My wife and I bought a new Forest River TT from the dealer last month, and I'm having issues with the battery draining. Even with nothing on and the TT sitting in the driveway. The battery goes from fully charged, to only showing 1/3 charged ( according to the meter on the TT control Panel). The battery shows a manufacture date of 9/18, and everything is turned off. I realize there might be a very low trickle of power to the dormant stereo and control panel but that should be it. I figure either the battery is **** or there is some sort of wiring panel causing a drain on the battery. Does anyone have any tips for how to test for either one? The battery on my pop up would last for days when using the heater, lights, and pump,

Take the battery inside and put it on a car charger for 24 hours. Then take it to any auto parts store and they'll test it for free.Check the water in it too.

The little 3 or 4 light "battery meter" is pretty much worthless. It will almost never show full unless you are plugged in so consider 2/3 to be full with no shore power charging going on.Even with "nothing" on you are probably powering: refrigerator control board, LP leak detector, CO detector, TV antenna amplifier, stereo memory circuit.I suspect nothing is really "wrong".

Good call. I also need to figure out how to disconnect the antenna amplifier, as it is never going to be used

You don't say how many days it takes to discharge, but the newer units have more parasitic draw, than the ones from the old days. Another thing...often times the lighted displays showing state of charge, are not accurate. You need to check full voltage with a digital volt meter, and check each day after for the amount of loss. Within a week or so, many campers, with a single battery, can be discharged below a safe level, while parked non-use.Jerry

Probably a silly question, but if the battery disconnect is off, there should be no power at all coming from the battery, why aren't you disconnecting it?

battery issues on new TT | Good Sam Community

34 Replies

MFL
Nomad II
Feb 14, 2019
You don't say how many days it takes to discharge, but the newer units have more parasitic draw, than the ones from the old days. Another thing...often times the lighted displays showing state of charge, are not accurate. You need to check full voltage with a digital volt meter, and check each day after for the amount of loss. Within a week or so, many campers, with a single battery, can be discharged below a safe level, while parked non-use.

Jerry
coachsburke
Explorer
Feb 14, 2019
Good call. I also need to figure out how to disconnect the antenna amplifier, as it is never going to be used
KD4UPL
Explorer II
Feb 14, 2019
The little 3 or 4 light "battery meter" is pretty much worthless. It will almost never show full unless you are plugged in so consider 2/3 to be full with no shore power charging going on.
Even with "nothing" on you are probably powering: refrigerator control board, LP leak detector, CO detector, TV antenna amplifier, stereo memory circuit.
I suspect nothing is really "wrong".
GordonThree
Explorer
Feb 14, 2019
Take the battery inside and put it on a car charger for 24 hours. Then take it to any auto parts store and they'll test it for free.

Check the water in it too.

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battery issues on new TT

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