Community Forums

Kiawah · 01-27-2018, 04:34 PM

18kw over 24 hrs, is 750 watts per hour, or 6.25 amps per hour (at 120v).

If that was from the converter/charger, then that's the equivalent of a continuous draw of 62 DC amps per hour, more than what your batteries would/should be drawing.

A typical 'hidden' normal current draws are the H2O heater which draws in the neighborhood of 10 amps (while heating up), but that wouldn't be continuous either.

Have to assume your refrig is turned off.

The block heater as mentioned before, is a 5-8 amp draw, and is what I personally thought of when first read your initial post.

The Kill O Watt is good to use to confirm where the power draw is, you can flip breakers if you have to, until you see the power drop. I had ordered mine online couple years ago from HomeDepot, they'll ship it to the store and you pick it up there. But Walmart apparently does the same thing.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/P3-P4400-...&wl13=&veh=sem

It's a handy device to have around the house.

BCam · 01-27-2018, 08:23 PM

The suggestions about selectively turning breakers on and off should get to the heart of the matter, although it may not be immediately obvious without a series of 24 hr trials since the offending load may be intermittent. As mentioned, the extension cord size and length may also be a factor.

According to the US Energy Information Administration, the average US household consumes 897 kWh/month. This is approximately 30 kWh/day.

https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&t=3

This means that your RV is consuming about 2/3 the amount of electricity as the average US home, which sounds excessive considering you are not actively living in the RV. Whatever piece of equipment is causing the draw, I suspect it may be malfunctioning.

I hope you report back on what you find.

Electra 225 · 01-27-2018, 09:42 PM

Following this.
Note to OP: The suggestions thus far, (possible causes of this current draw) would make me very cautious for risk of fire. (God forbid)
Something could be getting very hot.

Kiawah · 01-27-2018, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Electra 225

Following this.
Note to OP: The suggestions thus far, (possible causes of this current draw) would make me very cautious for risk of fire. (God forbid)
Something could be getting very hot.

It's about the equivalent of a hair dryer on low.....

Electra 225 · 01-27-2018, 11:38 PM

Really? It appeared to be quite a draw and the mention of something possibly malfunctioning got me thinking overload or some such.

guardrail53 · 01-28-2018, 12:11 AM

I liked the squatters remark! Does your MH have a outside outlet? Maybe your neighbors are running a extention cord over and running a electric heater?
The reason i said this, i had that very thing happen to me at a house that i rented in Mx. I was there only a week a mo. or so, and noticed the power bill was as high as it was when i was there all mo. I had a washer and dryer outside, and did not turn off the breaker when i left! I noticed the dryer unplugged when i got there once, thought it was strange? Till i got the power bill? Figured it out pretty quick, and made sure to turn off the breaker after that!
Hope you figure out what it is, and i would turn off all the breakers, except the battery charger,to see if that makes a difference! Rail!

Anthony C · 01-28-2018, 10:22 AM

Thanks to everyone for your replies. I am going to start looking at it today, I doubt that I figure it out but if I do I will let everyone know just for your own knowledge

Mudfrog · 01-28-2018, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BCam

The suggestions about selectively turning breakers on and off should get to the heart of the matter, although it may not be immediately obvious without a series of 24 hr trials since the offending load may be intermittent.

I would think the OP could start with the RV's breakers off. Turn one on and then look at the home's electric meter to see what it's doing. If no change, then try the next breaker. With a draw like he's having, i bet it would be noticeable when the culprit's breaker was turned on. Depending on the meter, the application of more load will make the silver disk spin faster or cause the LEDs to move faster.

Would have to keep in mind that other things in the home could cycle on at the same time so he would have to make sure that wasn't happening if he did this kind of testing.

Anthony C · 01-30-2018, 07:12 PM

I finally got back out there to check the MH. I turned off the block heater breaker and let it sit for 24hrs. Once turning of the breaker to the block heater I went from pulling 19kwh to pulling 7kwh, so it made a big difference. I believe that I am still pulling to much (considering that nothing is on, ie water heater frig and etc) but a big improvement. Today after recording the kwh I went ahead and turned off all breakers except for the inverter and converter and will check it again tomorrow night...again, thanks to all for your help

Smittydos · 01-31-2018, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anthony C

Hello All

I have a odd situation hoping someone may have some ideas. No sure that it matters but I have a 2006 Coachman Cross country 351 DS and it is stored at at a secondary house that we do not live in. I have the the MH plugged in to 110 just to keep the batteries charging but it is pulling a lot of power from the house (noticed the electric bill was about triple what it normally is when coach is not plugged in). I recorded the KWH off of the electric meter both with MH plugged in for 24hrs and then unplugged for 24 hours (plugged in it used 19KWH from the meter and then when unplugged for an additional 24 hrs it only pulled 1KWH from my meter. Note: the MH does not have any lights,tv and etc running...it is just being stored right now. Does anyone have any ideas why it would be pulling that much power? Thanks in advance!

I could be wrong but you are showing 18 kWh difference. That is 18000 Watts on 115 Volt scale. That is 156.52... Amps over a 24 hour period or 2.333... Amps an hour. That does not look out of place to me. The invertor or converter can draw that easily when keeping up with Batteries. How many Batteries and what size Batteries?

twinboat · 01-31-2018, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smittydos

I could be wrong

That is 156.52... Amps over a 24 hour period or 2.333... Amps an hour.

More like 6.5 amps per hour.

FarmerB4 · 01-31-2018, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twinboat

More like 6.5 amps per hour.

X2

Smittydos · 01-31-2018, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twinboat

More like 6.5 amps per hour.

I stand corrected my mistake

mrk · 03-18-2018, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anthony C

I finally got back out there to check the MH. I turned off the block heater breaker and let it sit for 24hrs. Once turning of the breaker to the block heater I went from pulling 19kwh to pulling 7kwh, so it made a big difference. I believe that I am still pulling to much (considering that nothing is on, ie water heater frig and etc) but a big improvement. Today after recording the kwh I went ahead and turned off all breakers except for the inverter and converter and will check it again tomorrow night...again, thanks to all for your help

Anthony, I've been curious if you ever found the source of the other 7KW/day power draw. While the battery charger will continue to draw power, I don't see how your battery charger could be using that much power, even if the batteries were bad. I would think that something else has to be drawing power.