Sorry, no facts and figures yet, so it's tough to do the math...but...Proud new owner of a Jayco 29.5 RLS Fifth. Used it 3 weeks in May, and for 4 days this past weekend. While in the driveway after the May trip, and not plugged in to shore, DW left a couple of lights on. Did not notice for many days (a week?). Battery totally dead. Plugged into shore, and let the built in charger do it's thing. Left it plugged into shore for a couple of weeks. Sent the trailer to the dealer for some work, and temp storage, and after a month got it back with again a totally dead battery. Recharge again for a few days, and went camping with shore power the whole trip. Showed 100% at the campground on Sunday. In the last 24 hrs, we operated the 2 slides out, in and out, lowered the front landing gear, used three lights for about 1/2 hour, and it otherwise sat with the entertainment center on standby, and the microwave clock running. On board charge indicator now shows battery down to 25%.I have not opened the battery box at all, but assume it is a group 24.Any WAG about how much current draw I put on it with the above? The life seems very, very short.I will, of course, take the box apart and check the levels (and verify what I actually have in there) in the next day or two.Without being dishonest, do I have any claim with the dealer on warranty for the battery - or is it likely I did it to myself with the very deep discharge?

Sorry to tell you but you did it to yourself. With nothing but parastic loads (no lights at all) my FW would kill the GP24 in 4 days. If your sitting without shore power you need to disconnect the batteriesFixed my problem with 2 GC2 6volts and 265Watt solar. It'll sit forever now if I so wanted to.

standby current drain can be higher than you expect. First sometimes the CO and smoke and Propane detectors are connected to +12V. Next, and worst is the stereo. The Jensen common in many units in the "off" position is really standby and draws about 0.3A. Thats 9AH/day so in 7-10days it will pretty much toast a single 12V battery. In any event, it will get the battery below the 50% level, the lowest you want a 12V to get for reasonable life in less than a week. even a pair of GC get run down in a few weeks with that load.Completely discharging a common "dual cycle" marine battery a few times does it no good, in fact even true deep discharge really suffer cycle life when drawn below 20% of capacity. Draw even the best deep discharge down to 0%, fully dead and you do permanent damage. Very many times and they are in the scrap heap as well. Especially if it is completely discharged and then left for weeks before carefully recharging. Do that a few times and battery may be toast. It may be worth trying for a warranty claim regardless. In any case, if the trailer doesn't have a battery disconnect switch I'd recomend getting on and installing it and use it religiously when not using the trailer. Or, disconnect the battery positive terminal during storage.

Hi,Even deep cycle batteries can not be fully discharged--not if you want them to last. 50% is a good number to not go below if possible.

Sounds about normal to me. Get the battery charged and keep it charged when you can for best longevity. You need more battery and a method to recharge if you will be more than a day off grid.

Expected Battery life when "powered down" | Good Sam Community

15 Replies

Almot
Explorer III
Sep 26, 2013
Flapper wrote:
On a slightly different note, there is a master power switch in the battery compartment. Would be nice to have a sub-master in the main switch panel inside, that cuts off everything except the emergency brake and the jacks. Sounds like a nice retirement project next summer...

Got nothing better to do with your retirement time? :)

You only need emergency brake when towing, so leave the master on when on the road. Alternator via 7-pin plug will supply more than enough juice to keep even a few forgotten lamps, not to mention parasitic currents.

Same with jacks - flip master on, use the jacks, and flip master off if you are leaving rig for a while.
dddire
Explorer
Sep 25, 2013
If you don't plan on boon docking, your batt MIGHT be ok.. but likely better to replace it. Would hate to see it not work for break away safety breaks. My guess, it's toast.

You likely have a gp24... so don't expect much from it.. unless you convert to all LED and are judicial with other electrical use. Most people who boondocks hard core, will move to twin 6v GC2 Golf Cart style batteries. If away from shore power for more than a couple days, you will likely want 4.. 6 etc of these. So space and money is the downside here.

Then there is the options of Solar and Generators.

Love your rig by the way.
full_mosey
Explorer
Sep 24, 2013
smkettner wrote:
Just don't bother with Group 31 Optima if you are looking for large capacity.
Optima group 31 has lower amp hours than the group 24 wet cell.

+1 for solar.

That's right.

Actually, Optima calls that a Model D31M. Notice the play on words. A rectangular GRP 31 AGM will be 100AH and be over 70lbs. The Optima weighs less at 59.8lbs and 75AHs.

Here is my replacement choice when my AGMs need replacing. Sam's Club has these 100AH in OKC for $180.

HTH;
John
Tin_Pusher
Explorer II
Sep 24, 2013
Mine will go about a week if not on shore power, unless batt is disconnected.
time2roll
Nomad
Sep 24, 2013
Just don't bother with Group 31 Optima if you are looking for large capacity.
Optima group 31 has lower amp hours than the group 24 wet cell.

+1 for solar.
pianotuna
Nomad III
Sep 24, 2013
Hi,

Get out your measuring tape.

choices for AGM in order of preference, if boondocking LOTS:

six 2 volt cells (be prepared for sticker shock, and you need lots of space)
two 8 D
four 4ct
one 8 D
two 4ct

What make and model is your current converter?

If you don't boondock then a 24T may meet your needs.

Add a modest solar system for maintenance between trips based on it being a battery charger.
Flapper
Explorer
Sep 24, 2013
My error - I noticed the clock after I plugged it into shore to recharge. It likely wasn't on when just on battery.

Thanks for the rough estimates of expected powered down (but not off) life. Kind of what I was assuming. And, unfortunately, kind of what I was assuming about what I did to the battery....

The silver lining - I wanted to get a type 31 AGM as a replacement anyway. Now I have a reason to dig into the details of the built-in charge system to make sure it will properly charge an AGM. Or I install the spare high end dual channel trolling motor charger I pulled out of my boat last year, and put in two 31 AGMs!

On a slightly different note, there is a master power switch in the battery compartment. Would be nice to have a sub-master in the main switch panel inside, that cuts off everything except the emergency brake and the jacks. Sounds like a nice retirement project next summer...
mdamerell
Explorer
Sep 24, 2013
Parasitic loads are pretty heavy. I had a battery disconnect switch installed otherwise I could not keep a battery charged more than 4 days.

Don't know how your wired but unless I'm on shore power, I don't have power to the microwave. When we hook up to shore power it's one of the quickest check we do to ensure we are powered up.
mena661
Explorer
Sep 24, 2013
beemerphile1 wrote:

Wait a second, if the clock on the microwave is working you are plugged into shore power and the converter should be charging the battery.
X2 unless you have an inverter that you left on.
beemerphile1
Explorer
Sep 24, 2013
Flapper wrote:
...it otherwise sat with the entertainment center on standby, and the microwave clock running. On board charge indicator now shows battery down to 25%....?

Wait a second, if the clock on the microwave is working you are plugged into shore power and the converter should be charging the battery.