Community Forums

larrydp · 04-28-2012, 07:53 AM

We have a 2009 Jayco Greyhawk, 31SS. We just bought it, used. we put a new house battery in. on our 1st outing i went out the night before and truned the battery switch to "on", then turned on the refer. when we got to the unit the next day the house battery was on "0" at the monitor. With the house battery on the radio panel is on, as is the gas dectection, and am sure the HD light for the tv is also on.
any ideas about what else might be causing the drain and how to i cut off the gas detection and radio panel light??? Thanks!!!!

garym114 · 04-28-2012, 08:10 AM

After you installed the new battery did you charge it? They are not fully charged when you bring them home from the store.
How much time lapsed between installing the battery and getting ready for the first outing?
You either have to plug in the RV and keep the battery charged or disconnect all loads. Many use a disconnect switch. As you have found out there are loads you can't turn off even with the battery switch off.

larrydp · 04-28-2012, 08:26 AM

since putting in the new battery we have carried it to two different dealers for service work. they plugged the unit into shore power at each place. the battery was showing "fully charged" on the monitor before i turned the refer on to cool down. we turn the battery Master Switch off each time before leaving....
have any of you used one of the 2volt solar panels to keep a battery charged?

wb7auk · 04-28-2012, 08:44 AM

It sounds like you had the inverter turned on. They draw power even it they are not
supplying AC power.

larrydp · 04-29-2012, 11:36 AM

i will certainly check the inverter. thanks!!!!

larrydp · 04-29-2012, 01:48 PM

here is something i have noticed..my Magnadyne radio, dvd, cd player does not work unless the battery disconect switch is "on". when i turn on the battery disconect switch the "face" on the radio system lights up and stays on. to play the radio etc. i push the "power" button on the radio. I am no electrician but i am thinking that this radio should be wired into the chasis battery and not the house battery. any thoughts? remember, we bought the unit used and the previous owner might have had the unit wired this way...........???!!!! reaching for answers..!!!

wb7auk · 04-29-2012, 01:58 PM

Hard to tell but I like it when I turn the key off everything turns off that draws power
from the chassis battery.On my pace arrow it has a switch that selects where power
comes from for the radio. Turn the key off and you have to switch it to house batteries for it to work.

Gma-n-Gpa · 04-30-2012, 09:26 AM

My Greyhawk (2011) does not work the same as Larrydp's. My magnidyne stays on when the key is off. Not always a desirable thing... as for the original issue - i agree you need to check the inverter (if you have one). An alternative would be to provide shore power to "cool down" the refrigerator and then swithch to LP while you are driving to your destination. That is my method, doesn't use house battery and keeps all the referigerated stuff cold. Hope that helps.

larrydp · 05-01-2012, 11:20 AM

Gma-n-Gpa, Thanks!!!! do you have your owner's manual for your Magnadyne? my owner's manual said that the radio stays on "as a factory default" and told me how to change it so that the radio does not stay on. I found it under "Changing the Default Settings". if you can't find it i will be happy to share what mine said to do.
We don't have shore power in our storage facility so i have to use the house battery to cool the refer.
our unit has the "control panel" by the entrance door and it has a "remote" invertor on/off switch. the actual unit is under the bed. when i turn the switch to "ON" a light there comes on and goes off when i switch it to "OFF"
I went to the unit yesterday and changed the radio so that it does not stay on when there is power to it...only when i turn on the POWER button. plus i turned off the antennae boost switch. hope that will help.

Gma-n-Gpa · 05-01-2012, 12:53 PM

larrydp - have you tried using propane to cool down the refrig? I don't mean to avoid your battery issue but am trying to eliminate as much drain as possible. I will have to check the Mag owners manual - thanks for the tip. Guess it hasn't bothered me too much and since that is the DVD player for the front TV, the grandkids use it. So back to your issue - I suspect that went you are cooling the refer down you are actually using the house battery to run the inverter to run the refer. If that is true then the post about inverters draining batteries applies. That is why is suggested using Propane to cool the refer. You still will have to have the house battery "on" - I believe the refer requires 12v to operate on Propane. Hope this helps

Davinger · 05-02-2012, 06:54 AM

The radio is an issue that I am vary familiar with. The radio is wired to both the house and the car battery. You want it wired to the house battery because it is your DVD player for the main coach television and your music generator. If you turn it off and just want to keep your fridge cold it should be good for an overnight use.

What many people don't understand is that the house battery MUST be a deep cycle battery. They generally come in 3 sizes, 24m, 27m and 29m. A car battery in the place of a Marine battery wont do the job. The size differences are the reserve time and the number of amps. Most people use at least 1 27m in their coaches. The 24m and the 27m are close in size but the 29m is longer and may not fit in every case.

If your battery is dying trying to keep your fridge cold overnight you may want to check to see if you have left anything else on in the coach if that is not the case either your fridge has a problem or you have something else drawing from the battery. If you bought it from a dealership you may want to take it in and tell them your problem. Often they will fix it for free.

Davinger · 05-02-2012, 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gma-n-Gpa

larrydp - have you tried using propane to cool down the refrig? I don't mean to avoid your battery issue but am trying to eliminate as much drain as possible. I will have to check the Mag owners manual - thanks for the tip. Guess it hasn't bothered me too much and since that is the DVD player for the front TV, the grandkids use it. So back to your issue - I suspect that went you are cooling the refer down you are actually using the house battery to run the inverter to run the refer. If that is true then the post about inverters draining batteries applies. That is why is suggested using Propane to cool the refer. You still will have to have the house battery "on" - I believe the refer requires 12v to operate on Propane. Hope this helps

Unfortunately most of the newer coaches don't have the option to keep the fridge cold using propane anymore. They only use battery or electric.

Gma-n-Gpa · 05-02-2012, 07:37 AM

Davinger - my 2011 refrig runs on either AC (shore, gen, or inverter) or Propane. We use shore whenever available and Propane when it is not (driving time)

larrydp · 05-02-2012, 02:54 PM

here is my sequence when i go to the unit. I turn on the battery master switch. then i turn on the propane.
i do NOT turn on the inverter because my dealer said that was really to just run the tv(s) for awhile if one didn't want to turn on the generator. the refer runs on AC or propane. i use the propane overnight to get the refer cold for our trip, out of the storage area, the next day.
i think (aka hope) that now that i have learned how to turn the "face" on the radio off and have turned the antennae booster off that i will not have the problem any more....i want to hurry and plan another trip to test it!!!!
thanks for everyone's help/advise.