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Topic: House battery 2 day draw down (Read 551 times) previous topic - next topic

House battery 2 day draw down

While in storage hooked up to 110 the GFCI outlet tripped leaving me w/o for a couple of days.  When I checked the coach,  the Invertor red fault lite was on and the battery voltage was down to 4.6.  Can't imagine what it is that would draw them down that low,  that fast.  There was nothing on in the coach.  Reset the GFCI and the invertor began the charging process.
Fiddler
1959 Parris Island grad
40' 2001 U320 Build 5875
1999 Suburban K1500 toad
1986 Corvette Pacecar
ssoftail@comcast.net

Re: House battery 2 day draw down

Reply #1 –
Quote from: Fiddler –
  There was nothing on in the coach. 

There is ALWAYS something on in the coach, especially the newer ones. I've dealt with GFI forever in other trades, and they can be a pain (especially to find what the GFI feeds.) Your GFI has been in there, what, sixteen years? Cheap to change it out, and go from there.  ^.^d
1993 U-240 "La Villa Grande"..CAT 3116 w/ Pacbrake PRXB...Allison 3060 6-speed..
Previous: 1983 Airstream 310 turbo diesel, 1979 Airstream 280 turbo diesel
                                      Build # 4297
                                      PNW natives
                      Home base:  'Cactus Hug' (Ajo, Arizona)
                        DW Judy & Chet the wonder dog
                        Full-Timers 'Sailing the asphalt sea'

Re: House battery 2 day draw down

Reply #2 –
The battery may have already been bad and you might have been "living" off the charger/invertor and the alternator without knowing it. (don't ask how I know) :-[  :-[  :'(  :'(
Nitehawk,  Demolition Lady, & our NEW master, Zippy the speeding BB cat.
1989 Grand Villa 36' ORED
Oshkosh chassis, 8.2 DD V8
2006 Saturn Vue AWD

Re: House battery 2 day draw down

Reply #3 –
Quote from: nitehawk –
The battery may have already been bad

Does that explain why the GFI tripped?
1993 U-240 "La Villa Grande"..CAT 3116 w/ Pacbrake PRXB...Allison 3060 6-speed..
Previous: 1983 Airstream 310 turbo diesel, 1979 Airstream 280 turbo diesel
                                      Build # 4297
                                      PNW natives
                      Home base:  'Cactus Hug' (Ajo, Arizona)
                        DW Judy & Chet the wonder dog
                        Full-Timers 'Sailing the asphalt sea'

Re: House battery 2 day draw down

Reply #4 –
A gfi can trip if it is a humid day and the outlet gets damp.  I have see many gif's trip in a garage when the temp have been low and then a warmer humid day. Condensation will form on the outlet and cause it to trip
2014 ih45  (4th Foretravel owned)
 1997 36' U295 Sold in 2020, owned for 19 years
  U240 36' Sold to insurance company after melting in garage fire
    33' Foretravel on Dodge Chassis  Sold very long time ago

Re: House battery 2 day draw down

Reply #5 –
The GFI isn't 12 volt so somewhere there was a failure. Either a short or maybe a surge demand, or just maybe the GFI got "tired".
I have had to replace a GFI in our S&B which is 19-20 years old. No reason we could ascertain, just got "tired".
Once Fiddler finds cause & effect I hope he will pass the information on to the rest of us.
"Experience" thru reading about it is a lot less expensive, especially when it then becomes our turn!!
Nitehawk,  Demolition Lady, & our NEW master, Zippy the speeding BB cat.
1989 Grand Villa 36' ORED
Oshkosh chassis, 8.2 DD V8
2006 Saturn Vue AWD

Re: House battery 2 day draw down

Reply #6 –
Do a search for "parasitic loads" and you will find some info on why your batteries deplete so fast.
Jim C.
coachfree, previous 1997, 1999, 2000, and 2003 Foretravels.

Re: House battery 2 day draw down

Reply #7 –
I was not clear enough;  the subject GFCI that tripped was on the power pole of the UHaul storage site.    It does not trip often and I have asked them to swap it out;  no confirmation they did.  The weather conditions were mild and likely not a factor;  the storage faciity is only a couple of years old and would assume the equipment is not old enough to have deteriorated.  Nonetheless my concern is why the batteries went down so quickly?  I will take my multimeter and see if there is an unusual draw that I'm not aware of.
I will post as soon as I find something useful to post on this issue.    Sincere thx to all for the replies....great forum,  great people.
Fiddler
1959 Parris Island grad
40' 2001 U320 Build 5875
1999 Suburban K1500 toad
1986 Corvette Pacecar
ssoftail@comcast.net

Re: House battery 2 day draw down

Reply #8 –
Would a voltage surge pop the breaker?
"Riding and rejoicing"
Bob
1997 U320 40' Mid entry, build 5132,  wtbi ce27, 4th owner
2007 Solara convertible
2 prodeco tech outlaw ss electric bikes

1095 watts solar
08 Ls 460 and a sc430
2000 Ford F-250 superduty 4x4

Re: House battery 2 day draw down

Reply #9 –
I had the same problem with the GFI tripping at the storage facility. Finally got them to change it out to a "regular" outlet. Problem solved. They were reluctant to change it because of electrical code but in the long run being friends with the office folks worked out for both of us 8)
2002 U320 40Ft  MC # 15759
Coach # 5995
Previous coaches
2002 U320 coach  #5941
1996 U270 coach #4808