Drain on coach batteries December 07, 2018, 11:55:29 pm This is my first winter with my new-to-me LD, a 2004 mid-bath. Right now, she’s sitting quietly outside in the snow flurries, waiting for spring. Plumbing filled with antifreeze, refrigerator turned off. From time to time, I start up the truck and move it around a bit. My husband recently charged up the house batteries. My Victron battery monitor tells me the batteries are now at 97%, but it also reports there is an ongoing drain of 3 W on the batteries. Is that normal? Husband thinks the drain should be almost zero. Is there something I may have left turned on?Dottie and Ms Liz, near Kansas City
Re: Drain on coach batteries Reply #1 – December 08, 2018, 12:27:36 am CO detector? Propane detector? Something plugged into one of the 12V outlets?
Re: Drain on coach batteries Reply #2 – December 08, 2018, 01:22:15 am Hi Dottie. Joel has probably identified the culprit. A 3 watt drain would translate to about a 250 milliamp drain. The propane detector is somewhere between 40 ma. and 125 ma. depending on it's age and level of technology. Other loads like memory for your radio, could add up. Lead acid batteries also self discharge at about 1%, so maybe 1-2 watts per day. That is normal. For a car driven daily, that wouldn't be noticed. If you have solar, it would counteract that slow, low load and self discharge. The propane detector doesn't have an on off switch, for liability considerations. With the propane turned off at the main valve, you could pull the detector out by undoing the two screws, and disconnect it by pulling the fuse out of the in line fuse holder. Tape the fuse in place so it doesn't drop into the 'abyss'. Reinstall the fuse before you turn on the propane again. Another item that could be siphoning off some power is the TV antenna amplifier. A red or green LED lights up and the amp for weak incoming signals is on. A small slide switch will turn it off. The MidBath of that vintage came with an inverter for the tube TV, and could still be on, even though the TV is turned off. Lights in closets or storage compartments could be on. Make sure the space heater is off totally. Thats all of my ideas. Hope this helped. RonB
Re: Drain on coach batteries Reply #3 – December 08, 2018, 07:01:47 am I have read that a healthy battery, fully-charged, will self-discharge a few percent per month. Unless you need to get into the coach for renovations, repairs, and the like, you are better off disconnecting the ground leads on both the house and chassis batteries. Let the baby seep through the Winter.Mark H
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Topic: Drain on coach batteries (Read 126 times)
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