new battery goes dead overnight?

[BigTow]

ok. i found a few things right and wrong today.

the new battery i had was bad. i returned it for another one. not sure if i killed it, though.

i found what was drawing power from the battery with everything off. the trailer brakes or something to do with it. here's how i found out. i installed new battery fully charged and when connected i saw an immediate .5 volts drop. i pulled all the 12v fuses inside and still had power being drawn somewhere. a buddy told me to keep the positive connected and touch the negative lead to the neg post and if you see a spark, something is being powered. it worked. i got a spark , even with all fuses out. my next step was to try taking one wire at a time from the positive terminal (there are three). one of them made a clicking sound in the wheel area when touching the terminal - on-off-on-off,click, click. so here is the next step- is this normal? i'm pretty sure its the brakes. what do i do now?

also, i checked the dc voltage output at the charger and got 13.65 with no load. so charger seems to be working fine, although its old school. i'll keep for now and upgrade later. i will check the wiring thoroughly next chance i get , for resistance to the battery. like i said earlier, the wiring around the battery is a mess.

many thanks for those who have helped so far.

[BigTow]

i'm hoping someone can take a look at my previous post to help with the next step. guess everybody was busy this weekend. thanks, rune

[John Hilley]

It is probably the break-away switch. It has a pin that pulls out and applys the brakes if the trailer breaks loose from the tow vehicle. It is powered by the trailer battery so that it works when pigtail for lights and brakes is pulled from it's socket the brakes will still come on to stop the break-away trailer.

[BigTow]

that makes sense to me, but is that normal? the plug is out right now. should it be in when not used (camper)?

[John Hilley]

Take a look at this, break away switch installation

[BigTow]

read it. still not sure to keep plug in or out when stored?

[1ciderdog]

BigTow
I know nothing about break a way switches but can you easily disconnect the power at the break a way switch and confirm that is the power draw?
Bob

[John Hilley]

When you refer to "plug" are you referring to the pin in the break away switch or the electrical connection cable for the lights and battery charging. The pin for the break away switch should always be left in. It should only come out when the trailer separates from the tow vehicle going down the road.

[BigTow]

The pin for the break away switch should always be left in.


that answers my question. thanks. i'll plug it back in.