What is draining your RV battery in storage?

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So you parked your RV for a while or put it in storage. You thought you had everything shut off but you come back to find the batteries are dead?

Remember that there are many phantom loads these days. Phantom loads are things that consume power even though they are off or not being used. Some examples include

digital clocks in radios, vcrs, tvs and elsewhere

TV antenna boosters (switches may be hidden in cabinets and easy to forget in many rvs)

TVs and Radios (power holds those preset memories)

Refrigerator circuit board (may use power even if fridge is off)

Automatic gas valves

Electric steps (some have lights or are always monitoring the door to see if they need to be in or out)

Also always double check any cabinets or closets where lights turn on automatically when you open them. They may not be shut all the way triggering the light to be left on.

Your motor home probably has an overall kill switch which shuts off overall power. We have found in a AllStays.com RV that this isn't always complete because something like the steps or a cab stereo may be wired to the chassis or engine battery. So even though you turned off the “kill switch” and think everything is fine, you come out to a dead engine battery.

Pulling fuses will eliminate suspect loads. You can also disconnect batteries completely. You can install devices such as Priority Start, trickle chargers , battery minders or a solar panel to keep batteries topped off. Your RV converter is probably not the way to go unless it is definitely an adjustable, multi-stage charger. Most RV converters will just kill your batteries by overcharging them or not charging them enough.

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Adam | Jan 18, 2009 | Category: RV Tips

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