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sjls's avatar
sjls
Explorer
Sep 25, 2019

Brand New Deep Cycle Batteries Keep Dying Overnight

I just purchased (2) Brand New RV/Marine Batteries (Thinking I had bad Batteries) for my 1996 Winnebago Class C. It turns out there is a parasitic drain on the dual batteries of 2.35 amps when everything in the Motorhome is turned off. The strange thing is when I press the AUX Start Button by the steering wheel the drain on the house RV batteries drops down to 0.4 amps. I know there is a bridge / link between the engine battery and the house batteries but it appears that power is being drawn upfront and the drain is not caused from something running in the Motorhome side. Any ideas or suggestions?

16 Replies

  • Hi Steve,

    You did not mention what you own, brand, model, model year, etc. That might help.

    Here are a few things that come to-mind, especially with an older motor home.

    Open all your outdoor compartments. Maybe the lights were left on in one or more of them. If you have florescent lighting, one of your lights might be on, the bulbs just didn't light up. A florescent light fixture might also be faulty.

    The one inverter still connected, don't just turn it off, as an experiment, disconnect it and see if that makes the difference.

    Most RV roof antennas are equipped with a 12v signal booster of some kind that stays on all the time unless you intentionally turn it off. Locate it, turn it off by pressing the tiny button, and see if your drain is gone. It might use a lot of electricity or it could be faulty. Look for something like this near the TV. My signal booster runs hot. I turn it on only when watching antenna TV.


    Install a cheap 12v volt meter, somewhere in the house in a place you can see. If you have a 12v outlet, plug one into there. I got fancy and installed one that also displays the time and temperature, in the kitchen hood/vent. Ebay sells both types very cheap. It helps me to always know the battery voltage, when they are draining, how fast they are draining, also when and how much they are charging.
  • I have (2) Power Inverters installed but both turned off. Actually one of those inverters I removed completely last week but cables are still there - just taped up out of the way. Even though that line to the old (removed) inverter is still hot and live wire I can't imagine that drawing current as its no longer connected to anything.
  • Considering possibilities, do you have an inverter that is live when house is connected?
  • The good news is that when I switch that main battery disconnect to OFF for the house power the reading on my volt meter is 0 so we know that works as it should. Its just when its turned on and everything else is off inside the motorhome something is draining down my batteries.
  • Our Winnebago has a switch between the house and engine for the radio, but I can't see that being a 2.35 amp draw...