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Owyheedog's avatar
Owyheedog
Explorer
May 20, 2016

Why do my truck batteries die?

My truck seems to have developed a bad habit of the batteries going dead if I leave the cord for the tail lights etc plugged into the camper for 2-3 days. This happens with the TC just sitting there unused, no lights, no battery draw of any kind. OK that might not be entirely true, some of those times the NovaCool fridge was on but this still makes no sense to me. The TC batteries and solar panel should be more than enough to run the fridge with power to spare for that length of time. And as far as I know the truck system is isolated from the TC system and does not charge the TC batteries. Obviously something is drawing power from the truck batteries but what? If I disconnect the power cord for the lights it is just fine. I'm dealing with a 2001 Dodge 3500 diesel and a 9.5 Outfitter Apex. The truck batteries are several years old but given that it is just fine when not plugged to the TC that wouldn't seem to be an issue. Any ideas to throw out there?
  • I don't think we can say all Fords, but if your TC isn't being charged while you are driving, then it probably doesn't have it working.
  • I had two dead batteries in our F350 diesel and discovered that a 12 volt charger outlet on the dash was not off when the key was off and a cell phone charger left in killed the batteries in short order.

    We use an automatic battery maintainer now when leaving the truck for even a few days. The radio memory, theft device and computer are always a draw.
  • My 97' F250 has a parasitic load that (I think) is the Stereo. Even with the camper disconnected the battery will be dead after ~2 weeks.

    Solution: I installed a knife switch directly on the battery. Every time I stop and park for longer than 24hrs I pop the hood and disconnect the battery.

    Admittedly a bit of a PITA at times but problem solved.