Battery issues

Damion · 10-15-2019, 04:23 PM

I have a 2018 Jay Feather 19BH. The last few trips my batteries are not lasting. A fully charged battery only lasted about 30 hours. All we really use is the fridge maybe a hour of lights 2 on at the same time and about 5 toilet flushes and maybe 2 minutes tops of water running. The batteries are a year old. They were both fully charged at home One was charged while on the camper while the camper was plugged in and one by a charger . Someone at the campground said he was having problems with his and he was told the water pump was drawing to much. I’m not sure if that is something anyone has heard of. I’m just curious if anyone has had any similar problems. Thanks.

Murff · 10-15-2019, 05:20 PM

A lot depends on what you have for a "battery". A single Group 24 won't last as long as a Group 27. Are your batteries wired together or are you using them one at a time. If together, and one of them isn't the same age as the other, the bad one saps the good one.

Two six volt golf cart batteries will give superior (and longer) service over two 12 volt deep cycles working together.

My suggestions is have the batteries checked. If they are the ones the dealer put on the rig when new, you might get something better.

If you are near a battery distributor, check and see if they have "blems". These are batteries that have a crease in the case or some other abnormality that they can't sell retail but will still sell and usually for half the price of retail. Still have factory warranty, too!

Murff

Damion · 10-15-2019, 05:30 PM

Thanks. I use one battery at a time one came with the unit and I purchased one from a dealer the same time. I’m going to bring them to be checked. I’m also going to look into the 6v golf cart battery option.

RedHorse1 · 10-15-2019, 07:22 PM

Take the battery out and have it checked. A load check or specific gravity check will pass or fail your batt. If the batt is wet lead/acid and has had a discharge event it may be damaged.

DonaandDon · 10-16-2019, 09:27 AM

Lot of great point here. I'm learning so given Damion's parameters; How long should his batteries last?

GL243 · 10-16-2019, 10:57 AM

Since you're running each battery separately, when you say "A fully charged battery only lasted about 30 hours." does that mean you're getting 30 hours from each of the two batteries, so 60 hours total?

BanjoBob · 10-16-2019, 11:00 AM

30 hours running a fridge is pretty good.

Damion · 10-16-2019, 02:13 PM

Yes 30 hours from each battery. It just doesn’t seem right my 02 coachmen would last 4-5 days on one battery with the same usage. But I guess all the other new electric stuff that’s not on but probably draws even though it’s off could be the problem.

Vicr · 10-18-2019, 01:18 PM

Get them "Load Tested" at a battery shop.

GL243 · 10-18-2019, 02:10 PM

I seem to recall reading somewhere that load testing doesn't tell you what you need to know about deep cycle performance, i.e., you have to test amp output over a period of time longer than what a load test does. Anyone know anything more about that?

**JFlightRisk** · 10-19-2019, 08:22 PM

Here's a clip on load testing deep cycle batteries. It may help.

https://www.google.com/search?source...Wm_QbMtY3IDQ27

Trapper2020 · 10-21-2019, 09:39 AM

If you have an inverter turn it off when not needed. Some of them have a high phantom draw. Most rigs only used to power tv. Also turn off, un plug, tv when not in use. Newer TVs also have a phantom draw and if you have more than one it can also bite you. On another note it is not that hard to hook the two 12 volt batteries together so you don’t need to use just one at a time.

Good luck

Chet & Marie · 11-06-2019, 05:04 PM

We have a Jay Feather 23rlsw and 30 hours is about whar we get in the summer from our series 24 12v deep cycle battery when boonie camping.

CAG · 11-06-2019, 06:16 PM

A single 12 volt battery will not last more than two days with lights, pump, fridge and other small things like CO2 units connected to the electric. If you run a furnace, the fan will kill the battery in a night. You need a generator or more amps.

I run 3 12 volt AGM batteries in parallel to increase the amps available. I seldom need to run the generator in a weeks span if the temps outside are reasonable. If the furnace is running I recharge several hours in the AM and again in the PM.

One 12 volt is insufficient unless you are hooked to shore power.

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