Hello everyone! I'm lost! Just bought the RV, redoing the interior so the RV is sitting in front of my house. My house batteries constantly die so of course my generator won't start. What am I doing or not doing, wrong? Am I supposed to be plugged in or....? I appreciate ANY suggestions!Angie

You need to be plugged in. At least get you an extension cord and hook it up to a 15 amp outlet, 20 amp is better if available. That will probably keep your batteries charged if you're just using typical electronics. You probably won't be able to use all 12 volt appliances on 15 amps. If you have an inverter, it may be hooked to get 110 power from the 12 volt batteries. Running a water heater, microwave, refer, etc probably will suck the batteries dry in short order.

some info on your RV would be a big helpmake, model, year, how many house batteries ?what is turned on in the RVhow long from charged to deadif you are using the appliances, make sure those that can are on LP/propaneNOT 120v (unless you plug in a shore cord)fridge is a BIG electric user, so is water heater, water pump and lights should go days on battery powerHINT start the drive enginepress AUX start button, press generator start buttonyou really should plug in shore power, to keep batteries charged and use your power tools

Also, make sure your battery terminals are clean and tight. A little corrosion can cause problems.It sounds like you need to plug into shore power.I keep our 96 Southwind plugged in 24/7 when it's parked in the yard.

Hi IrelandinSpirit08 , Depending on the RV, you may have 1 or 2 disconnects. Sometimes there is one at the chassis battery and what is known as the salesman switch inside the RV that sort of disconnects the house batteries. I say sort of, as usually there are some items that continue to be fed even though the salesman switch is off. That might include CO detector,propane detector, and other devices that have a volatile memory that require power to prevent loss, e.g. radio presets. If you have an inverter, it may require that a seperate switch be turned off to stop power to that device. Even though the inverter may not be powering anything, it still draws significant current. You can purchase a manual switch that you put in the negative terminal of the battery to physically disconnect them from the RV. That will definitely get rid of the parasitic draws. Oh, if you've depleted the batteries multiple times, they are living on borrowed time and once you figure out what is depleting them, you should plan to get ready to replace them.

Thanks everyone! I have a 1994 Winnebago Vectra. The only things I'm using in the RV are the lights where I'm painting and sometimes the stereo. I did have it plugged in at one point and it seemed to work but the next day I went out and the batteries were dead. I know absolutely nothing about bolts vs amps vs aaaahhhh! Needless to say my generator hasn't started in over a week. I have 2 house batteries and 1 engine battery. Engine starts fine.

NEW RV'R My rig batteries keep dying. | Good Sam Community

32 Replies

MrWizard
Moderator
Nov 27, 2018
some info on your RV would be a big help
make, model, year, how many house batteries ?

what is turned on in the RV
how long from charged to dead

if you are using the appliances, make sure those that can are on LP/propane
NOT 120v (unless you plug in a shore cord)

fridge is a BIG electric user, so is water heater,
water pump and lights should go days on battery power

HINT start the drive engine
press AUX start button, press generator start button

you really should plug in shore power, to keep batteries charged and use your power tools
Tinstar
Explorer
Nov 27, 2018
You need to be plugged in. At least get you an extension cord and hook it up to a 15 amp outlet, 20 amp is better if available. That will probably keep your batteries charged if you're just using typical electronics. You probably won't be able to use all 12 volt appliances on 15 amps. If you have an inverter, it may be hooked to get 110 power from the 12 volt batteries. Running a water heater, microwave, refer, etc probably will suck the batteries dry in short order.

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NEW RV'R My rig batteries keep dying.

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