I can't believe we did this again!! (did the same thing, once, in our first rig)! Anyway, once again, forgot to turn the battery switch off after visiting it while in storage. Went back, found it dead and took it home, charged it with our new charger until back to full capacity and put it back in and double checked the switch! So, went to storage yesterday after about 2 weeks, to do some inventory,....oh no, battery is down to 1/3 according to alert flasher and beeping. My question is, what would make a battery lose power if not in use? Admittedly, I may have gone over once during that period and opened and closed the slides (2 super slides), stayed no more than 20 minutes with one set of lights on and left. Could opening these slides, once, drain that much power or could something else be wrong? Thanks for any input!

I suppose it depends on the rig, but on mine there is some "constant-on" stuff that could drain a battery in a couple weeks. Propane detector, the stereo/entertainment center (even in standby the bright lighted panel is still on). The simple test would be to take it home charge it, then leave it on a bench (not connected to anything) and monitor if it discharges.

Hi,Slides are very power hungry--but by "flattening" the battery just once the capacity and ability to stay charged may have been compromised. How big is the battery bank in amp-hours?

Do you have 2 batteries? One poor batterie can definitely drag down a good battery. Always replace both. However by guess is you got a defective battery. I don't buy cheap batteries for the 5th. Do some research and buy the top quality. I really don't think run the slides in and out and 20 minutes of a few lights would do all that. If the new battery is a little weak what you did would definitely drag it down. Pull battery and take to dealer and have them run tests on the battery and they can tell if it is bad. Check water in battery and if one cell is way down on water that is probably a bad cell, and new battery would need to be replaced. Good luck.

Flat dead probably needs an equalization charge and fair chance lost 10+ % of capacity permanently.Full charge 48+ hours and check with a hydrometer. Post what you find.Batteries do self discharge and yours has been compromised a bit.Consider 100 watts of solar to keep the battery up while stored.

Thank you for all the input. The "constant on items" shouldn't be getting any power if the switch is off I would assume? We have just one battery, and the suggestion to monitor it after we charge it at home makes sense. Flattening it could very well have diminished its capacity, and I will have to check if we have a "quality" battery. We are leaving for Florida in a couple of weeks and always hook up at night, so we should be okay. We were just puzzled that this happened.

New battery losing charge! | Good Sam Community

13 Replies

kennethwooster
Explorer
Nov 01, 2014
Do you have 2 batteries? One poor batterie can definitely drag down a good battery. Always replace both. However by guess is you got a defective battery. I don't buy cheap batteries for the 5th. Do some research and buy the top quality. I really don't think run the slides in and out and 20 minutes of a few lights would do all that. If the new battery is a little weak what you did would definitely drag it down. Pull battery and take to dealer and have them run tests on the battery and they can tell if it is bad. Check water in battery and if one cell is way down on water that is probably a bad cell, and new battery would need to be replaced. Good luck.
pianotuna
Nomad III
Nov 01, 2014
Hi,

Slides are very power hungry--but by "flattening" the battery just once the capacity and ability to stay charged may have been compromised. How big is the battery bank in amp-hours?
xaugievike
Explorer
Nov 01, 2014
I suppose it depends on the rig, but on mine there is some "constant-on" stuff that could drain a battery in a couple weeks.

Propane detector, the stereo/entertainment center (even in standby the bright lighted panel is still on). The simple test would be to take it home charge it, then leave it on a bench (not connected to anything) and monitor if it discharges.

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New battery losing charge!

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