Killed my battery in 1 season. What happened?

Try to find a date code. In addition to considering the other reasons above, maybe the dealer swapped out the battery and you've got an oldie.

There are basically 3 ways to kill a battery.. And perhaps some more that may kill it not your fault.

FIrst: Deep discharging it
Starting batteries need to be kept well fed, like 80 percent capacity
Marine/Deep Cycles. also do not like running down too far.. Not sure how far but since they are mostly starting say 70-75%
DEEP CYCLE (True DEEP CYCLE) can go down to 50 percent before major damage happens.

If you take a starting battery down below 12 volt,, Likely ruined (My Deep cycles have done that several times, and now, 9 years later, they are ruined, but at 9 years.. Well average is 7-10).

Second, if it is a flooded wet cell.. Not keeping it wet (That is adding distilled water as needed) Or Adding NON-distilled water.

Two B: is overcharging this applies to both flooded and Maintenance free. One of the older converters. The Magnetek 6300 was designed for 110 volt operation and on 120 it WILL overcharge the batteries given enough time.. Some of the more modern ones I do not know about.. My converter is a Progressive Dynamics 9180 with charge wizard and on new GC-2's it .. Well I used to water 'em annually.

Finally,, (This does not apply I think) Storing them discharged for the winter, That will kill 'em when they freeze, The freeze point of a discharged battery approaches the freezing point of water... of a fully charged battery it's like forty, or more, below.

IN addition there is the posibility of a defect in manufacturing or materials.

And you might check the terminals (And other key connections in the electric system.. on my chassis battery the first 3 times it "Failed" Cleaning fixed it.. The last time DEKA fixed it (New battery) again see 9 years above,

It stayed on low charge or no charge for too long, and or it was overcharged boiling the battery dry, whatever contributed to those factors. It could have been a defective battery even. imo
Not sure how heavy your trailer is but our fifth wheel took quite a bit of juice to raise it. You could blow the twenty amp fuse under the hood, of the F350 if left connected, and the battery, in the RV was low, raising it.
Holiday Rambler shipped me a second battery box and wiring harness, no charge. Two batteries did a lot better.
We didn't have an inverter/charger on the Fifth Wheel.
I would consider investing in one and have it charge the batteries while camped. Still would be better to have the alternators charge them.
If you already don't have one. If I had kept our Fifth wheel we planned on an on board generator. It had the wiring for one. Would add considerable weight. One of the small or large generators flooding the market, for a couple hundred dollars, or so, would be good. just thinking.

This happened to us. The camper was at dealer for some warranty work and they left that knob shut-off thing in wrong position and the batteries died. Then we went camping and we accidentally let them run all the way down. After that they would not hold a charge. Also they were Interstate batteries, which we have decided are not the best. We ended up replacing them with two 6-volts while on the road and all was well.

I would not put it past OEM to purchase pallets of battery manufacturer's "seconds". So don't get all excited if you check your system and find "Nothing Wrong With It".

mena661 wrote:
I see from your profile that you have a 2013 Rockwood 8312ss. Those have 3 stage converters NOT single stage converters. You should be able to leave that plugged in 24/7. I think your converter may not be functioning properly. Do you have a voltmeter?

My 2013 Rockwood has a 3 stage WFCO converter/charger, you're is probably the same. So far it's been a decent charger. Biggest killer is letting the batteries go dead (not being charged) which shortens the life by a percentage every time they go dead.

mena661 wrote:
I see from your profile that you have a 2013 Rockwood 8312ss. Those have 3 stage converters NOT single stage converters. You should be able to leave that plugged in 24/7. I think your converter may not be functioning properly. Do you have a voltmeter?

No, I don't. But I'll get my hands on one before we get started for the spring and see what I find.

I'm thinking its a bad battery. I just has a 13 mo old interstate go tits up !
They gave me a new one free.
And for those not in the know, a single stage charger (13.6) won't boil a battery except in very warm (90+) weather. In fact most mild winter temps of 40 - 60 degrees need higher voltages than single stage converters are able to give it.

I see from your profile that you have a 2013 Rockwood 8312ss. Those have 3 stage converters NOT single stage converters. You should be able to leave that plugged in 24/7. I think your converter may not be functioning properly. Do you have a voltmeter?

Mickeyfan0805 wrote:
Let me ask another, related, question. If I engage the battery disconnect while plugged in at home, will it disconnect the battery from the converter and reduce the risk of overcharging?

Yes.

I keep one of these on my batteries when stored at home.

Battery Maintainer