Dead battery so quickly?

Is there something preventing the charging and testing of the battery.?
My first comment addressed the chances of a parasitic draw.

The second comment recommended charging and testing free by a parts store

Did you find any of my responses offensive?

Gdetrailer wrote:
:h

Folks, "Swimmer" seems to habitually post a lot of threads with the SAME issue and no change in the bad habits no matter how much "counseling" from many good electrical folks here.

Swimmer for some reason spends all of their time "testing" by running down batteries, then taking the "bad" batteries back to the store to get new ones..

From the posts I have seen, swimmer has multiple RVs without power from the stories I have seen and from what I gather uses the batteries then leaves them sit for periods of time discharged or recharging them with a small trickle charger which would take months to fully recharge..

Doesn't seem to have a clue or is pretending to not have a clue about electrical, batteries and such..

Save yourselves the grief of running down the rabbit hole again..

This is the first thread on killing a new battery. I have asked about using other batteries and such. I have asked which batteries I should get that were 12 volt, not 6volt. I have asked about water from a lake, which got 15 pages of replys of "water from a lake will kill you"

I have 2 trailers. This one, and a newer 1999 model. I have had various issues with them, and instead of paying someone to fix them, I ask questions. I do know a lot about automotive wiring and a bit about house wiring. RVs tend to combine those, while having their own unique twists. If this happened to my truck, I would bring the battery back and be pissed at them for selling me a bad battery. However, I would first check the alternator, as that could kill a battery prematurely.

So, yes, I know a decent amount, but some stuff, I am not sure.

You sound like an RVer that arrives at midnight, makes a bunch of noise, and then leaves all their food and garbage around the site.

Most others on this site seem like good folks, and have helped me figure things out that I am unsure of.

enblethen wrote:
Thanks for additional info that I saw on original post. I was going to comment on others post about age of your rig.
That is why I asked about the converter. It could have the large old style capacitors that could be shorted to ground.
Make sure your refer does not have 12 volt DC element. Edited when you just posted no circuit board on refer.
Do you have a volt meter? Check the output of the converter when connected to shore power? Make and model of converter would help!

I do have a volt meter. Next time I am there, I will poke around and see what is going on.

The fridge is just sitting there, not hooked up at all, and in fact will be swapped out as it isn't working. The "new" one will not be hooked up to any power.

:h

Folks, "Swimmer" seems to habitually post a lot of threads with the SAME issue and no change in the bad habits no matter how much "counseling" from many good electrical folks here.

Swimmer for some reason spends all of their time "testing" by running down batteries, then taking the "bad" batteries back to the store to get new ones..

From the posts I have seen, swimmer has multiple RVs without power from the stories I have seen and from what I gather uses the batteries then leaves them sit for periods of time discharged or recharging them with a small trickle charger which would take months to fully recharge..

Doesn't seem to have a clue or is pretending to not have a clue about electrical, batteries and such..

Save yourselves the grief of running down the rabbit hole again..

Thanks for additional info that I saw on original post. I was going to comment on others post about age of your rig.
That is why I asked about the converter. It could have the large old style capacitors that could be shorted to ground.
Make sure your refer does not have 12 volt DC element. Edited when you just posted no circuit board on refer.
Do you have a volt meter? Check the output of the converter when connected to shore power? Make and model of converter would help!

OP here.

Some of you really should read the original post before commenting.

This trailer does not have any parasitic loads. No tv, radio, etc. No monitors, alarms, detectors, etc. There are no circuit boards for the water heater or the fridge.

This is a 1975 trailer. Most of that stuff wasn't around back then, and I have not installed any of that into it. It is sitting about 30km in the bush with no shore power. The battery is only used to power a few lights. The old battery I had, when new lasted the summer before I had to charge it. This one, after 1 night is dead. I have done nothing different to the trailer since replacing a 4 year old battery.

Next time I am out there, I will locate the fuse box and start pulling fuses to see if there is a draw. However, unless it is a short, there is nothing in it that could be drawing power.

wa8yxm wrote:
FLorcesent lights in RV's are typically 8 watts by 2 bulbs and inverter driven (The 12 volt ballast is really an inverter) so you are sucking about 1.5 amps

Group 24 batteries hold about 75 amphours max (at the 20 hour rate) and you can safely use about 20-25% (Figure 14-20 amp hours)

12 hours times 1.5 amps is 18 amp hours

Add in the assorted parasitic draws (Propane detector and control boards for fridge water heater and A/C) and you are now dead battery time.

Recommended solution.. Upgrade IF YOU HAVE THE ROOM to two GC-2 batteries in series.. (These are six volt when on the shelf so to make a 12 volt battery you need to wire them in series) 220 amp horus 110 usable.

This not a newer trailer. It is a 1975 model. Propane detector? CO alarm? etc? None are even on it.

Control boards? Maybe if they were vacuum tubes. Both the water heater and fridge are only propane. No wires going anywhere.

So, my battery should last around 18 hours on that load? It lasted about 4 hours.

When we bought our last four deep cycles, It took many miles with he generator to bring them up to full charge. I wondered after that if they had been sitting long enough to discharge at Golf Cart Dealer or why they were not fully charged when CAT installed them for us.

Maybe the break away switch is engaging the brakes....