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Parasitic Draw on RV?

LipschitzWrath
Explorer
Explorer
I am getting ready to add a small solar system to the top of my 5er to keep the batteries topped off when we leave the camper at the lake for extended periods. My wife and I generally pull the camper out on a weekend and then leave it there for weeks at a time. We pull it to a nearby dump station when we need to dump or add water. We cycle LP tanks to keep the fridge cold.

Last weekend, we returned to our camper after two weeks of leaving it unattended. The batteries were COMPLETELY dead. This seemed odd to me. I mean, assuming we turn everything off before we leave, the only draws are the LP/CO detectors and the little current draw to run the fridge in LP mode, right?

So how much juice do these items consume?

After doing some internet research, I found one site where some dude claimed these items add up to approximately 37Ah in a 24 hour period. I've seen other sites say the fridge pulls 17-20Ah per day by itself in LP mode. The fridge is a Dometic fridge/freezer, I don't have the model number handy but it's from 2004.

Do these numbers sound right?

I have 210Ah of AGM batteries installed. If these numbers are close, then that would certainly explain the dead batteries.

This brings me to the solar panel install. I guess a secondary question would be, do you guys think a single 100W panel would be sufficient for the sole purpose of keeping the batteries topped off when the camper is unattended?

I don't mind occasionally running the generator(s) when we are actually out there using the camper.

Thanks in advance!
49 REPLIES 49

LipschitzWrath
Explorer
Explorer
pianotuna wrote:
This would take care of your needs:

https://www.solarblvd.com/products/12-volt-240-watt-solar-panel-kit/ $299 shipping included.


Except that place is not legit at all. The kit says Free Shipping, yet when you add it to your cart, it wants to charge you $60 shipping.

So I decided to call them to see if they could help me take care of that. Went straight to voicemail and said their mailbox is full. I'd be afraid to send them any money lest I'd never get it back.

I decided to add another 100W panel to the system I purchsed, bringing my total to 200W. That should be good for keeping my batteries charged. The controller I bought can handle up to 30A, so I may add two more panels before next summer. With 400W on tap and our camping lifestyle, we'd probably never have to run the generators except when we want to use 110V appliances (mainly the blender) or the AC.

allen8106
Explorer
Explorer
I've actually done an energy audit of my 5ver using a battery monitor and my refrigerator pulls .5 amps, radio in the off condition pulls .2 amps, LP Detector is so small it read zero.
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Lwiddis
Explorer II
Explorer II
My 25 watt/1.4 amp panel keeps two Trojan T125s topped off when the TT is covered and the big solar is sleeping. BUT all draws are switched off.
Winnebago 2101DS TT & 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71, WindyNation 300 watt solar-Lossigy 200 AH Lithium battery. Prefer boondocking, USFS, COE, BLM, NPS, TVA, state camps. Bicyclist. 14 yr. Army -11B40 then 11A - (MOS 1542 & 1560) IOBC & IOAC grad

Jim
Explorer
Explorer
pianotuna wrote:
This would take care of your needs:

https://www.solarblvd.com/products/12-volt-240-watt-solar-panel-kit/ $299 shipping included.


Nice find, Pianotuna.
Jim@HiTek
Have shop, will travel!
Visit my travel & RV repair blog site. Subscribe for emailed updates.
Winnebago Journey, '02
Cat 330HP Diesel, 36.5', two slides.

pianotuna
Nomad II
Nomad II
This would take care of your needs:

https://www.solarblvd.com/products/12-volt-240-watt-solar-panel-kit/ $299 shipping included.
Regards, Don
My ride is a 28 foot Class C, 256 watts solar, 556 amp-hours of Telcom jars, 3000 watt Magnum hybrid inverter, Sola Basic Autoformer, Microair Easy Start.

mike-s
Explorer
Explorer
LipschitzWrath wrote:
That means you either need to run the generators for several hours to cool it quickly, or wait 24 hours for it to cool down on LP.
RV absorption fridges don't cool down any faster on AC vs propane. If you're only going for a short weekend, take a cooler.

Oh, and you titled this thread "parasitic draw," but that's got nothing to do with your problem, which is obviously the fridge.

Jim
Explorer
Explorer
LipschitzWrath wrote:
Excellent responses here guys!

The good news is the solar kit I bought is easily scalable to 400 watts without any other modifications, so adding a panel (or three) shouldn't be terrible.

As far as losing food, you hit the nail on the head. We had what my wife and I estimate to be about $100 worth of food that we lost. To add insult to injury, the cost of an additional 100W panel is around $100.

This is a fifth wheel so no dash radio, no ecu's or anything like that. I guess I also don't know why it being an 04 means it has an inverter - ours doesn't. Between our family, none of the three campers have an inverter, and one is a 2015 model.


Overlooked the 5th Wheel info in your first post...so of course you wouldn't have those vampire draws. So a smaller set of solar panels would likely work out well. Saw some on eBay, at around $1/watt. So like $250 for a 240 watt panel.
Jim@HiTek
Have shop, will travel!
Visit my travel & RV repair blog site. Subscribe for emailed updates.
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pianotuna
Nomad II
Nomad II
Hi,

My fridge doesn't cool any faster on 120 volt than on propane.

LipschitzWrath wrote:
I have seen a couple of replies indicating that thus problem could be handled procedurally by shutting off the fridge and taking the food home. That's true, but now you have to cool the fridge each time you go out. That means you either need to run the generators for several hours to cool it quickly, or wait 24 hours for it to cool down on LP. The latter is certainly not conducive when you only plan to stay for a weekend. The former is better, but still restrictive.

I realize this seems stubborn, but I am trying to find a solution that allows our camping style to continue. Oftentimes, a weekend is all we get.
Regards, Don
My ride is a 28 foot Class C, 256 watts solar, 556 amp-hours of Telcom jars, 3000 watt Magnum hybrid inverter, Sola Basic Autoformer, Microair Easy Start.

pianotuna
Nomad II
Nomad II
Hi,

Mine draws 35 amp-hours per day. I'd go for at least 200 watts of panels.

This series of articles may help:

https://freecampsites.net/adding-solar/
Regards, Don
My ride is a 28 foot Class C, 256 watts solar, 556 amp-hours of Telcom jars, 3000 watt Magnum hybrid inverter, Sola Basic Autoformer, Microair Easy Start.

LipschitzWrath
Explorer
Explorer
I have seen a couple of replies indicating that thus problem could be handled procedurally by shutting off the fridge and taking the food home. That's true, but now you have to cool the fridge each time you go out. That means you either need to run the generators for several hours to cool it quickly, or wait 24 hours for it to cool down on LP. The latter is certainly not conducive when you only plan to stay for a weekend. The former is better, but still restrictive.

I realize this seems stubborn, but I am trying to find a solution that allows our camping style to continue. Oftentimes, a weekend is all we get.

Chum_lee
Explorer
Explorer
If I was going through the trouble to install a solar system (even a minimal one) I would buy the largest cost effective panel available. Something like a 240 watt panel. You have to mount the panel somewhere, then the controller, and then run all the wiring. Why put a bare bones panel/system in when for a little more you can install something you can use with a little excess capacity? With two 240 watt panels and two batteries you could even run the frig on 120 volt inverted solar power (if it's gas/elec and you store outside) eliminating the need for propane during storage altogether. Just a thought.

To answer your initial question, it would not be unreasonable to see 15 A-hr of nuisance load per day.

Chum lee

LipschitzWrath
Explorer
Explorer
Excellent responses here guys!

The good news is the solar kit I bought is easily scalable to 400 watts without any other modifications, so adding a panel (or three) shouldn't be terrible.

As far as losing food, you hit the nail on the head. We had what my wife and I estimate to be about $100 worth of food that we lost. To add insult to injury, the cost of an additional 100W panel is around $100.

This is a fifth wheel so no dash radio, no ecu's or anything like that. I guess I also don't know why it being an 04 means it has an inverter - ours doesn't. Between our family, none of the three campers have an inverter, and one is a 2015 model.

Optimistic_Para
Explorer
Explorer
Or as an alternative, maybe remove the food and turn the refrigerator OFF if you're going to gone for a week?

Weren't there a bunch of RV fires caused by malfunctioning fridges a while ago?

BFL13
Explorer II
Explorer II
Don't know the OP's situation, but with the RV two hours from home, when we left the RV there and went home for a few days, the RV fridge got emptied and we took the food home. Save a lot of trouble by taking a little trouble.
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Jim
Explorer
Explorer
Those numbers sound pretty close to me.

A 100 watt probably isn't enough. That's only 7.7 amp in full sun, no clouds, no shade, clean solar panel surface, at the right angle, only at certain times per day. That will not likely do much other than add a couple days before your batteries go dead. I'm not sure how bad off your AGM batteries are now that they've been totally exhausted, I know that really shortens the life of a flooded cell battery set...but you might need to replace them.

500 Watts of solar panel would be better. 'Course that's a bit expensive. But that wattage would probably give you the kind of service you're looking for.

One thing you can do is only supply power to the refer by removing the positive leads from both battery sets while you're gone. In that case, you'd need to run a single wire up to the refer (16 ga) from the strongest battery set. You could also add a 2 X 1 battery isolator connected so both sets of batteries are supplying the refer (and ONLY the refer). Remove the +12 volt wire at the refer's 12 volt connector and substitute yours. Of course you could add a switch to toggle between the 2 sources.

So what would happen is that before you leave the lake is disconnect the battery positive cables, add your own going to the small battery isolator, run the 16 ga wire up to the refer (I'd just run it out the bottom of the battery compartment and up the wall of the RV to the outside refer vent). Connect it in place of the RVs 12 volt wire, and off you go.

And of course, do what you can to reduce the work the refer has to do. Park the RV in shade, or at least have the refer side of the RV in shade. Remember that the 12 volt will be running the relatively high current propane solenoid and circuitry, so the less often cooling is called for the better. So to reduce that run time, make sure the refer and freezer are free of frost, maybe add a battery operated fan to the inside of the refer to help cooling, don't over fill the refer or freezer, and make sure the outside vent is clear and open.

Some of those parasitic (vampire) loads are the CO & Propane detectors, the dash radio and other dash devices, the step circuitry, the transmission and engine memories in their respective ECMs, and the big one for a '04 I think would be a permanently wired inverter. Even if you eliminate those things, it always seems there's still going to be something else. And flipping off the saleman's switch doesn't always stop the vampire loads.

Have fun at the lake!
Jim@HiTek
Have shop, will travel!
Visit my travel & RV repair blog site. Subscribe for emailed updates.
Winnebago Journey, '02
Cat 330HP Diesel, 36.5', two slides.