battery disconnect

maxwell2012 wrote:
This forum is great!!! Learning so much I finally joined. Now could someone please explain to me what the purpose of the battery disconnect is and when it should be on. charging my batteries for trip to florida but don't know which position to put the switch. Also when i am plugged in to truck/campsite/ or running the generator which switch position? thanks.

On =MY= FW, the disconnect disconnects =all= 12v power, with the exception of the landing gear and the slide. This includes the power converter, so it won't charge when plugged in if the switch is OFF. I found this out the hard way. The main reason for the disconnect is to cut off the parasitic draws that will drain your batteries; another lesson I learned the expensive way. The gas detectors, TVs, stereos and microwave all draw power ALL the time...unless the power's shut off. If you have a factory-prepped/installed generator, you =should= have a transfer switch that =should= automatically switch the power over to the generator when it's running. If not, then you =need= to have a manual transfer switch.

Lyle

I have found on mine, that the disconnect switch leaves front landing gear operational, as well as propane dectector, e-break, and some other stuff, I think the electric hot water heater will not work with the battery switch off! On my class C I disconnected the battery using a wing nut on the ground lead, that allowed me several months between trips and still having a charged house battery!

Items wired directly to batteries ie: slides, jacks/landing gear, LP detector that do not go thru disconnect switches are wired that way so items can be used while rest of DC System is isolated.

And then there are disconnect switches wired so everything is isolated from batteries.

Disconnect switches are just a means of isolating battery from DC system for storage.

One thing for sure......if disconnect switch is used to isolate the batteries, they will not be charged/maintained by converter/charger when connected to AC shore power source.

How YOURS is wired ?????? Need to trace wiring to know for sure. Then use/don't use as you choose. It is just a device to minimize drain on battery

When not connected to AC and I turn my battery disconnect to "ON", the 5er has 12 volts in the 5er..when I turn it to "OFF", there is no power anywhere in the 5er, zip, nil, nada.....

On my rig the switch located by the door turns off higher draw items like lights. It doesn't turn off the refer so the purpose is clear. Leave the rig, especially when no shore power and the battery drain will be minimized. This has proved to be very useful in several locations.

Double post. Sorry

That switch has mystified me too. Coming from the boating world I am quite familiar with battery switches. All off meant that everything is off except the bilge pump. I had 2 switches with 4 positions. Off, bank #1, bank 32, both banks. I had 3 battery banks just to make things more confusing.

The trailer is easy. On or off. Like the critical boat bilge pump, the trailer e brake is always on.

Our switch disconnects everything completely, including all detectors and the radio. Ours is only turned off when in storage. If we leave it on while in storage, the radio and detectors burn it out. While traveling and sitting, always on.

I installed a battery disconnect switch so the battery will not drain while sitting for awhile and not plugged in. Small uses like the LPG detector and my radio would slowly drain the battery. When my battery switch is in the disconnect, nothing works, it's turning the battery off. When I want the battery to be used as designed, I turn it on. My converter would over charge the idle battery so once the battery is fully charged, I will disconnect also.

Allworth wrote:
ON mine the "OFF" position means "sorta off" or "almost off".

The emergency brake is still connected. The landing gear still works. The propane detector is still hot. There may be others that I just have not yet found. Disconnecting the ground at the battery is the only sure OFF.

Experimenting with interior lights is the way to check the positions.

A

Makes ya wonder why they even put the switch in there, doesn't it? They must have had some logic, but other than the e-brake, the logic escapes me.

Regarding ON versus OFF, some switches will be labeled with simple universal icons: | and 0. The | indicating a bar connecting the contacts, and the 0 indicating nil or no connection.