House batteries die too fast

[dutchie01]

I haven't done a lot of camping without power but noticed today

That my house batteries die in less then 24hr if not plugged in.

is this normal?

the only thing that was on was the refrigerator (running on gas mode)
and the ice maker.

i have 4 6v batteries less then 6 months old, checked and the level is full on all cells.

any ideas?

[RickO]

I certainly don't think that's normal and with new batteries it shouldn't be happening. ???

Rick

[texnet]

That is not normal. One or more of the batteries is bad or you have a load drawing power that you are not aware of. If you have an inverter make SURE it is turned off and not in AUTO mode...

[Dave78Chief]

With a Newmar you typicaly will have a lot more going on than just the fridge.
Steps, LP Detector, keyless entry, radio all by pass the battery dissconnect relay.
To use the fridge the house battery is not disconnected which allows other devices to draw from the battery. Hard to say without knowing what year your rig is. I suspect at 40' your a diesel. Is inverter ON supplying parasitic drains (clock, TV, etc.)?

Dave

[Lukeaa]

Welcome to the wonderful world of 12V. There is a lot of good info on the web about this issue, and in this forum. Do a search. I suspect that your batteries were not full when you started the day. They need to be at 14.5 V for a couple of hours before they get completely full. Your charger will only take them to about 13.3, which is really about only 75% or less full. I ended up putting on a solar system to get my batteries completely full every day. The genset will not do it.

[GaryKD]

Hi dutchie01,
Can you provide additional information so we can help a bit more?

1. How old are the batteries?
2. Was the furnace on during this time?
3. What was the approximate outside temp?
4. Are you comfortable working with a volt/ohm meter?
5. Do you have a portable battery charger?
6. Is there an auto parts store or a Batteries + store nearby that could give the batteries a stress test?

Please let us know, thanks.

[litespeed]

I quickly learned ( just got my unit 3 months ago) that my inverter consumed lots of power..even if i had almost nothing turned on. So now I shut it off at night....turn it back on in the am to make coffee. With inverter on..power would drop from 13.1 V approx to 11.5V in 8 hours. With inverter off...from 13.1V to 12.8 V or so. I don't think I ever see more than 13.1-13.4V even if I had been previously plugged into shore power.

[dutchie01]

here are the answers to your questions...

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaryKD Hi dutchie01, Can you provide additional information so we can help a bit more? 1. How old are the batteries? less then 6 months 2. Was the furnace on during this time? no 3. What was the approximate outside temp? 90 4. Are you comfortable working with a volt/ohm meter? yes 5. Do you have a portable battery charger? yes 6. Is there an auto parts store or a Batteries + store nearby that could give the batteries a stress test? yes Please let us know, thanks.

[GaryKD]

Hi dutchie01,
Thanks for the response. If it were me, I'd do the following:

1. Minimize the drain on the batteries and let them charge via the coach battery charger for a couple of days. Wait about an hour and take a VDC reading. Each battery should read 6.5 to 6.7 VDC. If not, the battery is not accepting a full charge. Or the charger is not working correctly.

2. Make sure there is no drain on the batteries. If possible, disconnect them from the coach.

3. Put the portable battery charger on the house batteries for a couple of days. This should ensure the batteries are fully charged. The easiest way to connect a 12 VDC charger to to a group of 6 VDC batteries is to find the ground cable to the coach. Then find the positive cable to the coach. This is where one should find 12 VDC and connect the charger to these terminals.

4. After a couple of days remove the portable charger. Wait about an hour and take a VDC reading. Each battery should read 6.5 to 6.7 VDC.

5. If the VDC readings are the same with the coach and portable battery charger, you know the coach battery charger is working correctly. If the VDC readings are not at least 6.5 VDC the batteries are not accepting a full charge. The battery(s) may need to be replaced.

6 Take the batteries to a Batteries + store or any auto parts store. The battery must be fully charged before it is tested. Have the batteries load tested. If they are flooded cells, have each cell checked with a hydrometer.

If the load test is okay, hydrometer checks okay and the batteries do accept a full charge, the coach draw on the batteries is draining them more quickly than you desire. Larger capacity batteries may need to be considered. If the battery(s) do not accept a full charge or fail the load test or hydrometer check the battery(s) is suspect and should be replaced.