I have a Fleetwood Wilderness that will drain the two batteries quickly, in a few hours or overnight. I Turned off all breakers and pulled all fuses and affirmed I was getting very little drain at this point. With breakers off but fuses in I would briefly connect the batteries by touching the post. I would get a good spark from touching the post so I removed all fuses and replaced them one by one. I found that the 7.5A fuse to the stove hood and control panel was the one causing the most drain. The accessory fuse also causes a small spark.I then hooked in an ammeter (multimeter) into the battery circuit and found with all breakers off and fuses out I had a .6ma drain. Then adding the accessory fuse I had 3ma drain. But putting the hood/control panel fuse in it jumped to 33ma. I have all the original manuals but they have no wiring diagrams or explanation of what is in those two circuits. How do I go about finding the cause of the electrical drains, especially the hood?

.033 amps isn't much, probably just the propane and CO detectors. That much of a drain shouldn't kill the battery that fast unless they're shot.Are you sure something else isn't on like perhaps the fridge heater?

ScottG wrote:.033 amps isn't much, probably just the propane and CO detectors. That much of a drain shouldn't kill the battery that fast unless they're shot.Are you sure something else isn't on like perhaps the fridge heater?X3 on the state of your batteries!! We have a single deep cell 12v, and dry camped at a State Fair ground for a Host Orientation, it got cool at night, and we ran the furnace at night to maintain 65 degrees. The battery was still showing fully charged to 3/4 charged in the morning.

I would unhook batteries let them set for 24 hours, then see if they are down or not. The best is to charge batteries up, let them set about 12 hours, and then do a load test. If they pass the load test, then need to check for a bad draw. I had to buy new ones this year because our batteries went down to switch being left on. It was at RV repair, and then the weather started to freezing. They lasted about 1 week of camping and they were gone. They were not that old., but had to replace.

If you had battery drain problems, is it possible that your battery drained all the way down to dead flat? If so that can easily ruin a battery. Batteries should not be discharged to less than half capacity.I agree 33ma should not kill your battery over night. Most cars/trucks normally draw 30-40ma, after 45 minutes, with the key off. That is their normal manufacturers spec.

How troubleshoot electrical drain, please help | Good Sam Community

Alan_J_Anderson
Explorer
Jun 25, 2014
2324delk wrote:
Sorry about your trouble.

Kind of got a chuckle out of your last post.

I had the exact same thing happen to me two months ago, and I also thought mine were sealed.

I never checked the fluid level in mine, but hey they lasted for 18 months, and were well done when I finished cooking them.

Thanks for the reply. It is always reassuring to see others make the same errors as ourselves. Reminds us we are all too human.
I do not look forward to the day that I no longer make mistakes.
2324delk
Explorer
Jun 24, 2014
Sorry about your trouble.

Kind of got a chuckle out of your last post.

I had the exact same thing happen to me two months ago, and I also thought mine were sealed.

I never checked the fluid level in mine, but hey they lasted for 18 months, and were well done when I finished cooking them.
Alan_J_Anderson
Explorer
Jun 23, 2014
Alan J Anderson wrote:
Rvpapa wrote:
Most of the time we camped with a power source and rarely used the batteries.

When did you last check the electrolyte?
Art.

they are sealed.

When I checked again they were not sealed as I had assumed and when I added water the monitor jumped up to full charge. DUH
KMLsquared
Explorer
Jun 21, 2014
One of my two batteries had a shorted cell that was a perfect 10 volt battery and it behaved the same way. The batteries were only three years old but came with the trailer when I bought it. Replaced the with Costco six volt golf cart batteries.
Alan_J_Anderson
Explorer
Jun 21, 2014
Rvpapa wrote:
Most of the time we camped with a power source and rarely used the batteries.

When did you last check the electrolyte?
Art.

they are sealed.
Rvpapa
Explorer
Jun 20, 2014
Most of the time we camped with a power source and rarely used the batteries.

When did you last check the electrolyte?
Art.
Alan_J_Anderson
Explorer
Jun 20, 2014
"Maybe your batteries are bad. "

kennethwooster wrote:
I would unhook batteries let them set for 24 hours, then see if they are down or not. The best is to charge batteries up, let them set about 12 hours, and then do a load test. If they pass the load test, then need to check for a bad draw. I had to buy new ones this year because our batteries went down to switch being left on. It was at RV repair, and then the weather started to freezing. They lasted about 1 week of camping and they were gone. They were not that old., but had to replace.

Thanks to all the suggestions of the batteries may be at fault. I did not suspect them because they are less than 4 years old. But you are right. Charged them up, disconnected them for half a day, reconnect and panel showed only 1 light. Turned on several lights and the hood fan and they ran only a few minutes until lights dimmed, fan slowed down.
Is this normal for batteries to last only a few years? Most of the time we camped with a power source and rarely used the batteries.
wcjeep
Explorer
Jun 18, 2014
What is the draw with all circuit breakers off and all fuses pulled? Disconnect the ground cable and measure amperage between ground cable and battery. Recommend doing this in case of short to ground before the circuit breakers and fuses.

Agree with others, 33ma should not kill batteries overnight.
hmknightnc
Explorer
Jun 18, 2014
I agree with the others. IF your amperage draw numbers are correct it is not that. Either your batteries are shot or they are no where near charged. How do you know your batteries are charged?
Vulcaneer
Explorer
Jun 18, 2014
If you had battery drain problems, is it possible that your battery drained all the way down to dead flat? If so that can easily ruin a battery. Batteries should not be discharged to less than half capacity.

I agree 33ma should not kill your battery over night. Most cars/trucks normally draw 30-40ma, after 45 minutes, with the key off. That is their normal manufacturers spec.