerned about draining the batteries you can either turn your switch off when you store it or, if you keep it at home, plug it in to shore power if it's available.

Very easy fix.