Foretravel Motorhome Forums => Foretravel Tech Talk => Topic started by: kevo0000 on July 28, 2025, 06:32:48 am
Title: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: kevo0000 on July 28, 2025, 06:32:48 am
Hya all , I have a parasitic drain on my engine start batteries with everything switched off, I removed the battery hot terminal and when I touch it to the battery there is a very very smallest of the small spark when I just brush the battery connector to the terminal I can touch it several times, I switched the 80 amp circuit breaker off under the bed which cuts all power to the ignition dashboard and radio, and did the test again and this time I had no spark whatsoever, so I'm thinking it's telling me that something is drawing power anyway the next step I reconnected the battery terminal and switched back onthe 80 amp circuit breaker, I then proceeded to remove each fuse under the dash 1 by 1 and then replaced to see if I would get a spark ,the only fuse that sparked when connecting was the radio memory, so Ive left the radio memory fuse out for the time being , I've gone back to the starting batteries ,removed the cable and done the same test as I did before and I still have a very small spark , so after doing this test I can't think of anything else that could be drawing this very small amount of power from the batteries, until I find the power drain ,IL keep the 80 amp circuit breaker switched off , but it's bugging me what is taking the power ,the only other thing that I was thinking that it could be was the bedroom clock right at the very back on the drivers side cupboard but that is wired up to the house batteries, so I can forget that , anyone got any ideas what could be taking this small amount of power from the main vehicle batteries thanks kev
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: James Bock on July 28, 2025, 07:47:12 am
I had the same year/model/engine on my 36ft GV.... and it too had a parasitic battery drain (I never could find it either) maybe it's my ol' GV you have. I would have to disconnect the negatives under the steps.... I should have installed a disconnect switch
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: kevo0000 on July 28, 2025, 09:29:37 am
I had the same year/model/engine on my 36ft GV.... and it too had a parasitic battery drain (I never could find it either) maybe it's my ol' GV you have. I would have to disconnect the negatives under the steps.... I should have installed a disconnect switch
Well last year I got up here one day and went to put radio on and nothing and then nothing else would work at all, I managed to trace the fault to the 80 amp circuit breaker which is under the bunk attach to the body close to the gearbox and it couldn't have been put in a most awkward place to get at it , it's still there ,I never tried to take it off , what I did was I found a 80 amp circuit breaker on eBay , the wires I managed to extend and pushed them through a hole that I had made in the section at the bottom of the bed ,so now all I have to do is lift the bed up ,not even all the way out my hand in and push a button and it disconnects , also makes for good security, I have the same on the house batteries ,but I'm pretty sure that is just the clock ,
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: kevo0000 on July 28, 2025, 09:37:35 am
Well last year I got up here one day and went to put radio on and nothing and then nothing else would work at all, I managed to trace the fault to the 80 amp circuit breaker which is under the bunk attach to the body close to the gearbox and it couldn't have been put in a most awkward place to get at it , it's still there ,I never tried to take it off , what I did was I found a 80 amp circuit breaker on eBay , the wires I managed to extend and pushed them through a hole that I had made in the section at the bottom of the bed ,so now all I have to do is lift the bed up ,not even all the way out my hand in and push a button and it disconnects , also makes for good security, I have the same on the house batteries ,but I'm pretty sure that is just the clock ,
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: dsd on July 28, 2025, 10:06:49 am
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: Pierce & Gaylie Stewart on July 28, 2025, 10:23:20 am
How about putting a meter between the battery and the cable to see how much the draw is? Does the voltage go down over time? If so, how much time? With the fuse out under the dash or back by the bed, check the amount of draw across the contacts.
Here is a video on how to use your multimeter to check current draw. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWA9WqSEjg8. Another good video for car or coach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkzSub1dtNQ Lots of other YouTube videos available on this subject.
Make sure the boost switch is off but it probably is as the solenoid draws quite a bit even at idle.
Illuminated outside door handle? Doorbell button?
Batteries last the longest if kept at about 13.2 volts with solar or shore power.
Pierce
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: kevo0000 on July 28, 2025, 02:43:15 pm
How about putting a meter between the battery and the cable to see how much the draw is? Does the voltage go down over time? If so, how much time? With the fuse out under the dash or back by the bed, check the amount of draw across the contacts.
Here is a video on how to use your multimeter to check current draw. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWA9WqSEjg8. Another good video for car or coach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkzSub1dtNQ Lots of other YouTube videos available on this subject.
Make sure the boost switch is off but it probably is as the solenoid draws quite a bit even at idle.
Illuminated outside door handle? Doorbell button?
Batteries last the longest if kept at about 13.2 volts with solar or shore power.
Pierce
Thanks for that pierce ,I have a multi meter ,never used the amp meter on it , I will learn to use it , I don't think that the draw of amps is mutch at all , I always work on the principle the bigger the spark the bigger the draw , this draw is so small and you can hardly see it ,but it's there and only when the 80 amp circuit breaker is in the off position. Then no spark whatsoever , and exactly the same with the house batteries, IL be honest I wouldn't know if the draw was that great that the batteries are discharging mutch or not ,cause at the moment I am getting plenty of solar charge in the batteries , but I will look at those utube videos that you sent ,I'm sure they will help alot thanks Kev
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: kevo0000 on July 28, 2025, 03:30:08 pm
How about putting a meter between the battery and the cable to see how much the draw is? Does the voltage go down over time? If so, how much time? With the fuse out under the dash or back by the bed, check the amount of draw across the contacts.
Here is a video on how to use your multimeter to check current draw. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWA9WqSEjg8. Another good video for car or coach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkzSub1dtNQ Lots of other YouTube videos available on this subject.
Make sure the boost switch is off but it probably is as the solenoid draws quite a bit even at idle.
Illuminated outside door handle? Doorbell button?
Batteries last the longest if kept at about 13.2 volts with solar or shore power.
Pierce
It's funny you mentioned the illuminated handle outside the door ,I don't think that has ever worked ,I didn't even know it did illuminate , where would the switch be for that then, would it be linked to maybe the step light? Kev
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: kevo0000 on July 28, 2025, 04:09:35 pm
It's funny you mentioned the illuminated handle outside the door ,I don't think that has ever worked ,I didn't even know it did illuminate , where would the switch be for that then, would it be linked to maybe the step light? Kev
Just watched both videos actually it's a very simple way of checking , IL be out with my multi meter tommorrow , first IL check that the draw is less than 50 mili amps , on both house and vehicle batteries ,if it is then I'm not gonna worry about it ,if it's more then IL go through the check procedure, 1 fuse at a time ,thanks for the help Kev
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: Pierce & Gaylie Stewart on July 28, 2025, 04:57:05 pm
Our illuminated handle is on all the time in a low power mode but when you turn on the step lights, it gets much brigher. I replaced ours years ago with the LED type. The incandencent bulb type uses a lot more juice so that could be the culprit. The schematic for your coach should be in the Foretravel files at our site. Always a good idea to take it to a print shop and have it blown up as large as possible then roll it up and put in a mailing tube up in a cabinet.
Bill Chaplin and Jo came to visit us a few years back with the big schematic as a gift. Love to take credit for it but Bill is the guy.
Hey, team, team, team.
Pierce
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: steve31 on July 29, 2025, 12:16:32 am
Your parasitic drain is the power for your propane gas detector. In our GV is down by the base of the kitchen sink. It never sleeps and can only be bypassed by disconnecting the battery.
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: Olde English on July 29, 2025, 01:10:33 am
To lower the drain, remove the gas shutoff valve and straight pipe it. It's not the detector per se that sucks power but the solenoid holding the gas valve open.
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: Olde English on July 29, 2025, 01:13:00 am
To lower the drain, remove the gas shutoff valve and straight pipe it. It's not the detector per se that sucks power but the solenoid holding the gas valve open. Oh and while I think about it, if the detector won't stop beeping when it's initially switched on get some computer keyboard canned air and give it a shot, works every time.
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: kevo0000 on July 29, 2025, 07:38:17 am
Our illuminated handle is on all the time in a low power mode but when you turn on the step lights, it gets much brigher. I replaced ours years ago with the LED type. The incandencent bulb type uses a lot more juice so that could be the culprit. The schematic for your coach should be in the Foretravel files at our site. Always a good idea to take it to a print shop and have it blown up as large as possible then roll it up and put in a mailing tube up in a cabinet.
Bill Chaplin and Jo came to visit us a few years back with the big schematic as a gift. Love to take credit for it but Bill is the guy.
Hey, team, team, team.
Pierce
That's a good idea get the. Schematic blown up huge, brilliant ,well I have checked that illuminated handle and definitely nothing lights up even with the step light off , I don't think it's ever worked since I've owned the vehicle since 2010, I have however discovered this morning never thought of it before but the radio as soon as I turn all the power on from the 80 amp breaker ,or reconnect batteries it seems to come on automatically that probably is the memory, I've pulled the fuse for the radio to check that and now I have got no sparks at all when I touch the battery terminals so it looks like that's all it was causing the power drain , thanks for everyone's input on this ,most helpful. Kev
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: kevo0000 on July 29, 2025, 07:53:22 am
Your parasitic drain is the power for your propane gas detector. In our GV is down by the base of the kitchen sink. It never sleeps and can only be bypassed by disconnecting the battery.
I thought that the other day , I haven't got a detector at the moment ,the old one kept going off and beeping ,but I had no leak ,that's one thing you've just reminded me of about replacing that , Ive had a temporary switch rigged up so I can switch the gas solenoid switch on and off manually, I did realise the other day when doing a battery charge from the mains and couldn't work out why I couldn't charge the batteries fully , and then I realised that the gas switch was on and once I had turned it off then was able to get a full charge , I've also wondered why the gas switch isn't connected to the house batteries , is there a reason for why this one item is connected to the main vehicle batteries ? Thanks kev
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: kevo0000 on July 29, 2025, 07:58:33 am
While I'm on the subject of gas detectors , would anyone know where the best place to get one and would also ship to uk thanks kev
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: Pierce & Gaylie Stewart on July 29, 2025, 09:32:25 am
That's a good idea get the. Schematic blown up huge, brilliant ,well I have checked that illuminated handle and definitely nothing lights up even with the step light off , I don't think it's ever worked since I've owned the vehicle since 2010, I have however discovered this morning never thought of it before but the radio as soon as I turn all the power on from the 80 amp breaker ,or reconnect batteries it seems to come on automatically that probably is the memory, I've pulled the fuse for the radio to check that and now I have got no sparks at all when I touch the battery terminals so it looks like that's all it was causing the power drain , thanks for everyone's input on this ,most helpful. Kev
Check the wiring for your radio. If it's not OEM, it may have been wired incorrectly. There may be two wires, one for the station/time memory and the other that goes to the key so the radio is powered when the key is on. The mfg should have an online schematic or installation manual to download or refer to. I had the same problem with a Pioneer radio.
Pierce
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: kevo0000 on July 29, 2025, 11:01:01 pm
Thanks pierce , I will check the schematics , and make sure the radio is wired correctly , I have a Sony radio which is linked to a 10 cd changer which is situated in the front top locker above the passenger seat , I can't be sure if it is the original set up or not ,I've owned this vehicle since 2010 and it was there when I bought it and it still works fine , I know for a fact that the cd changer has power to it even if the radio is switched off cause I can push the button and the cartridge will eject Kev
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: kgrover on July 30, 2025, 07:57:33 am
The spark could be from the ecms getting power for the first time. It might just be some of the components in the power supply in the ecms powering up briefly. The current test will help find that. The current should drop off after a few minutes once they power back off.
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: craneman on July 30, 2025, 09:41:13 am
Automobile alternators will show that spark not sure about the Leece Neville ones.
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: kevo0000 on July 30, 2025, 10:20:55 am
Automobile alternators will show that spark not sure about the Leece Neville ones.
Yeah I was thinking that myself but ,the leece Neville goes to the battery isolator and there is no power until the engine starts to run , also what does ecms stand for please
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: craneman on July 30, 2025, 12:23:55 pm
Electric control module or engine control module depending.
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: kevo0000 on July 30, 2025, 02:27:58 pm
Electric control module or engine control module depending.
Ah I see ,we call it an ECU over here , I don't think my 1990 villa has either , I'm glad in away , alot of modern vehicles have to be plugged into a computer ,like my car it's full of sensors and every now and again there is a warning light on the dash , and alot of the time it's usually the sensor itself that's got the terminals corroded and just remove it and clean and spray and no problem after that , it can work out very expensive every time and engine fault light comes on ,most places charge around £50.00 just to plug it in and test it , ,I bought my diagnostics tool 10 year ago cost me about £120 and it certainly has paid for itself over the years , but at least with my villa when things go wrong I like to work out the problem the old fashion way ,process of elimination most of the time , or talking to the forum members for advise thanks for your advise kev
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: Protech Racing on July 30, 2025, 03:34:39 pm
Disconnect the charge wire at the Alternator.
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: Lon and Cheryl on July 30, 2025, 04:07:45 pm
Several years ago I installed a new LN alternator. My chassis batteries would be dead in a few days after sitting. One day I laid my hand on the alternator and it felt warm. I removed the voltage regulator mounted to the alternator and found a short in the regulator. I replaced the regulator and all was well.
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: kevo0000 on July 30, 2025, 08:30:26 pm
Several years ago I installed a new LN alternator. My chassis batteries would be dead in a few days after sitting. One day I laid my hand on the alternator and it felt warm. I removed the voltage regulator mounted to the alternator and found a short in the regulator. I replaced the regulator and all was well.
Hya mike , I haven't progressed anymore for the last few days, should be up at the villa on Friday now , I'm gonna do as suggested by one of the members and check how many amps I'm actually losing, then I'm gonna check again with the radio fuse out, I keep the gas switch off all the time at the moment, the main tank ran out of gas about 5 year ago , and I temporarily fitted a propane bottle outside as I haven't been able to get anywhere to fill the main tank , hopefully that wont be too long now , when it is full again I'm gonna do what was suggested by another member and straight pipe it, do without the gas switch completely , then IL just get a normal household gas detector ,bit similar to a carbon monoxide detector , they run off batteries . I'm hoping to take out on the road and have it's first vehicle safety check since 2010 , it's been a long time , hopefully first of September I will take it out ,have to drive about 50 miles to the nearest testing station ,no testing station near where I live has a big enough ramp or pit for this vehicle , it's gonna be nerve racking first time for ages , hope your ok mate , but yeah hopefully weekend I should have found if I have an issue or not thanks for asking ,cheers kev
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: kevo0000 on August 09, 2025, 02:58:41 am
Well ,I went up there as planned yesterday the power drain was definitely the radio memory , the draw I had was 4 mili Amps ,and when I pulled fuse ,it went to zero amps , that is sutch a small power drain that is not worth worrying about , the other power drain was obviously from gas solenoid switch and that is off all the time , and from now on it will stay off and manually switch it on when I need to use gas, and turn off each time I finish using it , the other drain on house batteries ,was similar that was definitely the clock memory I've never even used that clock ,I thought I had switched it off cause never anything displaying but just overlooked the fact about the memory, it's simple things like that ,that can make ya think you have a bigger problem than you really have , thanks everyone for all your help and advise kev
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: fourdayoff on August 09, 2025, 12:24:30 pm
While at Risch Rv getting slide bladders replaced I noticed that every time he repositions you even to the parking lot he plugs you into a 50 amp receptacle immediately. This tells me there is a large parasitic draw. Next to cut-off switches on both battery sets a shore power line even a 20 amp one is needed. Jim.
Title: Re: Parasitic drain on my 1990 grand villa
Post by: kevo0000 on August 10, 2025, 06:39:35 am
While at Risch Rv getting slide bladders replaced I noticed that every time he repositions you even to the parking lot he plugs you into a 50 amp receptacle immediately. This tells me there is a large parasitic draw. Next to cut-off switches on both battery sets a shore power line even a 20 amp one is needed. Jim.
IL be honest Ive never reallyused the plug in on mine ,I did try plugging it into the mains years ago and it tripped the switch ,it may have been cause I plugged into 240 volt as I live in UK could be why it tripped the switch maybe for some reason that wasn't converted when first imported in 1990 , the generator seems to put out 240 and 110 volt when it last worked about 10 year ago , the problem is the generator needs new points and plugs and leads , but I can't see a way into it to change them , I'm seriously thinking of cutting a hole in the floor directly above where I need to get at and fitting a hatch to it , but to be honest that's more of a job to do when I finally get the vehicle back on the road and I managed with solar about 8 months of the year but then come October to end of Febuary even on a sunny day all day the sun doesn't really rise enough so I bought myself a little small generator off temu only 700 watt output, and once a week I fire it up and run to battery chargers off it ,one to house batteries and one to vehicle batteries and also I run a repair cycle takes four hrs and gives the batteries a good desulphation, I have been thinking of removing the onan completely , I don't really need it and will get rid of some weight aswell , I could then put it on a trolley with it's on portable gas bottle , and just use it if I ever need to do any welding, the Aircon motors up on the roof have totally disintegrated, and I intend to buy a good 12 volt Aircon like they use in the trucks but where I live temperatures don't really get that hot that I need it unless I was planning on going to Spain again, having one of these is like the forth bridge in Scotland ,start one end and by the time you finish the other end is time to start again Kev