Phantom battery draws

[raf0405]

Three weeks ago we returned from a trip, parked the MH at the storage lot (no electric available). I turned the "salesman switch" located at the steps off, then I opened the knife battery cutoff switch on the engine battery. I went down a week ago to get something out of the MH and when I opened the door the steps came down. Confused as to how that could happen and for the heck of it I tried to start the MH, it started (the battery is disabled via the disconnect installed on the negative side).

I went down again today and found the house batteries dead and terribly low on water. I'm on my way to get some distilled water and if it will start take it out for a long drive to charge the batteries up.

Any thoughts? I am planning on installing another battery disconnect on the two house batteries however it doesn't seem like it should take this sort of action to safely store the MH without discharging the batteries.

P.S. it is possible that I have to leave the MH parked for three months at a time.

[BFlinn181]

The only way to store without discharging batteries is to use an actual disconnect switch or take the cable off the battery. Your Salesman Switch needs electricity from somewhere to operate, so they aren't 100% disconnected. Same with CO and LP detectors, radio presents, ECU, etc. If you're going to leave it off power and not using it, use knife switches. If you install a solar charger, make sure it's connected before the knife switches.

[TonyDi]

Tell us a bit more about your rig. What year is it? How old are the batteries? Do you have any other wires on the batteries. Also before putting it away did you check to make sure you had water in the batteries. Without a charger hooked up and overcharging, it would be hard to lose the water in the batteries.

[raf0405]

Originally Posted by TonyDi

Tell us a bit more about your rig. What year is it? How old are the batteries? Do you have any other wires on the batteries. Also before putting it away did you check to make sure you had water in the batteries. Without a charger hooked up and overcharging, it would be hard to lose the water in the batteries.

Our rig is a 2005 Damon Intruder. We bought it a year and a half ago with new house batteries. There are no other wires connected to the batteries other then the plus and minus. I did not check the water level before storing (lesson learned). I'm still wondering how the engine started with a disconnect on the chassis battery. I will install another knife style disconnect on the house batteries.

[SKP Kirk]

That knife switch must not be connected properly if the engine starts, unless it somehow got power from the coach battery. Lift the negative cable from the coach batteries then try starting with the knife open. If the starter does anything, the switch is not shutting off the battery.