Battery drain and CO alarm in 2017 19XUD

[HybridKat]

Hi folks! Yesterday I plugged in my new camper to the garage to see if all was working with the electric. All seemed fine but I noticed a fan running in the fuse box which I hadn't noticed before. I assume that is normal when on AC? Anyway, I unplugged from the garage last night (battery was reading full) and this morning the battery was dead. Everything was off so I'm not sure why/how the battery would drain so quickly. Anyone experience this or have an idea why this would occur?
Also, anyone experience their CO alarm going off? I opened a window and it stopped. No leaks or exhaust noticed. Propane is off. BTW, this was a week ago before the battery drain.
Thanks for your help.

[bankr63]

Hi, and welcome to JOF!

All of the symptoms you describe would lead me to believe you may have a dead battery. The CO/Propane alarm is generally also a good warning of a depleted battery. They have the nasty tendency to sound as soon as the battery voltage starts to drop, and usually do this about 2AM when you are boondocking. I suspect it was telling you this when it went off.

When your shore power is plugged in, the fan will run on the power converter (turns 110 VAC to 12 VDC) if it is working hard, and it will be working hard if your battery is depleted. This is often located beside or behind your power panel like you describe. Also, when on shore power, your battery will probably show full on the panel. The panel is reading the full 12V being supplied to the battery by the converter, not necessarily the level of the battery. Check the battery level after you disconnect from shore to see if it is truly fully charged.

Your battery will deplete over time when not on shore power because of parasitic draws in the trailer unless you install a battery disconnect switch, or you disconnect the battery terminal. The aforementioned CO detector, the radio, and other control panels draw a little 12V all the time if power is present.

But if your battery was truly fully charged and then depleted overnight, that is a problem with the battery (or you left a bigger draw turned on, like a couple of old incandescent lights). If you are handy, check to fluid level in the battery itself, and top off with distilled water if down a bit. You can also take the battery to a shop and have them test the battery to see how well it is holding a charge. But once a battery has been depleted too far a couple of times or faced any other "abuse", it is pretty much dead and will no longer hold a charge.

Hope that long winded explanation helps a bit.

[JFlightRisk]

Everything banker63 said and another thing to check, make sure nobody pulled the break away pin out. That'll suck a battery dry in no time.

[DanNJanice]

Also, you mentioned checking and the voltage was OK.
It is important to remember that the battery gauge in trailers will always read full if the battery is charging. To get even a "somewhat" accurate reading you need to be unplugged for a few hours.

[Mustang65]

Do you have a voltage meter? If not, this is a good time to run over to Walmart and pick one up. There will be times in the future you will be glad you have one. Also order Digital Voltage Display (Amazon) something like the one below. Helps to keep tabs on your battery(s), the idiot lights that come with the TT are useless. Remember, your battery should not be allowed to drop below 12.0VDC (50% rule) or you will be shortening the life of your battery. A 12Volt battery is actually dead at 10.5VDC, Specific gravity =0.0 at that point.

What type of battery is it? Mfr/model/Ah rating?

Battery water level ok?

Was the battery totally dead? (No lights came on? 0.0VDC?)

Make sure your battery water level is topped off (1/8" below the ring). Take a voltage reading (write it down). Plug the TT into your AC source (take another voltage reading.. should be around 14VDC if it is in charging mode). Let it charge for 24 hours. Then take a voltage reading and write it down. After 24 hours it should be close to 13.2VDC (FLOAT), unless the battery was totally dead it will still need additional charging.

Disconnect the AC power source. Disconnect the batteries NEGATIVE terminal. After a 24 hour rest period it should be between somewhere between 13.2 and 12.6 VDC. Mine are at 12.9 volts until about 9PM and about 12.7 or 12.8 volts in the morning without using anything (normal TT drain). You know there will be a quiz on the battery voltages, so study.

Check your TT's battery connections and make sure they are all tight. Check the batteries ground connection (at the frame). If it is not tight, the battery will not get a full charge.

Let us know what you get for numbers.

Good Luck

Don

My Registry

RVing with SOLAR

[HybridKat]

Thanks to all who replied for your assistance. I will try charging the battery all day today to see the results. When I bought the TT, the dealer told me it would only take a couple of hours to charge the battery and half an hour if attached to my truck. I guess that was a bit off! Hopefully I will be able to get the battery to charge.

[bedrck46]

If you can not get the battery to hold a charge I would contact the dealer and insist that they replace the battery being it is a new RV.


Impossible to know what the battery may have gone thru prior to you purchasing the RV

[HybridKat]

Thanks to all for your helpful suggestions and comments. I charged the battery for about 12 hrs. yesterday then let is sit overnight. Got a 12.79 reading this morning. Good news. I will plug it back in for a couple of hours to see if I get a higher reading or this is the max for this battery. Thinking of buying a solar panel to take on the road so I don't wind up with a dead battery when dry camping. I read some of the info in the Solar feed on this website but I'm not sure if I can just attach the Renogy 100 Watts 12 Volts Monocrystalline Solar Bundle Kit to plug into the "Solar on the Side" connection on the camper. Anyone have experience with this?

[Cutfam]

Your inverter, and propane leak detector will run when the battery is connected. This draws power. Best way to cut power loss from the battery is either disconnect it physically from the system, or install a cut off switch between the battery and the trailer........and remember to use it....