11 amp battery draw

[swberry]

First time dry camping in the new Aspire. I have everything shut off as far as I know, but still showing an 11 amp draw on the battery bank. I shut down the refrigerator via the circuit breaker over the drivers seat, but still show an 11 amp draw? [emoji848] I checked the audio cabinet and nothing is on except the traveler box. Could this be drawing that many amps? I wouldn't think so, but if that's not it then I'm stumped.

[brobox]

There are so many parasitic draws on newer MH's. The CO detector never sleeps, the inverters on standby are drawing power, my sat receiver when off is drawing power, the outside radio on a classic is always on, and I am sure there are several more others can add. Does the Vega Tough completely shut down? The only way to end power draws completely is with a battery cut off switch.

[swberry]

Originally Posted by brobox

There are so many parasitic draws on newer MH's. The CO detector never sleeps, the inverters on standby are drawing power, my sat receiver when off is drawing power, the outside radio on a classic is always on, and I am sure there are several more others can add. Does the Vega Tough completely shut down? The only way to end power draws completely is with a battery cut off switch.

No Vega touch on my Aspire Chuck and I do understand about the phantom power draws, but 11 amps seems like a lot. It's new to me, so maybe it is normal.

[757driver]

Originally Posted by swberry

No Vega touch on my Aspire Chuck and I do understand about the phantom power draws, but 11 amps seems like a lot. It's new to me, so maybe it is normal.

That is probably a little less than 1 amp AC so I could see all the parasitic loads adding up to that.

[twinboat]

Turn off the inverter. That will show you if it's a 12 or 120 volt, thru the inverter, draw.

Some inverters draw 4 amps in idle mode.

[swberry]

So inverter off and 0 amps. The 11 amp draw must have been the traveler control box. Is there a way to turn that off (other than unplugging it without stowing the dish? If not, can I unplug it and still receive satellite signal since the dish is locked onto a satellite?

[hawgguy]

Battery charger? I don't see the Travler box drawing 11 amps. Flux capcitor maybe?

[twinboat]

Like I said, you will need to see how much is inverter draw, buy unplugging all 120 volt items. You could check the specs of your inverter.

If it drops the 11 amps to half @ 12 volts, that's only .5 amps @120 volts for your TV stuff.

One option, if your inverter has a high amp draw at idle, is to get a small 500 watt inverter that only draws 1/2 an amp or less and turn off the bigger one.

[swberry]

Originally Posted by twinboat

Like I said, you will need to see how much is inverter draw, buy unplugging all 120 volt items. You could check the specs of your inverter.

If it drops the 11 amps to half @ 12 volts, that's only .5 amps @120 volts for your TV stuff.

One option, if your inverter has a high amp draw at idle, is to get a small 500 watt inverter that only draws 1/2 an amp or less and turn off the bigger one.

Yes I did exactly as you suggested and turned off the inverter. This dropped the amp draw to 0. When I turn it back on and unplug the traveler the amp draw flashes quickly between 0-11 amps, so at this point it's probably just chasing phantom loads as was suggested from the beginning.

[cruzbill]

My 2005 vintage Xantrex inverter has an adjustable cutoff, it will hunt for an AC load and then turn on-The threshold is adjustable; something like 0.5a, 4a, 10a...So it will sit in idle mode until it sees a load that exceeds the threshold. Don't know what the idle current is......

[brobox]

Sid, as a real test, turn the generator to auto start and see how long before your generator starts. Mine was only lasting a couple of hours since new...found out, on my PDI, my batteries were bad.

[Tall Tex]

Originally Posted by swberry

So inverter off and 0 amps. The 11 amp draw must have been the traveler control box. Is there a way to turn that off (other than unplugging it without stowing the dish? If not, can I unplug it and still receive satellite signal since the dish is locked onto a satellite?

To turn off the Trav'ler press and hold POWER and SELECT at the same time. To turn it back on press and hold the POWER button for 2 seconds.

[MRUSA14]

You can also analyze inverter power draws by successively turning off your AC breakers and watchng the change in draw as each one goes off line.

[Mark-]

Originally Posted by Tall Tex

To turn off the Trav'ler press and hold POWER and SELECT at the same time. To turn it back on press and hold the POWER button for 2 seconds.

Or to prevent accidently stowing the dish, press and hold the select button and then press and hold the power button.

That is the method that works for me.