Battery Defective / How long should it hold a charge????

[bowler1]

I just recently got a travel trailer and it came with a new battery. I have found it will not hold a charge as long as I think it should. After being fully charged, if I let my trailer sit for 2 weeks with nothing running, my battery is completely dead. It won't even power any of the indoor lights.

I know that the alarm system is still running and draining the battery, but should it completely drain the battery in two weeks or less? My dealer says my battery is fine but I am not sure. I know that my pop up battery would eventually die in storage, but not in two weeks.

Thanks
Matt

[tenbear]

Duplicate post.

[tenbear]

CA Traveler wrote:

tenbear wrote:
My last TT and my current Class C have the battery cutoff switch near the door. It is a momentary 2 way switch. Press the top, the battery is connected, press the bottom, battery is disconnected.

Typically these are not intended for storage and don't disconnect all loads. Instead they disconnect some loads like lights etc until you return. Hopefully it doesn't disconnect the refer.

It seems that there are lots of variations in these disconnect switches. Due to construction at my house, my MH is at a friend's house and not plugged in. After 3 weeks, the battery is still at 12.66v. YMMV.

[Community Alumni]

To those that say the battery is probably beyond repair I say that's highly unlikely. The truth is that lots batteries still have tons of life in them, but people would rather throw away and buy new these days. I'm astonished at the amount of people that proclaim they have a bad battery after only a year or two of service. There's people out there with 10 year old batteries in their vehicles that are still going on strong. Even if the voltage reads 0.0v, a lot of batteries still can be revived. There's quite a few methods that can be used to bring a battery back to life. None of them are instantaneous which explains why no one bothers anymore. As long as the battery is sound (no internal shorts, etc) and sufficient lead/lead oxide plates, a "dead" battery can be revived. I've revived quite a few myself and benefited from their extra years of service. Don't get me wrong, eventually all batteries will get to the point of recycling, but batteries do not need to be scrapped just because they were discharged too low a few times.

[CA_Traveler]

tenbear wrote:
My last TT and my current Class C have the battery cutoff switch near the door. It is a momentary 2 way switch. Press the top, the battery is connected, press the bottom, battery is disconnected.

Typically these are not intended for storage and don't disconnect all loads. Instead they disconnect some loads like lights etc until you return. Hopefully it doesn't disconnect the refer.

OP If you don't have a full disconnect switch or CB on the battery post or nearby then installation is easy.

[westend]

bowler1 wrote:
thanks for the info. I certainly feel better that knowing that there is not an issue with my battery.

Many have mentioned a battery disconnect. Perhaps my trailer has one and I don't know about it. Where would I look for it and what would it look like?

I guess I could turn off the main breaker in the fuse box too. Wouldn't that have the same effect?


thanks
Matt

A disconnect switch will be close to the batteries, usually.

Unfortunately, you do have an issue with your battery. No battery is going to operate in it's full function once it has been discharged completely. If it's happened a few times and you have the usual marine-starter hybrid most trailers have, they are now sulfated so bad that they will never recover to full function. They may last for a year or two in the limited capacity but will fail.

The main breaker and the rest of the breakers in the load center are for 120V AC, they have nothing to do with the batteries, other than powering the converter.

12 volt side of life

[tenbear]

bowler1 wrote:
thanks for the info. I certainly feel better that knowing that there is not an issue with my battery.

Many have mentioned a battery disconnect. Perhaps my trailer has one and I don't know about it. Where would I look for it and what would it look like?

I guess I could turn off the main breaker in the fuse box too. Wouldn't that have the same effect?


thanks
Matt

My last TT and my current Class C have the battery cutoff switch near the door. It is a momentary 2 way switch. Press the top, the battery is connected, press the bottom, battery is disconnected.

Turning the breaker off will have no effect. The 12v system uses fuses. The breakers are for the 120vac system.

[tenbear]

The only way to really know what is going on is to measure the current that the battery is supplying.

If we assume your battery is an 80 Amp Hour battery then in 2 weeks, 336 hours, It only takes a current of 0.236 amps to use up all 80AH. Your CO and propane detectors could easily draw that much current.

[dodge_guy]

2 weeks is possible. I know on mine after 2 weeks the voltage was low, but not dead. around a month it was dead for me. a few years ago I installed a small 2 or 5 watt (I forget) solar trickle charger. since then the battery always has a full charge. it only cost me around $15 or $20 and was well worth it. it only puts out around 500Ma which is less than what the radio memory and LP detector will draw. nothing else will draw power unless you left a switch on.

[Lantley]

bowler1 wrote:
thanks for the info. I certainly feel better that knowing that there is not an issue with my battery.

Many have mentioned a battery disconnect. Perhaps my trailer has one and I don't know about it. Where would I look for it and what would it look like?

I guess I could turn off the main breaker in the fuse box too. Wouldn't that have the same effect?


thanks
Matt

Beware as others have mentioned, battery could be damaged beyond repair if it totally depleted itself. Have battery fully charged and see how things go. If you are still having issues replace it.

[bowler1]

thanks for the info. I certainly feel better that knowing that there is not an issue with my battery.

Many have mentioned a battery disconnect. Perhaps my trailer has one and I don't know about it. Where would I look for it and what would it look like?

I guess I could turn off the main breaker in the fuse box too. Wouldn't that have the same effect?


thanks
Matt

[hmknightnc]

It varies by trailer but my FW standard parasitic load is about 12AHs per day. This means with a fully charged OEM standard Marine GP 24 battery (80 AH capacity) it would be at approximately 50% in 3 days and completely dead in 7. So if your checking after 2 weeks and it's dead that is expected.

Disconnect your battery in storage otherwise you will eventually kill it, or keep charged by plugging in or a small solar system.

[colliehauler]

Yes it will completly drain a battery in 2 weeks and will shorten the lifespan. You need a battery disconnect.

[the_bear_II]

I disconnect the batteries when I store the trailer. The battery will hold a charge for months without a parasitic draw.

Deep Cycle batteries will be ok if drained of all power and then recharged. It's not the best for them and will shorten the lifespan a little but it won't kill them.

[Sandia_Man]

Battery may be beyond use at this point being totally discharged. Travel trailers have many parasitic draws, either disconnect battery or keep it plugged in all the time (that's what we do) if your rig has an onboard smart charging converter.