Dead Batteries on eve of maiden voyage

[Silver Goose]

It is possible that the batteries were never charged since they were put in. As I recall the store switch on mine disconnects all but the LPG detector. I’m pretty sure it also prevents charging in the store position from either the converter or the 7-way. As others have suggested, fully charge then take it/them out and have tested. The battery warranty should help.

[Prettygood]

Here is a pic. The solar charger is a Goal Zero 10w maintainer. I used stainless steel bolts and nylon spacers to mount it. It has worked great to keep my battery topped off while not in use.

[Holy Grail]

Yes. Also, look at date on batteries. Mine were several years old when I took delivery of a new Airstream FC28.

[Nomad518]

This is a common problem for new owners. It happened to me. Thought I could put the main power switch into store mode and leave the battery in place (mine has only one battery). After 3 weeks in storage, battery was toast. I replaced it and fully disconnect it now when storing my trailer. I remove the battery and keep it on a tender in my garage beside the trailer. Now it’s always fully charged and ready to go. I just have to put it in the battery box, hook it up and flip on the main power switch inside. My battery is now 6 years old and still working.

[Atwebs]

Have those batteries checked professionally -we lost our batteries on our first day out with our last trailer, recharged them and they would work for less than one evening before they were dead again. We had to replace them about 5 days into our maiden trip! One of the sensors was draining them fully each and every day even when we were frugal with things like lights and the initial issue had damaged them. Had we been smart enough to have them checked BEFORE we hit the road, the dealer would have replaced them for us (not so when we got back from our trip!).

Also consider a trickle charger for storage. We have had lots of battery issues with the Interstate batteries over our years of trailering. Seems we had to replace them almost every season until we invested in a trickle charger and pulled them out for storage. Adding portable solar helped to keep them working when we were booddocking.

All that said, with our Airstream we finally got smart and invested in built in solar. It's been fantastic to have the trailer always charged and always working. Such an improvement.

[winedog]

Some new airstream trailers are set up so that even if the disconnect switch is off, the refrigerator will continue to run, which will drain energy from the batteries because the control board needs 12 V power

[gypsydad]

Originally Posted by Silverfox58

Newbie here, taking off tomorrow for first trip in our FC 25. Since we took delivery, she has been stored offsite at an inside storage facility for about 5 weeks. Went to fetch her today and batteries were dead, even though I had the battery disconnect switch on 'store.'
I hope I am correct that once we hook up to shore power, the batteries will recharge since they did not freeze (hand cranking gets old quick). I am surprised that the LP sensor could run down the batteries in only 5 weeks - is this normal?
Thanks!

Many stories like this here in the "Naked City" of the Forum! (at least 1-2 threads per week, it seems!) Becoming pretty common to have your batteries on a "new AS" be/go bad after taking delivery. Interstate is getting a pretty bad reputation as is AS dealers, for this problem. If you have the time, best to call Interstate and explain the situation; likely they will want you to take your batteries in to charge/test overnight. They likely will replace or give credit to new batteries even AGM's or another type if your interested. (happened to me now twice with my new AS's)

Once you figure out what your doing, invest in a manual disconnect switch like many of us have done, on Amazon or autoparts store. Always disconnect when in storage using the switch. Should help solve your issues going forward; new batteries; battery disconnect switch.

[durban383]

Does anyone have video of how to reconnect dual batteries for a 27FB. Stored them for winter with trickle charge. I’m an RV n airstreams newbie n not especially mechanical. Thanks

[SteveSueMac]

I don’t have a video but I have the picture below from my 27FB and can describe the process a bit.

The picture below has my hand making a C to indicate Curbside (or the passenger side of your tow vehicle). Start by placing the batteries in the tray as shown and realize the tied down bar is threaded on the bottom and is going to go through a plastic hole in the center of the tray to a threaded bolt at the bottom of the battery box. It’s important to line those up properly so the tie down applies pressure to hold the batteries in place.

Highly recommend caution with jewelry and tools. Catch one piece on a positive and negative terminal at the same time and you’ll get quite the zap! So careful!!!

As for wiring....when you’re starting the new season, that’s a POSITIVE thing - so you want to connect all the POSITIVE cables first (this is how I remember it [emoji3]). So you want to connect all the red cables as shown - and note there’s a black cable that has a yellow crimp on it - that’s also on the positive battery post - it’s the positive cable for the jack.

Once you’ve got the positive cables hooked up, then connect the negatives.

You do this direction in reverse when removing, meaning, ending the camping season is a NEGATIVE thing so you start by disconnecting the NEGATIVE cables first.

Clear as mud? [emoji3]

Good luck. Ask if you have more questions.

[T55]

If you look on Amazon you can also find SAE reverse polarity plug (comes set of three for $7) and plug the goal zero directly to your Zamp solar plug. But you have to use the reverse polarity plug.

[gypsydad]

Originally Posted by durban383

Does anyone have video of how to reconnect dual batteries for a 27FB. Stored them for winter with trickle charge. I’m an RV n airstreams newbie n not especially mechanical. Thanks

I don't have a video, but this is the picture I took of my Interstates in January, 2018 of my 2017 28' FC, after installing a knife cut off switch. I am sure your 27' wires connections are the same. Red to positive; black to negative. NOTE- there is one thin black wire shown in lower right of the picture crossing over the INTE letters of Interstate; it is connected to + terminal; that wire is coming from the power jack fuse line. When in doubt, trace the wires manually outside. Hope this can help. If you click the picture twice, you can enlarge.

[Cracklinrosi]

Silverfox58, I have had experience with this for years in my pop- up camper. Am told that Lp sensordraws 2 amps per hour, so if you approximate that to 50 amps per day/ 350 ampsweekly/ 1750 amps in 5 weeks. I have seasonally camped off the grid for 18 years and would disconnect the battery from camper during day to prevent this draw. When camper is in storage always remove battery and bring home.