waking to dead new batteries

[Golf_Guy]

I am waking upon to dead batteries on the new house batteries. The last two nights I have been turning everything off when going to bed and waking to not enough charge in the batteries to start the generator. Where to begin looking for problem. Any advice would be helpfull

[jrnymn7]

Golf Guy,

1) That 12.9 - 13.1 Volts reading, was that while the batteries were being charged, or after?

2) Your fridge, does it have 12v controls? If so, that's about 1 amp / hour drain.

3) Your batteries, what size, make, model, 20 hour Ah rating are they?

4) What converter/charger are you using?

5) Do you have any measuring devices, such as a handheld multi-meter for checking voltages, or a clamp meter for checking dc current, or any remote monitors installed?

Without this information, everyone here can only guess.

Thanks.

[Road_Runners]

My first thought was that you were running the furnace overnight and, since it runs on 12 volts, it was running down your batteries faster than they could be charged.

[marcsbigfoot20b]

ScottG wrote:
Any chance the fridge heater is on?

My guess also.....most people don't even know it exists.

[Golf_Guy]

Thanks for all the previous input. Obviously I have a lot to learn and I am doing so on the fly or should I say on the road. We'll see what happens tonight.

[Golf_Guy]

Batteries are in a 2005 37' Newmar Kountry Star Class "A" motorhome. I would have thought they were completely charged from the night before as I drove 150 miles ran the generator for a couple hours in the afternoon and shut everything down except for the furnace that I set at 60 degrees for the night. The refer is set to auto so I assume it was running on LP. Not sure of any other electrical drain over the course of the evening. The current reading on the onboard volts is 12.9 to 13.1 the generator has been running since 7:30 this morning. I would think the batteries are completely charged by now.

[RJsfishin]

Everything off, including the forced air furnace ?
Not much detail, but maybe the biggest surprise to new RVers is the reality of how long it takes to fully recharge 2 dead batteries. And how short the time it take to run them dead when using the furnace.
Do you have a voltmeter displaying the voltage all the time ? If not, install one,...they cost about 3-5 bucks off ebay. Also, you should install an ampmeter on the output of the converter charger, so that you can see how many amps are going into the batteries and electrical system, which in turn tells you when the generator should be shut down. Like the post above says, you are looking at at least 2 hrs minimum, probably more to charge 2 dead batteries, and that is using at least a 45-60 amp converter charger.

[beemerphile1]

Sure might be handy if we had some idea what these batteries are in?

What is voltage at night and what is voltage in morning? Measure right at the battery.

If a trailer, is the breakaway pin pulled out?

We can post WAGs all day but unlikely to be much help without more info to work with.

Golf Guy wrote:
I am waking upon to dead batteries on the new house batteries. The last two nights I have been turning everything off when going to bed and waking to not enough charge in the batteries to start the generator. Where to begin looking for problem. Any advice would be helpfull

New batteries? Odds are they weren't connected correctly.

[mabynack]

First off, take your battery to Auto zone and have it load tested. I've seen brand new batteries that were bad. Proceed to the next step if the battery checks out good:

If you have an amp gauge, disconnect the positive post of your battery and put the leads on the positive post and the cable. Shut off all of your circuit breakers, and turn off everything in the RV and turn the breakers back on one at a time. If you have a short, the amperage will go up when you turn the breaker on for that circuit. This will help you isolate where the problem is.

[time2roll]

What is the voltage just before going to bed?
How are you charging the batteries each day? What converter? How many hours?

Basically you need to get the battery voltage over 14.2 for at least two hours to call them charged.

[ScottG]

Any chance the fridge heater is on?

[Mandalay_Parr]

Were they absolutely fully charged?