Battery Disconnect Issue

[mje]

Brief history: I have a battery disconnect on my 2013 30' FC that is functioning properly but with no way of knowing if the batteries are connect or not.

My issue is with the battery disconnect lamp. If it is not plugged to the shore power, the battery disconnect lamp will go out when disconnected and lights up when connected. Now, with the shore power plugged in, the lamp stays on either way and impossible for me to know whether or not the batteries are connect or not and I have to constantly hit "off" to be sure. The switch is rocker and always returns to it's neutral position which is not helping. Do you have the same issue and if not, is it possible that my switch is defective?

While I'm at it, the hot water tank heater lamp does not illuminate when power is on (either gas or electric), except for a brief flicker when turning on.

[idroba]

The switch should have two positions on it, USE and STORE.

The USE position connects the batteries and the converter/charger all together.

The STORE position disconnects the batteries from the system. In STORE only the converter/charger will power the 12 volt systems in the trailer.

The water heater switch does not light except when in GAS and then only a very brief flash when first turned on. That is normal. It only lights bright red when the gas is on and it did not light. Red indicates a fault problem, not a normal use pattern.

[mje]

Thanks Ibroba. My problem is that the battery lamp does not go out when connected to the shore power either in USE or STORE modes - it simply stays lit, and I can't tell whether it is switched to USE or STORE. Because of that, I inadvertently left it on USE for one full month and this killed my original Interstate batteries. When not on shore power, the lamp works normally, as it should.

[gypsydad]

Originally Posted by mje

Thanks Ibroba. My problem is that the battery lamp does not go out when connected to the shore power either in USE or STORE modes - it simply stays lit, and I can't tell whether it is switched to USE or STORE. Because of that, I inadvertently left it on USE for one full month and this killed my original Interstate batteries. When not on shore power, the lamp works normally, as it should.

In our AS, I just replaced my original Interstate's with AGM's; month later even with power switch to STORE, they went dead. Obviously there is a short somewhere. I purchased a "knife switch" from Amazon for the negative terminal and installed; no leakage any more. I don't have access to shore power where I am storing the AS so important to keep AGM's idle.

[idroba]

As I recall, that is one of the peculiar aspects of the USE/STORE switch. I am not home now so I can't go play with my 2014 and tell you how mine works.

I can say that even in STORE, the propane detector is always on and draws current. Not much, but over a couple of months it will drag the batteries down. In addition, the factory inverter, if you have one, does not go through the USE/STORE switch and if left on by accident will flatten the batteries in a couple of days.

What I do, and recommend, is to simply disconnect all negative wires from the battery bank when it is not in use. That way you know for sure that there is no parasitic drain on the batteries. They must be fully charged when you do that. I leave mine for 5 months each winter that way with no charging at all, and they are fine in the spring. I got 9 or 10 years out of one set of Trojan golf cart batteries in my '74 Argosy using that system every winter.

[dkottum]

I keep an eye on our battery voltage to know if the Battery Disconnect is in STORE or USE position. If the batteries are disconnected from the converter/charger their voltage will be about 12.7 volts. If they are connected to the converter/charger their voltage will be about 13.4 volts. We still have the original converter/charger and AGM batteries which are in excellent condition after 3 1/2 years, 24 months travel/living in the Airstream. But I never allow the converter/charger to charge the batteries for any length of time, allowing the solar system to do the charging, and keeping the Battery Disconnect in STORE when on external power. I only put the Battery Disconnect in USE when boondocking without external power, or when traveling (so the refrigerator works on propane).

Our factory solar system includes a battery monitor which indicates battery voltage. You could add a voltmeter wired directly to the batteries to check the voltage.

If storing the trailer for long periods without a solar system, disconnect the batteries as idroba suggests. The propane monitor and possibly other "phantom" draws will deplete the battery otherwise. I suspect the audio woofer is another, it has an inline fuse on ours but I don't like the thing anyway so removed it.

[SilverGate]

This question has been answered many times:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f449...ud-126680.html

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f449...gms-29833.html

[lewster]

That was the first puzzle that I had to solve when I brought my new '06 19CCD home. The indicator light never went out when on shore power. What I found is that the light is powered from a circuit from the converter, and will show being lit when ever shore power is present, regardless of the actual switch position!

The switch does work when pressed in the appropriate direction. When on shore power, the batteries can be in 'store' and disconnected from the DC loads, but the light will be on because the circuit is still being powered from the converter output. Pull the shore cord and the light magically goes out if still in 'store'.

I would always set the switch with no shore power present just to be certain that it was in the position that I wanted, and THEN would plug in. Worked every time!!!!

[ghatfield]

I posted on this a week or so ago. If you have the AS plugged into 110v and the switch is in the "store" position, the batteries are NOT connected to the charger. The trouble is that there is no way to know if it is in "store." The light will be on since, as noted above, it is always on when plugged into 110V. I rigged a small LED voltmeter to tell me when the batteries are connect to the charger.... see post

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f449...er-130725.html

Of course you could just push "use" whenever you want to charge the batteries and "store" when you don't.

George