Electrical short?

[Alle007]

One issue after the next. My two new deep cycle batteries were full, the next day, empty. Disconnected, charged, reconnected, next day dead again. A friend informed me that the A/C breaker was the cuplrit (showing a tiny sliver of orange) and that the rv was dangerous to stay in. I was going to keep this rv but I'm looking at selling it now, as all these repairs are adding up. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

[CJ7365]

Originally Posted by Alle007

One issue after the next. My two new deep cycle batteries were full, the next day, empty. Disconnected, charged, reconnected, next day dead again. A friend informed me that the A/C breaker was the cuplrit (showing a tiny sliver of orange) and that the rv was dangerous to stay in. I was going to keep this rv but I'm looking at selling it now, as all these repairs are adding up. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

So why not replace the Circuit Breaker, should be a cheap fix, why did he say the RV was dangerous to stay in?

First of all I do not think your friend is pointing you in the right direction.

The A/C in no way will discharge your house batteries, it runs on A/C.

Something is on and running down your batteries, do you turn your power 12V off to the RV when not using it?


Is your converter charging your house batteries when plugged in to shore power?

[ahicks]

The A/C breaker is 110v. and there's no way I can think of for battery voltage to reach it - ever! That breaker is not your issue...

These sorts of problems are not unusual when buying a MH/RV, even a new one!

There's an easy way to do this, but it's going to require some patience, and a knowledge of where all your 12v fuses are. This is an older coach so it's likely got all glass automotive fuses. Go ahead and pull just one side of every fuse you can find (so you don't get fuse sizes mixed up one circuit vs. the next when reinstalling). With one side of the battery(ies) disconnected (makes no difference positive or negative), hook a test light between the battery and the wire that connects to the battery. The test light will light if there is a draw on the battery. With all 12v fuses pulled, that should not happen. If your test light does come on, you may have to go on a hunt to find more fuses and open all those as you did above.

Eventually, you should be able to get that test light to go out. At that point, you can reinstall one fuse at a time, checking the light to see if it lights up after each one is installed. When you find the fuse that lights the light when reinstalled, you've found the circuit with the problem that's pulling your batteries down.

It could be the furnace, lights inside a closed storage compartment, whatever. One way to figure out what is on that circuit is to see what's not working with the fuse removed.....

I would caution that once you have this problem isolated and repaired, you should probably repeat the entire exercise to make sure you don't have more than just the one draw on the batteries...

Best of luck! -Al

[KSagal]

An older RV has all the potential to be an annoying old house with all the problems involved, as well as an annoying old truck, with all the problems involved. It can get to any of us sometimes.

But it also has the potential to be a manageable hurtle that you can get over, and once done, you can have pride in the accomplishment, as well as a lot of fun exploring the world.

There comes a time for each of us to decide when we have had enough of any adventure, but you should try to find positive reasons to move to the next step, rather than negative reasons to leave the step you are on...

This problem can exist in any vehicle or home. An electrical circuit that is consuming power is a common issue to be dealt with...

Now... My Motor Home has both AC circuits, in that they are alternating current, like a house, which is what you plug into. My MH also has A/C which is Air Conditioning. Often times I confuse the abbreviations when I try to communicate with others. To make matters worse, my MH has A/C units in the roof that run on AC and and A/C unit attached to the engine that runs on engine power, with 12 DC.

You may have a problem with a circuit breaker, as you say, if you have a DC (like your batteries) Inverter, that produces AC current for household devices like televisions (and those roof top A/C units)

From what you posted, there are likely some fine details that need to be filled in, but if you do, there are lots of folks here that are very good at helping to diagnose your faults and helping you to find solutions.

[TQ60]

Well stated points above.

Stop, pause, have a cool one.

Relax and before doing anything perform a search of this forum of a few topics.

Battery charging
Parasitic loads
Power system troubleshooring.

Each of the above can give you about a weeks worth of reading and all will have good solid facts as well as totally incorrect stuff but you will get some good foundation.

The 12 volt life is another good read.

In a nutshell batteries are like a glass of water.

The glass holds a certian amount.

Fill a glass to the top.

The rim represents the voltage and the volume is the capacity.

Poke a small hole at the bottom and that represents a parasitic load.

You fill it with more water that is your charger.

Use an eye dropper is a trickle charger.

Fill it with stones represents sulfated cells that restrict capacity.

Since batteries new assume good but maybe not.

Get a voltmeter and learn how to use it.

Below are steps to do and leaving voltages out as using phone and being lazy...reading searches you should know how to do tasks and expected outcome.

Do following steps.

Turn EVERYTHING OFF and unplug unit.

measure voltage at battery.

Plug unit into shore power and measure battery again.

If now charging let it charge overnight.

Recheck voltage.

Unplug shore and recheck.

Disconnect battery ground cables.

Measure battery voltage now check parasitic loads.

Many voltmeters have a 10 amp range but sudden connection can pop their fuse.

Many have smaller range but connection inrush current can blow fuse as well.

So a little trick.

Disconnect the ground cable then gat a clip lead to reconnect.

Place voltmeter into amp mode and connect one lead to where the clip lead is, one lead on battery and other on ground.

Lift the clip lead and measure amps.

Doing this has everything connected so no inrush current.

Check and determine your loads.

Th

[Alle007]

Ok, thanks for the great advice you guys. I really need to look at the positve reason to move on, instead of the negative to leave. I miss having a garden and grass and banana trees. I got it listed for sale in south florida, 1800 obo