New owner. Battery issues.

[scottkeen]

I just bought my first RV yesterday, a used 2011 Montana 347THT. I'm completely new to everything RV!

Drove it back 300 miles from the dealer and put it in the RV storage lot. No issues.

When I went to the storage lot today, I hooked up the trailer to the 7-way on my truck and left the truck running thinking that the truck's alternator would charge the RV battery on the 12V terminal.

I turned on the battery supply with the Battery Disconnect switch. I turned all the interior 12V lights on and pushed the slides out. I pushed the "Battery" gauge button in the RV and it showed only the "L" light (Low) to my surprise. The lights are "C G F L".

After a while, the Battery gauge lit up the "G" light then flickered between "G" (Good) and "F" (Fair) and settled on "F".

Even with the trailer connected to the 7-way on my truck, it never lit the "C"
(Charging) light. I verified that the 12V terminal on my truck is working.

I disconnected the battery and took it home and put it on a charger, which showed "12.7 volts". It's charging now at 15A.

What's going on here? Besides my new battery is probably ruined.

[Ram Montana High Country]

Think you might be right. There are ghost loads that fully drain/kill a battery. I’m putting a switch between the ground terminal and the ground connection point. This will save the battery in storage. Some says to put it on the positive. Depending where you store it - might consider adding a small solar charging system to keep it live.

[scottkeen]

Not sure if it's killed or not...

I hooked it up to my Schumacher SSC-1500A Ship 'N' Shore battery charger and it read 12.7 volts. This charger supposedly goes through a bulk, absorption, monitoring, and float phase.
The charger charged it at 15.9-16.0 amps for I think less than 1 hour then went to "Charged" status.
The charger reads 13.2 volts and 100% charged.
The charger clicks on-and-off (float phase?) and reads 13.2-13.3 and still 100% charged.

I dunno if any of this is good or bad.

[scottkeen]

Originally Posted by Ram Montana High Country

Think you might be right. There are ghost loads that fully drain/kill a battery. I’m putting a switch between the ground terminal and the ground connection point. This will save the battery in storage. Some says to put it on the positive. Depending where you store it - might consider adding a small solar charging system to keep it live.

If the battery is shutoff with the "Battery Disconnect" switch, then there shouldn't be ghost loads?

What kind of switch are you using for a ground terminal disconnect? One of those twist-knob on/off deals that attaches to the negative terminal of the battery?

Interested in the solar trickle charger. Just curious on how you were planning to mount the panel and where. I see Battery Tender makes one, so does Harbor Freight.

[CaptnJohn]

Depends on your use ~~ I shut down for 2 1/2 - 3 months in the summer. I set the nearly worthless disconnect switch in the convenience center and also a real disconnect I installed at the batteries. Never less than 12.9 when ready to go again.

[Mudchief]

Even with the switch turned off the propane detector is still running as well as the level up system.

[scottkeen]

Sorry for this newbie question -- Is it OK then that I pulled the battery out of the RV and brought it home to charge? The propane tanks are both shut off. The RV is going to be in storage for about 3 months or until winter is over.

[DQDick]

Sure, many do exactly that.

[Ram Montana High Country]

The battery disconnect still leaves domes items hot. A test learned years ago - disconnect the ground and put a test light between the terminal and the cable - if there is a ghost load, the light will be on - no light no load.
There are blade switches for the ground - myself I will be using a rotary that could handle the full load.

[Fred S.]

My batteries were slowly going down when in storage, then the service manager where we purchased the unit told me the propane dector and the radio were live all the time. Was told to disconnect a battery terminal.

[rohrmann]

In the photo, the auto breaker on the left has two large cables leaving the load side, one goes to the hydraulic pump, the other goes to the main electric panel via the red handled disconnect switch in the convenience center. The other auto breaker on the right has several wires leaving the load side, and these serve several loads, like the propane detector and a couple other things that are not fused in the main panel. Those are the loads that will drain your batteries if you don't have a real main disconnect at the batteries, whether on a hot or ground wire.