Community Forums

ronyrhythm · 01-29-2023, 01:49 PM

We have a 2013 Tour 42QD. We are having a problem keeping the house batteries charged while in storage. Whenever we store it we always turn off the main switch for both the chassis and house batteries. When we go back in 2-3 weeks the house batteries are dead. We replaced all the house batteries about 3 months ago so I know it’s not the batteries. There must be something that doesn’t get turned off by the main switch. Any ideas or suggestions? FYI, the storage facility does not have electricity so we cannot use a trickle charger. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Ron

MrMark52 · 01-29-2023, 02:07 PM

Well, you could put an ammeter in series with the positive cables for the house battery and see how many amps (or probably more like micro amps) are being drawn. Once you know that, you’ll know how hard you need to look for what is using power (assuming any automatic loads are turned off as well i.e. water pump, clocks, refrigerator if LP/electric adsorption type, etc..).

For the chassis battery - todays radios consume power all the time, even when turned off (keeps the clock synched). It’s enough to run a battery down in a few weeks.
But again, put an ammeter in series with the positive cable and see how much current is being drawn.

Are you certain to turn the antenna boost switch off? Mine will burn the chassis battery down in about 4 days if I forget to turn off.

Parasitic loads (micro current loads that are near impossible to find) are not uncommon in MoHo’s and rv’s - so much so that battery disconnect switches are easily found at CW, WalMart, and maybe even BassPro/Cabella’s.

creativepart · 01-29-2023, 02:30 PM

There are too many parasitic loads even after you turn off the two disconnects.

Basically, there are three choices:

1. Store where you have access to power for trickle charging.
2. Install a 100w solar panel - somewhere in the sun - to keep a charge going to the batteries .
3. Disconnect the main positive lead to the house bank or install a high amperage rotary disconnect to simplify that process.

A fourth option is to visit the coach every two weeks to exercise the generator and put an hour of charge on the batteries.