Battery? Solenoid?

[TLV]

Boondocking. Twelve month old batteries are losing charge overnight. The only thing running is the refrigerator (2 way) using propane. Not enough power to turn on generator in the AM. Solenoid is hot to the touch.

Thoughts?

[wa8yxm]

How much battery. DEEP CYCLE or MARINE/deep cycle How much charge do you put on 'em in the day. Generator or solar panels. State of charge when you shut off generator and/or sun goes down..

Without those answers we can not comment

A pair of Group 24's charged by Generator for 3 hours a day. WILL RUN DEAD.

[JaxDad]

TLV wrote:
2014 Sundowner Horse Trailer with 16' RV living quarters.

fairway2002 wrote:
If you have a emergency start for your engine./Hold that and start generator. It will put chassis battery with house battery's

gatorcq wrote:
So, everyone is guessing, until you determine what type of equipment you have installed in your coach.

Nothing like making comments and offering advice based on NOT even reading OP’s posts.........

[RJsfishin]

Its perdy simple if you ask me,.....no solenoid should be energized while camping on the house batteries.
So like was already said, the "hot" solenoid is whats killing the batteries.

[gatorcq]

Let's start with reality. If you have a camper, some 5th wheels, MH, then you may have a converter and not a true charger.
A converter just converts 115 Vac to 13.5 Vdc. That is all.
A true Battery charger, converts 115 Vac into a 3 stage charger: Bulk, absorptions and float. Without this the your batteries are not being fully charged. If on the other hand you, remove the battery and using a 3 stage charger on the bench, it will last a little longer but not much.

Next depending on how much capacity you have in batteries and you type of 3 stage charger, will determine how long the 115Vac needs to be on.

So, everyone is guessing, until you determine what type of equipment you have installed in your coach.

[time2roll]

You need to run the generator a minimum three hours with battery voltage at 14.4 to 14.8 volts to get near full charge.

[landyacht318]

Once upon a time i was asked to help install a solenoid in an camperVan, the used dusty Solenoid was provided by the owner. Appeared to be 90 amp rated continuous or so.

I hooked it up and some 18 amps were flowing to the house batteries, but the body of solenoid got extremely hot where the studs were not all that hot..

Disconnected it and recommended a new solenoid.

Later realized it was likely a latching solenoid requiring only a momentary burst of 12v to latch and unlatch.

I should have tested it for that, but at the time I was unaware of latching solenoids.

So every time i hear 'hot solenoid', I think of a latching one being fed continuous 12v instead of a momentary 12v burst to latch and unlatch.

[fairway2002]

If you have a emergency start for your engine./Hold that and start generator. It will put chassis battery with house battery's

[MEXICOWANDERER]

NO solenoid should stay energized, period and THAT is what is killing your batteries!

[TLV]

2014 Sundowner Horse Trailer with 16' RV living quarters. Batteries are Interstate Deep Cycle. Plugged into shore power and battery light showed full charge in 60 minutes.

[Lwiddis]

I’m with Optimistic, twelve month old deep cycle batteries wouldn’t be drawn down overnight with that power consumption. Consider a solar system. With deep cycle batteries and sufficient panels, electrical power when boondocking becomes a non-issue on most days. Like Napalm, I love the smell and noise of a generator in the morning.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

Welcome to the forums.

The solenoid may draw up to about 0.88 of an amp. That should NOT be enough to totally discharge a fully charged battery bank. I suspect the batteries are not getting a full charge.

Does the trailer by any chance have electric brakes?

[ksg5000]

Not sure what kind of rig, battery etc. In most rigs if you start the engine it will place all batteries on-line - that should help you start your generator.

[Optimistic_Para]

TLV wrote:
Boondocking. Twelve month old batteries are losing charge overnight.

What kind of batteries? Can you verify that the batteries are, in fact, real deep cycle batteries? Or at least, so-called RV/Marine batteries?

Cause frankly, if someone just threw a pair of engine starting batteries in, they're probably nearly dead. I'd be surprised that they lasted 12 months treated like deep cycle batteries. They just aren't built to take that.

[TLV]

Not an engine battery. Hooks to the 2 batteries on the RV.