battery want stay charged

[cwishert]

Re: battery want stay charged

Mid 90's! Thats a cool front. We will be at the beach on saturday and sunday then back to the old grind! I like it hot. I hope the fish like it hot this weekend. Hope the rain keeps to a minimum. I really don't mind the rain just don't want the nasty thunder storms!

 

[Guest]

Re: battery want stay charged

Hey carol ,, i can relate to that ,, the hotter it is the better ,, heck i have to get a jacket when the temps get in lower 80's ,, and i'm not kidding ,, u should see me in the winter :laugh: :laugh: :approve: :approve: :approve:

 

[H2H1]

Re: battery want stay charged

Well it wasn't the light, I still can't keep the battery charged. I am going call my RV tech Monday and ask him to come over and take a look at it. Now if he can't find the problem it off to Coach Craft down in Columbus and leave it with them and see if they can find the problem. This little problem has gotten on my last nerve because it keeps the co 2 detector or Propane detector going off. I had to disconnect the engine battery to kill the detector. I am having a misunderstanding on this because it is plugged to shore power and thought that what kept everything up and running. O well learning things everyday with the MH. :laugh:

 

[C Nash]

Re: battery want stay charged

Hollis is it the house battery or chassis bat going dead? think the basement lights work off the house batteries but you have found that it was not the basement light anyway. The chassis battery probably does not charge from the shore power but you could hook it uo where it would. Do you have a disconnect switch for the chassis, engine battery? Have you tried taking the neg cable off at the battery. I think the steps work off the chassis battery and I am assuming that is the batt you are talking about.

 

[H2H1]

Re: battery want stay charged

yes Nash I have chassis battery problem. I have looked at connections and find no problem, I simply can't find what is draining the chassis battery. I put it on the charger to charge the batt, start it up let it run awhile, the alt will show 14.2 volts but won't keep it. it's got to be something but what? thanks for your help

 

[C Nash]

Re: battery want stay charged

Hollis, to drain the batt overnight there has to be a pretty high drain. Sounds like the alt is doing its job. Alt should put out over 14vts on start and slowly drop to about 13.8 with nothing on. If the batt does not go dead while driving the alt is ok which I think it is. Take the neg cable off and lightly touch or best to use meter to see if there is a drain. If there is a drain find the fuse panel and remove one at a time until the drain is found. try to locate everything that is hooked to the chassic battery by using your wiring diagram if you have one. There could be a problem in the automatic steps. Are they working as they should? Retract when cranking, key on and off? Has there been any acessories wired to the chassic batt? Does your horn work? just some things that rattle around in this old head.

 

[TexasClodhopper]

Re: battery want stay charged

Hollis didn't you just have trouble with a cigarette lighter socket? I'd say this is not coincidental.

 

[H2H1]

Re: battery want stay charged

Tex you are right, I am charging the batt up, I thought of that right after breakfast and I have pulled that fuse to the lighters, I am waiting the batt to charge then going to put it back in and just wait and see. :laugh:

 

[C Nash]

Re: battery want stay charged

Man, that Tex sure has a great memory

 

[H2H1]

Re: battery want stay charged

OK with a charged batt in I pulled the fuse to the cigarette ports and it was still going down. Put the volt meter and watched it drop in volts, So now I know it's something else. I took the neg side off the batt and will wait til tomorrow and do another fuse on another circuit. I guess I will do this until I find what is drawing off the battery.

You are right Nash he does have good memory. I also remember that this morning that I was having problems with the cigarette lighters . I replaced both of them both of them back then. I will find and correct this :laugh: or some repair shop will have to do it, I simply can't stand it when it want start when I turn the key.

 

[Guest]

Re: battery want stay charged

Hollis ,, did u do the test light thingy like i said ,, in another post on this ,, it is the same as Nash said ,, but he used a volt meter ,, and i use a test light ,, works the same ,, just gotta be patient ,, cause it takes awhile to pull out 1 fuse at a time ,, i have spent all day on probs like this ,, and it's usally the last fuse in the (i didn't know that was ther type fuse box) as nash says if u have a wiring schematic of the rv it helps out alot, let us know :approve:
Btw if u pull off one of the cable ends a put it back on ,, is there a real good spark when u touch it to the battery???? u have many drains on an rv ,, but most are limited to the house batteries ,, PM me if u want a step by step on this drain finding thingy :approve:

 

[H2H1]

Re: battery want stay charged

Rod I broke my test light, so all I got now is a meter that I bought last week. I intend on getting a better test light this week., And yes there is spark when connecting the neg to the battery. This like finding a needle in a hey stack but I /we will find it :laugh:

 

[Guest]

Re: battery want stay charged

if u got a spark ,, then u have a drain ,, hook the meter up ,, red to battery cable ,, black to battery ,,, and see what the voltage is ,, then strat pulling fuses till u get it down to about 5 volts or so ,,, ( the MH engine computer will pull this) let us know back :approve: :approve:

 

[TexasClodhopper]

Re: battery want stay charged

Rod have you read what you wrote in your post? That doesn't make a bit of sense. Perhaps you were thinking much farther ahead of your typing.

 

[C Nash]

Re: battery want stay charged

Hmm, watch out Rod. Tex is going to complicate our test so we wont understand :laugh: Remember Tex, we are just simple minded mechanics and just do it the simple way :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: We could fix the shuttle with a test light

 

[H2H1]

Re: battery want stay charged

OK guys, here is what I am going to do. First I am going to buy me a good test light, second I am going to leave the neg side of the batt off, hook up one end of the test light to the cable, the other end will go to the batt. if the light come on then I will start pulling the fuse until it goes out. Like Rod and Nash stated this will find the circuit and then I will start running it out until I find the problem. Thanks guys.

 

[H2H1]

Re: battery want stay charged

OK guys, here is what I am going to do. First I am going to buy me a good test light, second I am going to leave the neg side of the batt off, hook up one end of the test light to the cable, the other end will go to the batt. if the light come on then I will start pulling the fuse until it goes out. Like Rod and Nash stated this will find the circuit and then I will start running it out until I find the problem. Thanks guys.

 

[Kirk]

Re: battery want stay charged

Hollis,

Let me suggest an old trouble shooter's way. Put your meter on amps scale and connect int between the neg. battery post and ground. In that way you will know what kind of current flow you have. After that, start to pull the fuses one at a time. You will probably see small drops from several but you are looking for the one that has 1/2 or more of the total drain. There are many things that will cause a very small current but most of those should take at least weeks for the battery to discharge, assuming that the battery is good. You are probably looking at some load of several amps and it should not be too difficult to locate.

The problem with the light method is that it takes such a small current to make it turn on that you will probably not find one circuit that will turn it off. And if you do, it will not be the one with the greatest current flow but rather the one that you happen to remove last. Some current flow from your battery when parks is very normal.

 

[TexasClodhopper]

Re: battery want stay charged

Thanks, Kirk. That's what I was hoping Rod would correct his to say.

Ya'll excuse me, I gotta go jump start the space shuttle. They just barely made it to my shop. You should have seen how dim those lights were! :clown:

 

[Guest]

Re: battery want stay charged

now to find a drain ,, u disconect the battery ,, any cable ,, and hook a meter or test light up in series ,, u know (meter ) red (on meter) to what ever u want ,, be it cable or batt ,, then hook up other lead (on meter) to what ever u didn't hook up the the other lead to ,, anyway ,, if u have 12 volts ,, it's a draw on the system ,, but even though it is the engine batt ,, that Hollis is having probs with ,, 5 volts is nothing ,,, the engine computer will draw that much ,, and just sitting ,, the new ones draw about 7.5 volts from the engine battery ,,, now did i miss some thing or am i wrong ,, if so let me know ,, cause i have fixed many draws this way ,, and hve not seen a one back since for this prob ,,