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queenw · 04-14-2012, 07:31 PM

We are the new owners of a 98 Newmar dutchstar DP. The house batteries keep going dead when we are on the road or parked with no power.We had new marine deep cycle batteries installed and still have this problem. When we have the house batteries disconnected by the switch in the front, they do not lose power. Anyone familiar with this problem?

tnarvs · 04-14-2012, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by queenw

We are the new owners of a 98 Newmar dutchstar DP. The house batteries keep going dead when we are on the road or parked with no power.We had new marine deep cycle batteries installed and still have this problem. When we have the house batteries disconnected by the switch in the front, they do not lose power. Anyone familiar with this problem?

sounds to me like u got one of 2 problems ,, the first one is the batts are not being charged ,, the second is u have a major draw on the house batts ,, i would ck the batt voltage while sitting ,, then ck the voltage with the engine running ,, and also ck with the rig pluged in ,, then i would un hook the batt cables ,, and plug the unit in ,, and see what the voltage is ,, and also do this with the engine running ,, if the batts are new as u said ,, i would replace them under warranty ,, and go from there

Mr_D · 04-14-2012, 08:59 PM

Get the charging problems fixed then replace the batteries with true deep cycle batteries (golf cart batteries) like Interstate U-2200's or Trojan T-105's.
Marine batteries are a combination starting and running battery, they are not built for constant house use and are a compromise.
We got just under 10 years of use out of our U-2200's and I could have stretched it out to 10 years except we were headed out to CA and AZ and I didn't want trouble on the road.

Gary RVRoamer · 04-15-2012, 07:46 AM

It's called "phantom load" and means that various devices in the coach are drawing power all the time. Each one is probably small, but the sum total is enough to pull the batteries down over a few days. Or maybe less, if you have a lot of power consuming devices. You didn't give much detail about how long or what is operating, so I'll just mention a few things that cause this.

1. The fridge and water heater circuit boards are always powered, even with the appliance turned off. And if the fridge is on, even in LP gas mode, it is drawing constant 12v power.

2.LP gas and maybe CO detectors consume power

3.Your radio is probaly wired so that it can play with the ignitin off - it uses power in standby mode.

4.You probably have an inverter in the Dutch Star. It consumes some power if in standby, and of course a LOT of power if actually producing 120v ac for use.

Your engine alternator should be charging both house and chassis batteries as you drive. If it is not, you need some repairs. Could be an isolator relay has failed, or maybe just a loose/missing wire.

queenw · 05-30-2012, 08:17 PM

Thank you for your ideas...after checking several things we gave up and took it to a RV service place and found out that there was a broken cable that was actually the battery charger cable!!BOY DID WE FEEL DUMB! (it was like that when we bought it, and the owner didnt seem to know much about the rig) It works great now and cost less than $150!

MikeandClaudia · 05-30-2012, 09:31 PM

"BOY DID WE FEEL DUMB! "

Hey! These are really complex pieces of machinery. You can own one for years and years and still miss stuff like that. Just think of it as "tuition".

These technicians work on these things all of the time and THEY still get stumped.