Hello everyone, I loaded the camper last night packed everything up had the truck running idling for a while no problem. Today I go to start truck batteries are dead and I can’t figure why the meter is saying the camper battery is OK, lights work.Can anybody help me with this? Thanks

The one thing that will run down the batteries in no time is a 3-way fridge running on 12V at 120-200 watts. Can you exclude that as a reason?First, unplug camper to eliminate any cause from that side.What voltage do the truck batteries read?What voltage does the camper battery read?How old are the batteries?Do they accept a a charge? Either from an external charger or from the truck alternator after a jump start?Possibilities: Truck battery diedLights or other electrical device left onExcessive load from camper, see beginning of my post (but that doesn't seem to rhyme well with your story)Not a professional here, better opinions welcome.

Not much to go on but we had battery problems with our Suburban due to electronics using juice overnight even tho we supposedly had everything else turned off. How old is the truck battery? Did you accidentally leave a dome light on overnight?Better to get the battery tested by a pro. My auto dealer told me that they find bad batteries in the new cars just off the truck :-(

Thanks for responses the battery in the camper is new in the truck batteries are new I am not going to go get a tester and try to check the voltage

Correction I am now going to test the batteries

I amended my first reply, pse re-read if you haven't yet.

About to leave, truck batteries are dead question

Chuck_and_Di
Explorer
Jun 04, 2021
If I read this correctly the truck batteries are 11.38 and camper batteries are 12.56. This means the camper has nothing to do with it. Problem is contained to the truck.
joerg68
Nomad III
Jun 04, 2021
No charge from the alternator might be a reason. You could have run them down the night before while you were running the truck, thinking they would be charged.
I wish you luck!
Lwiddis
Explorer II
Jun 04, 2021
Running batteries down to "dead" harms them. Your new batteries may never perform as well as expected. Sorry
time2roll
Nomad
Jun 04, 2021
Charge or jump start the truck. Once running check the voltage after the jump cables/charger is removed. If you see 13.5+ volts from the alternator I would roll.
mattyj
Explorer
Jun 04, 2021
joerg68 wrote:
Re. Airbags: the airbag compressor is not continous duty. I doubt it will survive running long enough to pull down two batteries.

some more thoughts: I checked the voltage of the batteries and they kept dropping even know the The truck was running so I am bringing it to the shop I think it is the alternator, I am annoyed this happened but it could’ve been worse I could’ve been on the road. Thank you for your responses thank you sir
What voltage does the camper battery show?
There are not many electrical consumers in a truck or camper that can run down two (or possibly even three, with the camper battery) fully charged 70-something Ah batteries in one night. Leaving the truck lights on, or the fridge on 12V, might. A single dome light won't do this.
Do you know if you have a battery separation switch of sorts between truck and camper?
Having the camper on shore power does not necessarily guarantee that the fridge is running on shore power, though it normally should. But it may have been inadvertently set to 12V, or something may have gone wrong.
15 minutes is not long (enough) to charge the batteries. You'd need to know what their voltage was before the jump start.
In any case you need to find out if the problem is with the truck or the camper.
rexlion
Explorer
Jun 04, 2021
I would use a standalone charger to recharge the truck batteries while the cables are off the terminals, then check their voltages a few times over the next several hours. If the voltage falls off quickly on one or both with nothing hooked to them, one or both have gone bad (unlikely for both at once, but not impossible). If they stay at a reasonably high voltage, hook them back into the truck (camper line disconnected) and check their voltage again in an hour or so. Then if need be, hook the camper back to the truck and again test battery voltage in an hour or so. I think most likely it's a drain from the camper, but the other possibilities must be eliminated first.
joerg68
Nomad III
Jun 04, 2021
Re. Airbags: the airbag compressor is not continous duty. I doubt it will survive running long enough to pull down two batteries.

some more thoughts:
What voltage does the camper battery show?
There are not many electrical consumers in a truck or camper that can run down two (or possibly even three, with the camper battery) fully charged 70-something Ah batteries in one night. Leaving the truck lights on, or the fridge on 12V, might. A single dome light won't do this.
Do you know if you have a battery separation switch of sorts between truck and camper?
Having the camper on shore power does not necessarily guarantee that the fridge is running on shore power, though it normally should. But it may have been inadvertently set to 12V, or something may have gone wrong.
15 minutes is not long (enough) to charge the batteries. You'd need to know what their voltage was before the jump start.
In any case you need to find out if the problem is with the truck or the camper.
mattyj
Explorer
Jun 04, 2021
bighatnohorse wrote:
You need to check the battery fluid with a hydrometer.
A hydrometer is easy to use, inexpensive and available at all or most auto parts stores.
If the battery has a dead cell then it is toast - it won't charge up again. It's toast.
these are seal batteries
bighatnohorse
Explorer II
Jun 04, 2021
You need to check the battery fluid with a hydrometer.
A hydrometer is easy to use, inexpensive and available at all or most auto parts stores.
If the battery has a dead cell then it is toast - it won't charge up again. It's toast.
mattyj
Explorer
Jun 04, 2021
I’m wondering if the airbags on the truck which I was using last night could have been the culprit, I don’t know if there’s a switch to turn them off or you just leave them and turn the ignition key off and they’re off