Battery draining too fast?

riverplace · 03-01-2018, 04:38 PM

Older fully charged 12 volt battery drained over night with gas furnace running. Temps dropped to 28. Bought new battery next day, fully charged when stayed with friends in NM and had furnace on low and propane frig on #1, monitor down to fair after one night. Is this normal? Seems like a fast draw for such a big battery. Also, when driving, does battery trickel recharge? Thanks!

AllanEdie · 03-01-2018, 05:33 PM

If you meant that your fridge was on electricity rather than propane, that would likely be your problem. The combination of the furnace and fridge overnight would very likely exceed what you should be taking out of a common single rv "deep cycle" battery.

I am not familiar with what your monitor means with a reading of fair, so I can't be more detailed than that.

As to charging while underway, not much will happen through the standard wiring of your trailer plug - the battery needs higher voltage than typically gets delivered. Charging through the plug can happen, but it will be slow. As discussed in other threads, if the fridge is on electricity while underway, you will probably run your battery down rather than charge it while underway.

gbaglo · 03-01-2018, 06:01 PM

My Group 27 battery drops to fair to good with furnace running overnight. It's less than a year old. Fridge on propane draws tiny amount of electricity for the control panel.

**rbryan4** · 03-01-2018, 06:20 PM

Allan describes it well. Don't expect much charging from your tow while underway. And if you use electric on the fridge while towing, expect a depleted battery when you arrive at your destination. We do two things: use propane on the fridge even when towing, and we have solar. If you want the tow to add a noticeable charge to the battery when towing, that's going to require a substantial upgrade to your tow vehicle wiring.

padlin · 03-01-2018, 07:37 PM

That's about what I got on my old trailer with a single group 24 battery, I added another.

riverplace · 03-01-2018, 07:54 PM

The fridge was on propane, not electricity, so the only draw would be the control panel. Am surprised the furnace depleted the battery from good to fair overnight, temp was 29 at lowest, did not have furnace more than 1/3 on thermostat. Should I buy a charger to recharge at state park campground when I have electric? Could anything else be drawing down the battery that I'm not aware of?

gbaglo · 03-01-2018, 08:00 PM

2006 17B. Have you converted all the lights to LED? That makes a difference.

Brian B-P · 03-01-2018, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by riverplace

Should I buy a charger to recharge at state park campground when I have electric?

When you have electric service, you should certainly charge; however, you don't need to buy anything to do that. The stock WFCO Power Center includes a converter/charger which will charge the battery (although not quickly enough or thoroughly enough for some owners) every time you plug in.

**rbryan4** · 03-01-2018, 09:46 PM

What Brian said on the charging. You already have a charger. As for the furnace, the fan motor does hit the battery pretty hard. I'd say the overnight draw you experienced is normal.

riverplace · 03-01-2018, 10:46 PM

Ok, thanks so much for the explanations! Having pulled the trailer out in -10 degree weather, packing and heading to the Southwest, the first couple days are always the most stressful, worrying if everything is going to work and what problems may be arising. Hopefully, the weather will be warm enough in southern AZ, I won't be needing the furnace anymore. One last question, does furnace run on AC when trailer is plugged in? Or always on D.C.?

**rbryan4** · 03-01-2018, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by riverplace

Ok, thanks so much for the explanations! Having pulled the trailer out in -10 degree weather, packing and heading to the Southwest, the first couple days are always the most stressful, worrying if everything is going to work and what problems may be arising. Hopefully, the weather will be warm enough in southern AZ, I won't be needing the furnace anymore. One last question, does furnace run on AC when trailer is plugged in? Or always on D.C.?

It runs on DC always. The difference is that when you're plugged in to shore power, your converter is changing AC power to 12V DC power to supply trailer components, including the furnace. So, no battery draw down. In effect it's running off of shore power. That shore power is just converted to DC for the furnace to use it.

gbaglo · 03-01-2018, 10:56 PM

When I have shore power available, I'm using a small electric heater to warm the trailer. Much quieter, for one thing.

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