While dry camping I found out, the hard way, that my house battery is draining overnight. Does anyone out there have an idea what might be causing the drain. The battery is so low that I can not start the generator in the morning to charge the battery for the day. Dry camping is fun and I do not want this issue to ruin the camping experience. Thank-You in advance.
Im assuming you only have one battery in the coach, your not plugged in, and have an emergency start switch on the dash. If not say so.
When I only had one coach battery, if I had to run the furnace much, it would drain most of the battery over night, to the point the furnace burner would not come on by morning.
If yours is not holding up overnight and your not using the heat, the battery is most likely bad, have you checked its water and charge?
You didn't say what type of battery you have flooded cell, gel cell or AGM type or what size it is. Battery's may not last to many years or may last 5 or more, it depends on how there taken care of, charged, water checked, luck Etc.
Originally I had one #27 AGM deep cycle, and when I had this problems, I added one more just like it. This ended my problems.
In the morning, Have you tried starting the truck engine, then pushing the emergency start button whale someone else starts the generator?
2001 27' Four Winds Class-C E-450 V-10.
Buick Park Ave Ultra, Ford Ranger PU, JD 500 backhoe.
1941 Farm All "A"
The chassis battery is isolated from the house-battery bank. You should be able to start the engine. The engine will charge the house batteries using the alternator. After about 15 minutes of idling, leave the engine running, try to start the generator. If it runs, you can leave both running for a while to charge the batteries faster. If you intend to dry-camp you should have at least 2 house-batteries (6 volt preferred).
Mark
Mark & Jan "Old age & treachery win over youth & enthusiasm"
2003 Fleetwood Jamboree 29
I have a similar issue and you reply helped me on one level. The next question is: should your house battery bank also charge when you are plugged in at home (ac)?
I just bought a new battery and noticed the battery level was on low and I have had it plugged in for a week.
On my Jamboree, with engine running, the alternator will charge chassis and house batteries. When plugged into shore-power, the converter/charger will charge house-batteries and chassis batteries. You can confirm whether this works on your specific unit by checking output voltage at house and chassis batteries with a voltage meter. You should get 13.5 + volts if charging is going on. You may have to wait about 15 minutes before the secondary battery gets charging, since either charging system will work on the primary battery bank first. "akronharry": The converter/charger may not be working if the battery did not get charged overnight. Check for a popped circuit breaker or blown fuse.
Contrary to what I thought the advantage of alternators vs the old generators was that the alternator would put out charging voltage enough to charge the vehicle battery while ideling. This isn't true. One must depress the accelerator considerably to put out the +14.5 volts to charge a depleted battery.
Thus if you are running down the road it is easy to charge both the vehicle and the coach batteries. One should have at least 2 or 3 coach batteries if doing allot of dry camping.
Alternators do better at low speeds, than the typical old DC generators, but most are sized to be up to full power only at cruising rpm. Alternators do ramp up faster, but the main reason for the change was that the technology became much less expensive, charging easier to control, and maintenance less expensive compared to contemporary generators and their mechanical controls.
Vehicles needing significant electrical output at low engine speeds (e.g. emergency vehicles) usually get bigger alternators, sometimes multiple alternators.
To the original question, draining overnight is because of too much load, or a worn out battery that has lost most of its capacity. Worn batteries will usually charge to full voltage, sometimes quite quickly (one clue to the problem). But enough of the plate surface is dead, that instead of 50 or 60 AH, they might be storing only 5 or 10 AH, or less. I had a pair like that (original owner cooked them or dried them out); solution is to replace the battery.
My '06 Jayco Greyhawk should be similar to yours. Sounds like either a weak house batt or something is draining it. As mentioned above, furnace is the biggest draw normally if its cold. Also, make sure the reefer is on propane and not 12v (if you have a 3-way). Too much TV? Still sounds like a weak battery, though. It also should be charging well when you're plugged in to ac, maybe your converter/charger isn't putting out properly. Mine came with an Iota converter and I added the "smart charger" module for about $25 which keeps it peaked all the time when plugged in. Maybe yours has the same converter.
On mine, I also added two 6v's in the rear storage compartment next to the battery slideout tray, and I also kept the orig 12v in the circuit. Had to reinforce the storage box a bit and vent it but I love the capacity.
This is one reason I installed solar... no more worries about drains, especially in storage, and dry camping is actually a lot more fun when you don't have to fire up the gennie every morning. My two house batteries are usually topped off by 1100, and 12V system pretty much runs without touching the batteries at all during the daylight hours.
2005 Winnebago "Minnie" 31C (was a three-time Jayco owner)
If you are using the furnace overnight and have a "typical" dealer-installed battery, it will barely last the night. If lucky, the furnace will still run in the morning.
Dry camping pretty much requires two "true" deep cycle batteries, unless you are extremely frugal with power consumption, in which case you can get by with only one "true" deep cycle battery.
A "true" deep cycle battery is NOT a marine deep cycle or dual purpose deep cycle - these are the ones that are designed as both deep cycle and starter. The compromise is not a good one for our sue, especially if dry camping.
Typically, one would use two golf-cart 6-volt batteries such as the Trojan T-105 Plus, but two 12-volt deep cycle batteries such as the Trojan J150 Plus would also be fine. At the 20-hour rate, two T-105s would give you 225 Ah of power while two J150s would give 300 Ah.
I would not be surprised if you could get by nicely with on J150 for your use, but a pair of batteries (your choice of deep cycle batteries) would be best, without doubt.
Bottom line: Be wary of anything that is not really a deep cycle battery. If if has a Cranking Performance ratings (CCA or CA) then it is not truly a deep cycle battery.
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