23RBS - Slides draining battery?

[Heidi1301]

We noticed our battery (2 brand new 12v Group 27) drains significantly after putting our slides out. Is this normal? To test it, we put the slides out and then pulled them back in and the battery(s) had dropped to half. That seem pretty extreme to me. Since we dry camp a lot, and do not have a generator, this might be a problem. Anyone else notice this? Or have a solution (besides buying a generator).
Also, the batteries were fully charged. We have a solar panel on top that keeps them full.

Thanks!

 

[danemayer]

Hi Heidi1301,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum. There's a great bunch of people here who are quick to reach out with help.

This does sound pretty unusual. How are you determining that the battery has dropped to half? How fast does it recover?

 

[Heidi1301]

Quick reply - nice! We are using the panel in the bathroom and the control panel for the solar panel. Both say the same thing - 1/2 full (1/2 empty?). And the recovery time is unknown. We have only used it once dry camping and I spent the weekend obsessively checking the battery levels which went low and stayed low even with the solar panel charging (we were under trees). The "oh crap its the slides doing it" moment came by accident when I was putting stuff away and just happened to check the battery level. So, to pull a blonde moment - by recover are you saying that the batteries will dip and then come back?
In case you can't tell..I'm new. Thought it would be buy trailer - tow trailer -use trailer. Been a bit trickier then that.

 

[StarryNight]

Hi Heidi 1301,
We have 4 panels on our Bighorn (100W each) and two 6V golf cart batteries. When we pull our slides out and lower the landing gear(after batteries have been charged while driving) there is a substantial drop in the battery capacity (it may not be exactly half...a bit better than that). Assume sun is out and panels are not in shade (getting a reasonable solar panel current of 15-17 amps) it will probably take about two-three hours for batteries to get back to full capacity.

What is your solar panel charging current (how many amps do you get from your panel)?
How many slides do you have?
Are the slides hydraulic or electric?
All of these have to do with amount of battery drain and how long it takes to recharge your battery.

Don

 

[danemayer]

Quick reply - nice! We are using the panel in the bathroom and the control panel for the solar panel. Both say the same thing - 1/2 full (1/2 empty?). And the recovery time is unknown. We have only used it once dry camping and I spent the weekend obsessively checking the battery levels which went low and stayed low even with the solar panel charging (we were under trees). The "oh crap its the slides doing it" moment came by accident when I was putting stuff away and just happened to check the battery level. So, to pull a blonde moment - by recover are you saying that the batteries will dip and then come back?
In case you can't tell..I'm new. Thought it would be buy trailer - tow trailer -use trailer. Been a bit trickier then that.

Heidi,

Your 2 new group 27 batteries are probably capable of delivering somewhere near 80 amp hours - that could be 1 amp continuous drain for 80 hours at which point the batteries would be delivering low enough voltage to worry.

It probably takes less than 30 seconds at 30-50 amps (depending on type of slides and size) to extend the slides. So, there's no way that you should be drawing the batteries down very much by extending the slides when you set up.

Sounds like you might be the 2nd owner where the solar was installed by the previous owner. Or maybe you're the first owner and someone installed the solar for you. I'd guess you might have something wrong with the solar installation.

 

[Heidi1301]

Dane - I am the first time owner, had the dealer install the solar. They did admit that this was only the second time they had done it. Thinking a trip back to them is in order.

Starry- We have one 160w panel - so 9w I think is the best we could get on a perfect day. 2 slides and they are electric. I have a call into the dealer and into Zamp Solar to find out what the heck. Good thing is - still under full warranty. Bad thing is...dealer is 80 miles away.

 

[StarryNight]

Good luck! When you find out what's going on post it on this thread

 

[Bones]

Have you load tested the batteries? You would fully charge them then load test each battery by itself. Sometimes they break.

 

[hoefler]

I would suspect bad battery/batteries or poorly charged. I can run my hydraulic landing gear and slides several times without issue.

 

[JohnD]

You could leave the trailer connected to the truck with the truck running to put out your slides . . .

Then there wouldn't be any draw off of the batteries.

 

[Heidi1301]

So funny story...just had me in giggles (not). We were pushing random buttons on the controller for the solar panel and we discovered that it was set up for the wrong battery type. Fixed that, waited a day to make sure the solar had time to fully charge the batteries (rare perfect blue skies in the Pacific NW so yay!) and did the in / out slide bit and lo and behold....we still have lots and lots of battery juice. So..all that for one little wrong button. Like I said..kinda funny.
We have decided to buy a generator (wow..spendy aren't they??) because we know with our weather we can't rely on solar to keep us going all the time.
Thank you all for your help!

 

[Bones]

At least that was a simple fix. And don't worry we won't judge unless your backing up. I understand score cards go up for that.

 

[carl.swoyer]

Speaking of warranty! Lol I purchased cornerstone extended warranty and it ha paid out about $9000.00. I have until December 31st 2016 best money I spent. And I purchased my landmark new.

Carl & Christine, 2012 Landmark Rushmore, 2005 Silverado crew cab lt 8 foot bed 6.6 lly /Allison -custom dual exhaust-198000 miles !