Anthem Main Power Truly OFF

[TXBart]

We took power off our Anthem today for the first time since we owned it (about 3 weeks).

We opened the fridge and hit the Master Power switch as we went out the door. All the lights went off except the lights in the fridge. We ended up flipping the REFER breaker but knew there was a simpler solution. We looked through the Owner Manual and couldn't find anything. Called our dealer's CS which was the usual waste of time and ended up calling Entegra CS. Turns out you have to manually turn off the inverters before hitting Master Power or the inverters continue to provide 120v and will run your batteries out of juice in about 3 days.

Works like a champ when you know the secret handshake!

[voltdoc]

You might want to check your house bank battery voltage after a week or two, there may still be some parasitic drain from items that are directly connected to the batteries. I think the CO detector is one and the See-Level gauges are another. You can just pull the fuses for these, I think one is in the bathroom and the other in the front driver side compartment.

Also, with the master switch off as you described, check to see if the inverter panel will still "wake up", if it does there is still a small drain there as well. The inverter is also wired directly to the battery bank. In my experience with marine inverters (basically the same as the RV type), the models with remote panels are always pulling some milliamps unless you completely break power to the inverter. This can be done on your Anthem by disconnecting (carefully!) the big fuse located in the back of your battery compartment or the cable on the batteries that feeds it. On my marine installs we always put a battery switch in the inverter feed to make this job safe and simple.

If I am right about the parasitic drains described above, your house batteries could be drained below 50% capacity within maybe just a few weeks. To lengthen the lifespan of your batteries try not to let them go below 50% capacity. For the AGM's in your Anthem this will be around 12.3 volts (for a "resting" battery bank).