2019 Pinnacle Battery Disconnect

[Motorhommie]

I have a 2019 38 FWLS. It is in storage mode in Eastern WA while relaxing in AZ this winter.

I have the rig plugged in to shore power on my lot. I compared electric bills with a neighbor there who is also gone but has nothing on his lot at present. My electric bill was $20 a month higher!

I left mine plugged in to simply keep the batteries charged. I don’t remember if I turned the power switch in the propane compartment off. I also don’t remember if I turned the refrigerator off so I believe that the fridge is mostly responsible for the extra charges.

[tfoliver]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I have learned a lot. BTW, I called Jayco and they told me that the switch only turns off what runs through the 12 volt fuse panel. In any event, I purchased a knife style disconnect switch to install on the batteries. That will certainly solve the problem.

[Lyonseed]

Had exactly the same issue with our '19 Pinnacle. Even when I hooked up 110V I couldn't get anything to work. Called dealer service mgr. (direct line) he suggested battery may be dead. Hooked up hd charger & was able to lift legs.Same info as others, battery shut off doesn't disconnect safety equip. Service mgr. recommends disconnecting cable if not using for 1 month or more, remove & store inside for winter in Ontario Can. Still not sure why 110v didn't have thing working.

[tfoliver]

Yes, it's a mystery as to why things won't work when plugged into 110 volt outlet. Hopefully you have a 20 amp outlet otherwise the breaker will likely trip.

[KA9J]

A typical RV battery has about 80 Ampere Hours capacity. At light loads, batteries will exceed their capacity, and at heavy loads they will produce less than their rated capacity, but for the sake of this discussion let's us just use their rated capacity. My 2019 27.5RLTS draws about .4A (amperes) with everything turned off and the battery disconnect ON, and .1A with the disconnect OFF. That means that with the disconnect on, your battery will be discharged at a rate of .4A X 24 hrs. or 9.6 AH (ampere hours) per day. That means your batter will be completely discharged in a touch over 8 days. If you turn off the battery disconnect, your battery will be discharged at a rate of 2.4 AH per day. It will take a little over a month to drain your battery. If your battery isn't giving similar performance either your battery has a reduced capacity (it's getting old or has been damaged by too many discharge cycles) OR your charger isn't providing the proper charging cycle.


On my trailer, when you turn the disconnect switch OFF, you've turned everything OFF except the charger and it's voltage sensing circuit and probably the emergency trailer brake switch (which draws no current normally). That's why the green light is still working. That's also why my battery's negative lead is disconnect for winter storage.



That's also why your battery is dead when you pick it up after being serviced at the dealer and he doesn't turn off the battery disconnect after he's finished working on it. To help with this, I pull the fuse for the radio which also kills the smoke and propane alarms.

[DrSmart]

Originally Posted by KA9J

A typical RV battery has about 80 Ampere Hours capacity. At light loads, batteries will exceed their capacity, and at heavy loads they will produce less than their rated capacity, but for the sake of this discussion let's us just use their rated capacity. My 2019 27.5RLTS draws about .4A (amperes) with everything turned off and the battery disconnect ON, and .1A with the disconnect OFF. That means that with the disconnect on, your battery will be discharged at a rate of .4A X 24 hrs. or 9.6 AH (ampere hours) per day. That means your batter will be completely discharged in a touch over 8 days. If you turn off the battery disconnect, your battery will be discharged at a rate of 2.4 AH per day. It will take a little over a month to drain your battery. If your battery isn't giving similar performance either your battery has a reduced capacity (it's getting old or has been damaged by too many discharge cycles) OR your charger isn't providing the proper charging cycle.

Good explanation. Just to add to that. The battery capacity will decrease considerably as it gets colder outside. This will vary depending on the battery chemistry. (Lead acid vs AGM etc)

[tfoliver]

KA9J,
Great info! Thanks a bunch.

[ETCrockett]

Ok. Obviously, things changed on the Pinnacles after Thor took over Jayco. My 2016 Pinnacle has a cutoff switch inside the propane compartment that is more like a key. I turn it to OFF in storage and pull the key out and it hangs on a chain. I park my FW in storage from November to the end of April or the beginning of May (6 months). I have never put them on any kind of maintenance charger. When April/May rolls around, I go turn battery disconnect to ON and away I go. My batteries are the original batteries when I bought the FW in January 2017. We get 6 to 8 trips a year so the disconnect switch is OFF more than ON. I believe my only draw "IF" there is a draw is on the radio preset. I can turn on the 6-point level pad to hook up to the truck without turning the disconnect to ON. However, to my knowledge nothing else is working without the disconnect set to ON.

So either the design has changed with Thor or I have an expensive battery bill in my future when these batteries finally get too old to retain enough charge.

[tfoliver]

ETCrockett,
The disconnect on my 2019 switch is the same as yours - in the propane compartment and a key type thing. It sounds like what has changed is the wiring and there are more draws so it doesn't fully disconnect. I certainly wish mine worked like yours. By the way, your batteries have lasted a long time and are probably about due for replacement. Glad your setup has work so well!

[BuddyRay]

OK, if you want to get REALLY deep into this issue check out my rather lengthy post/discussion from 2016.
Feel free to skim the first few posts in the thread for, as you will see, I discovered much more detail as I went.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned in this thread is boondocking. The way these trailers are wired, there are a bunch of un-needed electrical draws ALL the time. For example, the slideout controllers are drawing a suprising amount of power, not just while in storage, but also while you're boondocking and trying to conserve those batteries. I figured out how to install TWO cutoff switches, one wired for storage, one wired for Boondocking.
https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...ing-37512.html

[tfoliver]

Excellent. Thank you.