Dead Battery

[Silverhobby]

Hi Group,
I just went out to check the A/S. It is a 1972 29 foot Ambassador. The coach battery was dead. I plugged into A/C current to see if I had left any lights or anything 12 volt on. Nothing was turned on. Is there something I can check to see what is draining my battery when there are no obvious signs of 12 volt usage? Kev

[balrgn]

Originally Posted by Silverhobby

Hi Group,
I just went out to check the A/S. It is a 1972 29 foot Ambassador. The coach battery was dead. I plugged into A/C current to see if I had left any lights or anything 12 volt on. Nothing was turned on. Is there something I can check to see what is draining my battery when there are no obvious signs of 12 volt usage? Kev

How long was it setting there? May have just drained down....

[wahoonc]

Kev,
Do you have a newer fridge? They have a constant on 12 volt controller. A quick way to check for drain is to make sure everything is off, then disconnect the ground cable from the battery, put a test meter or light in between the post and the cable, if you get light or a reading something, somewhere is pulling current. It could be a intermittent short, or a high resistance short, something as arcane as wire strands in the tow plug touching. With the older units with many miles on them electrical gremlins can be a fact of life. The best bet in the future is to disconnect the battery if it is going to sit for more than a week. Mine has a handy plug in the battery compartment that just pulls apart. You could also add a battery disconnect very easily, look in race car supply shops or Marine/boating supply shops for ideas on what is available.

Aaron

[balrgn]

Yup, Arron, an isolator is a nice thing. Can get them at a Boat supply

Somethin like this

[ticki2]

Do you have a trunk light?

[Silverhobby]

Thanks for the great ideas. I do have baggage compartment lights. I'll have to make certain they go off when I shut the door. That always happens in the fridge, right? I have the older manual control fridge, so, no 12 volt power there. I'll keep searching, but I am sure an electrical disconnect would be money well spent. Kev

[azflycaster]

If you have a CO or propane detector, they can drain your battery. If you charge your battery and then remove one of the cables and touch it to the post (the one you removed it from), you should not see any spark if everything is off. If it does spark, something is on. Don't be plugged into shore power when you do this. You can use a meter, but this is easier.