battery want stay charged

[H2H1]

I need help and advice. I put in a new battery back in Dec 07andhave gone out to AZ and back no problem. When we went to Fl no problem except that it would not start when we decided to come home. I have put on the charger and charged it up, next day it dead again, carried it to Walmart and had them to check for a bad cell, no bad cell they charged it for over an hour, next day dead. So what is killing my battery? I have been told it was my alternator can this be true? I have gone thru the MH and checked all power switches and nothing is on. Thanks

 

[DL Rupper]

Re: battery want stay charged

Hey hollis, are you driving the motorhome all day and then it goes dead the next day? If so, it could be the alternator. However, if you are parked all day and night and it goes dead then it's probably not your alternator.

 

[C Nash]

Re: battery want stay charged

Hollis, try removing the negetive batt cable overnight. If the batt is not dead the next day you have a drainage problem. You will also see a small spark if you lightly touch the cable to the post but be careful batteries can explode. If its a drain have fun. really need a meter to ck for the drain and then start disconnecting each circuit on the batt. Diode can be bad in the alt and cause a drain but the output should be low. Have you ck the alt output?

 

[ARCHER]

Re: battery want stay charged

Hey Hollis,
I had the same issue a few years ago. It was a drain on the battery (small light that I just could not see that caused the drain). Made sure the light stayed out and no more problem. Walmart replaced the battery so I was happy about that, but your just gonna have to do some searching like Chelse said.

 

[H2H1]

Re: battery want stay charged

THANK EVERYBODY, well today after lunch I went out and tried to start it up. it started, I killed the main battery switch in the cabinet yesterday, did this have any effect on the drainage?? I think I will try it again in the morning and if it starts I will turn the main battery disconnect switch back on and see what happen. Nash I will try your suggestion later after I see what happen after I SWITCH the main disconnect batt back

 

[ARCHER]

Re: battery want stay charged

Hollis, I have an older Winn Chieftain and it has a aux battery switch on the dash for running the twelve volt system, etc., while parked but will automatically come on when I start the engine. I also have a switch on the dash that shows main, dual, and a flash like I can use when the main battery fails (it uses the aux batteries to start the engine if needed). I leave the switch on main until after it starts then I switch it over to dual so that the aux batteries get charged while I am driving. I would think that if your just killing the main battery disconnect switch all your doing is like disconnecting the hot wire on the battery terminal. That switch should not be the drain cause on the battery. I would think it has to be something else that is draining your battery. Just my thoughts.

 

[H2H1]

Re: battery want stay charged

thanks Archer, I just grabbing for straws here asking and finding out things I don't know

 

[H2H1]

Re: battery want stay charged

I think I found the problem, bad light in one of the basement compartment. It wasn't working with the switch on replaced the bulb still would not work. I took it off line by unplugging it and the battery stayed charged. Now al I got to do is find a replacement for it. total new light kit.

 

[kellyx4]

RE: battery want stay charged

Had the same problem a couple years back with a truck. Turned out to be the switch on the underhood light was bad and the light was staying on all the time. The way it was made you could not see the light was on when the hood was closed through the grill.

 

[ARCHER]

Re: battery want stay charged

Hollis, glad ya found the problem.

 

[Guest]

Re: battery want stay charged

See i told u all Hollis was an rv tech :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :evil:

 

[C Nash]

Re: battery want stay charged

Hollis we all new what the problem was just wanted to let you find it :laugh: :laugh:

 

[Guest]

Re: battery want stay charged

now nash ,, was that nice ??? yea it was ,, and what a better person to pull that on ,, Hollis ,,, :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: ,, hey u 2 u know i'm just kidding around ,, i have to have somthingy to do since my tan and beach days are fadding :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :blush:

 

[H2H1]

Re: battery want stay charged

well Rod being you are so bright you alt to get a self inflicted tan :laugh: :laugh: :approve:

 

[C Nash]

Re: battery want stay charged

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Good one Hollis

 

[Guest]

Re: battery want stay charged

ok :disapprove: :disapprove: :disapprove: :clown:

 

[C Nash]

Re: battery want stay charged

Think you just turned poor old 730s light off Hollis. :laugh:

 

[H2H1]

Re: battery want stay charged

HE is a friend and I would do nothing to hurt his feeling :clown: yeah right :laugh: if fuel would go down I bet he would back on the beach in a lighting flash.

 

[Guest]

Re: battery want stay charged

i have no prob with fuel ,, Hollis ,, it's the TIME that i need to be on the beach ,, but going in late July or August,,, and btw ,, what type of light fixture was in u'r compartment ,, i might have what u need laying around ,, u know with all the remodels i do ,, i might have or close to what u need ,, if u can send me a pic of it ,, and i'll see what i have :approve: :laugh:
Btw ,, my feelings are hurt ,, but it's not because of the post ,, but Hollis brought up the beach ,, and that hurt's ,, since i'm not on it :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :evil:

 

[DL Rupper]

Re: battery want stay charged

Six more days and I'll be at the beach. I don't quite think the beaches in Washington are quite what you would like Rod. The summer heat is around 65 to 70 degrees. Just right for us. We try real hard to stay in that comfort zone. It's been about 70 to 75 degrees along the I-5 corridor the last few days and by Saturday it's going to go up to the mid 90's. That nasty HOT weather is coming up from California. So we are heading for the coast of Oregon Thursday. Just in time.