I have a drain on my 12volt system. I have found articles on how to find it. All of them tell you to pull fuses until your multi-meter shows a drop in amps. My problem is I have 12v DC circuit breakers instead of fuses. They are small round pegs about the size of a pencil eraser. They pop out when blown and you just push in to turn back on. However, I can not figure out how to turn them off to open the circuit to test for amp drop. Thanks for your help.

Just remove the ground cable from the battery when not in use. No more parasitic drains.

Do you have a DC amp meter? If you do, you can measure the DC load by removing the negative wire, then connecting the - cable to one lead and the other lead directly to the battery. Say it gives you a 0.8 amp load, and you hear the CO meter and propane detector beeping that they just got back power. You know that both of those had power restored, and might be the loads you are looking for. By shutting off the propane detector, your load might go down to say 0.4 amps, indicating you found one load, the other probably being the CO meter that can not be shut off (for safety reasons).If the load is over 5 amps, then removing one circuit breaker at a time can help locate the problem. Because you can not remove the fuse, like a typical load panel, you might need to remove one wire from a circuit breaker at a time until the load goes away.If your "Problem" is that while not plugged in your 220 amp hour battery is totally dead in about 4 days, then the "Problem" is the CO and Propane detectors together use that much power, and it is really not a problem that can be fixed. Better to just add a 120 watt solar panel, or keep it plugged into shore power, and then you will keep the battery full that way, and will solve the problem.Sears has a clamp on DC amp meter. With it, you can clamp it around one wire at a time, and see about how many amps are being used by that wire at one time. It is a easy way to measure the DC amps. it is about $80 - $100.Good luck,Fred.

People mean all kind of loads when talking about parasitic drain. There is no such thing unless something is shorted. If it's under 2A, this is control circuit of LP fridge and radio clock and LP detector (and possibly CO detector though they are often on AA batteries). If there is a lot more current, then something is running or there is a short. Like people said, if you want to stop all drains, ex. in storage - disconnect the battery.

I'm curious what your RV unit is... I've never heard of one with only 12VDC circuit breakers. Most I have been around have a power distribution panel which has 120VAC Circuit breakers on one side and 12VDC fuses on the other. Would love to know what year and model RV you have...Roy Ken

PlotCtr wrote:I have a drain on my 12volt system. I have found articles on how to find it. All of them tell you to pull fuses until your multi-meter shows a drop in amps. My problem is I have 12v DC circuit breakers instead of fuses. They are small round pegs about the size of a pencil eraser. They pop out when blown and you just push in to turn back on. However, I can not figure out how to turn them off to open the circuit to test for amp drop. Thanks for your help.How many are there? Here is how to do itPut your ammeter in line and note the drain.now, one at a time PUSH those breakers, like you are trying to reset them.... As a safety feature (Some 1-D-10-T types try to "Lock them down" so they do not trip so as a safety feature) When pushed they open.When the meter reading goes down.. That's the circuit. (there may be more than one)

Parasitic drain on 12 volt DC electric circuit | Good Sam Community

18 Replies

PlotCtr
Explorer
May 13, 2014
Disconnecting the battery did stop the drain. We were driving some 400 miles a day, I figured that should be enough time to recharge batteries, maybe not. Will have the battery checked when we get to a service provider. Tiffin suggested we turn off the inverter, apparently it drains battery when on even if no 120V appliance is plugged in. Holding down the DC breaker button did not turn the breaker off, will need to resort to taking wire out of breaker to cut the circuit. Now back on shore power and recharging batteries, we'll see what happens next week.
Almot
Explorer III
May 12, 2014
Rvpapa wrote:
Or maybe was not getting to a full charge daily and finally reached a level where things shut down on low voltage. Takes quite a bit of driving to get a battery to FULL charge.

Indeed.
Rvpapa
Explorer
May 12, 2014
"This is a new problem that results in excessive drain over normal dry camping. We were doing fine for a week, the batteries were charging daily as we traveled and the drain by morning was nominal. Suddenly one morning the drain was excessive, so probably a short"

Or maybe was not getting to a full charge daily and finally reached a level where things shut down on low voltage. Takes quite a bit of driving to get a battery to FULL charge.
Art.
CA_Traveler
Explorer III
May 12, 2014
These tools are invaluable for the DYI RVer. The clampon ammeter measures AC volts/amps, DC volts/amps, resistance, frequency (useful for checking a gen) and temperature. The accuracy is more than adequate for RV usage. The line splitter allows for easy measurement of AC amps for any plug in appliance. The female plug is on the bottom and the 2 loops allow for measuring 1x and 10x amps (useful for measuring small AC loads). About $75 for the pair.
Clay_L
Explorer
May 12, 2014
RoyB wrote:
I'm curious what your RV unit is... I've never heard of one with only 12VDC circuit breakers. Most I have been around have a power distribution panel which has 120VAC Circuit breakers on one side and 12VDC fuses on the other.

Would love to know what year and model RV you have...

Roy Ken

Winnebago/Itaska has been using them for years - from at least 2004 and later.
MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
May 12, 2014
"Suddenly one morning the drain was excessive, so probably a short"

Mind explaining this a little clearer?
beemerphile1
Explorer
May 12, 2014
You do NOT HAVE A SHORT circuit. A shorted circuit results in smoke and possibly fire.

My guess would be that your battery is failing or you have loose/corroded connections.
fischer
Explorer
May 12, 2014
things to check:
1. battery water level
2. radio switch
3. hood light
4. lights in all compartments
wa8yxm
Explorer III
May 11, 2014
NOTE: The clamp on meters are good for fairly high current (Parasitic is fairly low curent) the Sears Clamp on has helped me isolate a battery with a shorted cell since the difference was major.

For Parasitic you need an ammeter in series, 10 amps should be more than enough.

The meter can go in either the negative or positive side of the battery or, if you have a pair (one pair no more) of six volt you can replace the Jumper with the meter.. BE CAREFUL though, You do not want a major power sucker like the furnace coming on while doing this or the meter may go.. bad.
Almot
Explorer III
May 11, 2014
It's difficult to diagnose from your words alone - not enough info and there are many possible causes.
Short, bad battery, bad alternator, bad device (not really short but drawing more than normal).

Eliminating loads one by one at the breaker panel is the way to go. But check the battery first.