Parasitic loss in 12v battery flat overnight

[paul.rodgers]

Have a 2014 North Trail 26RLSS trailer
Battery goes flat in about 48 hours, charges right back up when towing though.
Yes, have checked everything is off, do plan on a disconnect switch in the near future.

Fusebox has a dozen 15A fuses, pulling them each one at a time has no effect
There are also 2 40A fuses, pull both of those and the drain goes away,
put either one of the 2 back in and its back again.

So can anyone help me figure out what those 2 fuses are for?
my guess right now is front and rear levelling jacks, but have not yet pinned it down.

Disconnect is a good idea, but I want to put in solar, in which case a disconnect is not a good idea.

 

[danemayer]

Hi Paul,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum.

Hopefully another North Trail owner can chime in on what the 40 amp fuses power.

I don't know much about solar, but if you install solar, you might want to connect it in front of the cutoff switch.

 

[Emilenug]

Hi all on our r.r.vouge the battery goes flat with in 24hrs had rac out and replaced battery but still goes flat can anyone give me an idea of what to look for Thanks pugwash .

 

[danemayer]

Hi all on our r.r.vouge the battery goes flat with in 24hrs had rac out and replaced battery but still goes flat can anyone give me an idea of what to look for Thanks pugwash .

What is "r.r.vouge"? What is "rac out"?

 

[paul.rodgers]

I have similar prolem with my North Trail 26 trailer, battery goes flat overnight.

Fuse panel has a dozen 12v 15A fuses, which run everything, and 2 40A 12v fuses
when I pull those 2 fuses (have to pull both, not just one)
then the drain stops

But the shore-power stops working all the 12v stuff

So I think its an issue with the power-converter that runs all the 12v, and charges the battery, when shore-power is plugged in.

If so I'll have to figure out how to find it and insert couple blocking diodes so that it can charge the battery but not discharge it.

Need to do that before i put solar in anyway

 

[CarterKraft]

Propane leak detector would be my suggestion for the load that is draining your battery. It seems to be powered from a dedicated source with a fuse in the wall/cabinet it is mounted in.

Go solar with the 30% tax credit for 2019 and kill two birds with one stone.

 

[danemayer]

Paul,

Are you saying that your battery goes dead while plugged into shore power?

 

[paul.rodgers]

Paul,

Are you saying that your battery goes dead while plugged into shore power?

no, once on shore power its fine, or while hooked into the tow vehicle, but on battery-only tere is a small drain.

If I disconnect the battery +ve terminal, and put in an ammeter, I see about 2 to 3 amps drain, say about 30 watts.
Not a lot but it will take the battery down in 10-15 hours.

Tomorrow I'm going to find and temporarily disconnect the propane leak detector, seems like the only candidate I have not looked at so far.

 

[Gaffer]

More info needed.
Is the trailer in storage with everything off when this happens?
Are you boon-docking in it, using lights, furnace etc. with no generator?
Is this happening while plugged into shore power?

 

[paul.rodgers]

More info needed.
Is the trailer in storage with everything off when this happens?
Are you boon-docking in it, using lights, furnace etc. with no generator?
Is this happening while plugged into shore power?

I said it before
1) NOT in storage, I would just unhook the battery in that case
I want mostly lights overnight, and yes, I already replaced them all with LED's
2) NOT on shore power, nor connected to a tow-vehicle
I'm running on just the battery.
The default was a single Group-24DC, about 50Ah of usable battery before its dead
I have 2 honking great boat batteries, 120Ah each, AGM from one of my boats
plan to use those
3) Lights, no furnace (this is Florida!) no A/C, but also no generator
yes, I do have a 2000w quiet generator, but not using it for this
4) only sizeable load I have is a laptop, about 110 watts max
5) this problem happens with EVERYTHING off
I mean everything, waterpump, heater, fridge, all OFF,
nothing plugged in to any AC outlet at all (not that this would affect 12v)
checked all the lights in the storage (even removed the bulbs)
and there is still a drain

when I pull the 2 40A fuses on the panel, drain stops.
but then if I hook up shore power, with those 2 fuses out, and battery disconnected, no 12v stuff works

so: something, somewhere, is sucking about 30 watts of 12v, and its not through any of the usual circuits that have a 15A fuse

my problem is finding the blasted culprit, then throw it in the dumpster and get Amazon to send me a new one.

!!big sigh!! only thing worse than electrical is plumbing.

 

[danemayer]

no, once on shore power its fine, or while hooked into the tow vehicle, but on battery-only tere is a small drain.

If I disconnect the battery +ve terminal, and put in an ammeter, I see about 2 to 3 amps drain, say about 30 watts.
Not a lot but it will take the battery down in 10-15 hours.

Tomorrow I'm going to find and temporarily disconnect the propane leak detector, seems like the only candidate I have not looked at so far.

The radio, propane detector, possibly other alarms are all parasitic loads. If everything works ok when on shore power, just install a battery cutoff switch for when in storage. When you install the solar, if it's to keep the battery topped off, connect it with a 12V circuit breaker located between the battery positive terminal and the cutoff switch.

Unless you have some other goal, I think you'll be done.

 

[Fordguru]

I would be willing to bet it’s the radio
i had the same problem and put radio on a switch and it went away

 

[Gaffer]

Hope you find your problem and post the fix.

 

[LBR]

Does this unit by chance have a rear camera?

If so, it could have it's own dedicated fuse attached to the positive buss bar....therefore no other 12V branch circuit fuses could disconnect it, except those 2 main fuses that do kill your draw.

If not, then do you have any other separate fuses attached to the + buss bar in your "mechanical room" for some unknown accessory.?

 

[TravelTiger]

Is the breakaway cable for the trailer pulled out by any chance?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JohnD]

Is the breakaway cable for the trailer pulled out by any chance?

That would do it overnight...

 

[wdk450]

You can get a visual idea of how much is being pulled by turning off the battery charger then observing the main negative battery connection as you disconnect/reconnect it. How big of a spark is there?

You could also put a DVM on AMPS scale/connection between the disconnected negative cable and the negative battery post to get a reading of how much current is being pulled. Then you disconnect all 12 volt loads (pull blade fuses, disconnect wires from circuit breakers) to see what is pulling all that current.

 

[CarterKraft]

I
so: something, somewhere, is sucking about 30 watts of 12v, and its not through any of the usual circuits that have a 15A fuse

my problem is finding the blasted culprit, then throw it in the dumpster and get Amazon to send me a new one.

!!big sigh!! only thing worse than electrical is plumbing.

Don't replace the propane detector with out confirming its amp draw as it will likely do the same thing with a new one.

 

[Gaffer]

If this is the original battery, it is several years old. Remove it, have it tested and if it is bad, replace it. Trailers used to all come with dual batteries and that was before they had as many parasitic loads. When you find that the problem is the battery, replace it with a larger one or better, convert to dual batteries. You can then boondock with much less worry.

 

[paul.rodgers]

Is the breakaway cable for the trailer pulled out by any chance?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

thats one I had not thought of!
but if the breakaway was pulled It would not tow!, and I pulled it 50 miles 2 days ago.

After lots of digging around I realized that what alot of folk are saying is there is apile of stuff that does NOT go through the fusebox.
And sure enough, right at the front by the battery there is a row of 12v circuit breakers, only the last one feeds the fusebox.

Right now its raining hard, so I'll have to postpone a closer look,
but I'll try all of these suggestions one by one.

I have a good old-fasioned ammeter on the +ve side of the battery, and its reading just under 3 amps.
on an 80 Ah battery thats about 20 hours or so, don't want to take the battery down too far.

I am going to do the disconnect, but thats a solution for storage, not much use when I'm out off-grid overnight.

I'll pull the radio first, thats indoors, can do it now