12v shut-off

[AM_Allan]

If my 5th wheel is parked for a couple of months and my solar panel is keeping my battery charged, should I turn off the battery disconnect switch or just leave it on?

[ependydad]

Super_Dave wrote:
My buddy recently bought a used Sabre and we can’t find a 12v kill switch. Do some trailers not have them? The leads coming off the battery seem to terminate on a breaker before splitting and running in different directions.

Yep, my 2013 Sabre (bought in 2012) did not come with a battery disconnect from the factory.

[colliehauler]

Super_Dave wrote:
Thanks guys, I'd love to know the reasoning behind that. I thought all RV's had CO sensors that draw power 24/7 and not conducive to long term storage without a switch.

Your correct and that's why so many new owners complain of dead batteries in their new trailer. All that grief for a $14. discount switch.

What I can't understand is the dealer not explaining this to a new owner.

[Darryl_Rita]

Cost, pure and simple.

[Super_Dave]

Thanks guys, I'd love to know the reasoning behind that. I thought all RV's had CO sensors that draw power 24/7 and not conducive to long term storage without a switch.

[austinjenna]

My buddy recently bought a used Sabre and we can’t find a 12v kill switch. Do some trailers not have them? The leads coming off the battery seem to terminate on a breaker before splitting and running in different directions.

No they are not a standard option they put on. My last 2 did not have them and I bought my own and installed it.

[djousma]

My first trailer did not have one. My current one does. It's hit or miss if the manufacturer installed one or not. Probably more do NOT install them if I were to make a guess. You are then forced to just remove lead from the battery, or install your own.

[Super_Dave]

My buddy recently bought a used Sabre and we can’t find a 12v kill switch. Do some trailers not have them? The leads coming off the battery seem to terminate on a breaker before splitting and running in different directions.

[djousma]

I have no experience with Solar, so I cannot directly answer your question, but one thing about the Mfr provided battery disconnect. For liability reasons, it does not disconnect everything, like CO/LP detectors, breakaway switch, etc. This is the reason I installed a disconnect right in the battery compartment. That way I *know* everything is disconnected and wont come back to a dead set of batteries a month later.

[austinjenna]

So shutting off 12v from the batteries to the trailer does NOT shut off the solar panels ability to keep the batteries charged?

It shouldn't. My solar goes from the controller directly to the battery. The shutoff goes from the the battery to the trailer, So I can shut it off to the trailer and the solar keeps the battery topped off

[2oldman]

AM Allan wrote:
So shutting off 12v from the batteries to the trailer does NOT shut off the solar panels ability to keep the batteries charged?

Only a voltmeter knows for sure.

Seems like disconnecting a battery should be turning a 'connect' off.

[Sam_Spade]

AM Allan wrote:
OK. Thanks ronday & laknox.
So shutting off 12v from the batteries to the trailer does NOT shut off the solar panels ability to keep the batteries charged?

You should assume nothing. Test it with a meter.
That's the way it SHOULD work but don't guess.

[Lwiddis]

AM, that depends on how your system is wired. In most applications the panels go to the controller, the controller goes to the batteries. Some do controller to electrical panel...not many...but that violates the “shortest possible distance between controller and batteries rule.”

[AM_Allan]

OK. Thanks ronday & laknox.
So shutting off 12v from the batteries to the trailer does NOT shut off the solar panels ability to keep the batteries charged?

[Lwiddis]

I disconnect everything except my little storage solar panel and weather proof controller to the batteries. And Winnie is always covered when she is at rest.