Forum Discussion

Rhigley's avatar
Rhigley
Explorer
Oct 05, 2015

House/motor home battery

when I take the negative side of the motor home battery off I still have power to the cab? Even if I have the house battery turned off. What do I need to look for on this. The reason I pulled the neg.off the truck side is because it keeps killing my battery after about a month but the house battery are still charged up.

8 Replies

  • The battery disconnects would have a connection to the battery even in the off position. This is necessary to have power to operate the battery disconnect.
    OP: Have you located what type of battery charge system you have? Is it a relay operated one or a diode based.
  • Wait a minute please.

    When batteries are switched OFF a mechanical switch is thrown and a spark would have jump a quarter inch to complete the circuit.

    The VEHICLE battery circuit needs troubleshooting with meter and test light. Are you ready to do this?
  • this a Cab light ?
    maybe the light is connected to the house batteries, instead of the engine battery

    let us know if the battery goes down while disconnected. that means a bad battery
  • When I come back after a month or so I am able to jump the engine from the house battery. I have a switch in the cab that lets me do that. This is the first time I tried un-hooking the neg side when the battery was fully charged.
  • If I understand you correctly, you have disconnected the negative of the engine battery and have turned the house battery disconnect switch to disconnect. You still have power to something in the cab.

    Seems obvious that the battery disconnect switch does not completely disconnect the house battery.

    Are you asking why the engine battery is going dead after a month? If so, have you measured the current drain on the engine battery?
  • You could have a problem with a diode based battery isolator allowing power to go through it. (Bad diode)
    Many of the diode are contained in a blue housing.
    Look to see if you have a switch that is marked "dual". This could energize a charge relay. If relay is energized power is connected between the battery systems.