New North Trail Owner

Hello Forum Members.

We are new members to the Forum after buying a new 2012 NT26LRSS on October 27, 2011. So far we LOVE it! We took our shake-down 3 day outing about a week later and everything worked perfectly.
We have owned, in the past, 2 popups, a class c motor home, and lastly a 2005 TrailManor that is now for sale.

One quick question that I have is concerning a dead battery. After the shake-down outing and returning the trailer to the storage lot I went back to the trailer 10 days later to find the battery was dead. I took the battery home and set it on the workbench in the garage and charged it. unhooked the charger and have let it just sit on the workbench.
So.....here is the question: Full charge showed 13.34 Volts. After 4 days (according to my multimeter) the volts fell to 13.05 Volts. Is this a normal drop for 4 days? How much of a full charge does it have now? At what Volt reading should I hook it back up to the charger?
I have read "The 12Volt Side Of Life" and am still confused. Any and all comments are more than welcomed.

Oh and by the way, I love this forum and hope to contribute much in the future!

Jerry & Wendy

Hi Jerry and Wendy,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and Family. We have a great bunch of people here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge if needed.

Your voltage readings are about right on the battery. In your NT you will have some parasitic drain on the battery. The smoke detector is probably battery operated, but the other 2 sensors are hooked to 12v from the battery, also your entertainment system which probably has a NOAA alert system is also 12v. So you just need to try disconnecting things to find the drain. Or install a battery disconnect switch or just take a cable off.

Let us know what you find.

Enjoy the forum and your new North Trail.

Jim M

I have the same rig only mine is a 2011 and I have had zero problems. Jim was right on with the stuff draining your battery and it really doesn't seem to take long. The readings you got on your battery are pretty consistent with mine. When hooked to shore power the converter maintains your battery at 13.6 volts, but when you take the shore power away, it starts dropping. When I boondock using generators, I take two six volt Trojans out of my golf cart and use them for the increased amperage. During the quiet time (no generators running) hours the Trojans will drop to about 11.4 volts, but I run a fan all night. I bought a real simple battery switch at tractor supply or harbor freight for about five bucks that I use when the rig is stored without power.

Good information regarding batteries. Reading battery voltage without it being charged and it will read about 12.6-V. If your charger is running it will be about 13.6-V. Charging involves forcing electrons into a discharged battery. That means that the voltage has to be higher or above 13-V. Using 2 Trojan 6-V batteries hooked in series is always better than two 12-V batteries hooked in parallel. A batteries ability to supply current is directly related to its plate size. You will have twice the capacity in 2 6-V batteries (hooked in series to give you 12-V's) that 2 12-V batteries hooked in parallel will provide. You can dry-camp twice as long with the 6-Volters. That's the first thing we did when we purchased out NT 24-RBS. We paid to change the set-up to two 6-V batteries for the one 12-V battery.

Enjoy
TeJay