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Battery Drain

Yahoo Message Number: 3972
I have been reading all the posts about battery drainage and I am either pretty lucky of I don't know what I am looking at. Have spent 20 days dry camped this past month. I run the generator to bring the batteries up to at least a 95% charge and do my tv watching. After tv the wife has to have almost every light on in the coach, nine halogens, 3 floresents and maybe a couple of others while she reads or knits. I also have a freezer in the basement that draws 5.2 amps when running. In the morning, the batteries indicate an 87% state of charge. The desert has been pretty warm this year so we have not run the heat at night. Late that afternoon, after running just the freezer they will be indicating an 80% charge. A 45 minute run of the generator will bring them back up to 95-97% charge. One thing I do do is not run the inverter unless needed as that draws 3-5 amps doing nothing.
Don

'02 Intrigue #11427
'02 Intrigue #11427

Re: Battery Drain

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 3975
Don,

I'm impressed. My coach is 11 units away from yours. If I did what you did (without the freezer) I would be in the dark with no heat, refrigerator, etc. And I think it stinks!

Dick May

2002 Intrigue, #11438
Dick May
2002 Intrigue, #11438, towing a
2014 Jeep Gr Cherokee ecoDiesel

Re: Battery Drain

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 3977
I have been lurking on this board for a long time without contributing, but learning a lot of good info from you active participants.

I have a '97 Magna 40 Ft Fanfare with DD Series 40 Motor (mechanical engine control).

Regarding battery drain, I, too have had a problem when I store my rig: no 110 V available. I had significant house battery drain even with the "battery disconnect" switch (which is on the control panel above my windshield) set to "off". I had no problem with the engine batteries as I have a disconnect switch in the battery compartment.

I also observed the multiple cables connected to the positive house battery. The best solution as has been mentioned, is to remote all of these connections to a standoff post, connecting this post to the battery via a single cable with a disconnect switch.

I took a simpler approach which worked for me: Placing a knife switch disconnect on the negative cable (which goes to ground).
There is only one cable in that connection. This completely disconnects the battery--no more discharge.

My only concern with this is some delicate electronics don't like their ground wire to be interrupted. I have had absolutely no problem, however.

I also replaced my 2 8D house batteries with six Trojan T105 batteries (series/Parallel) in the same space as my 2 8Ds. I had to lengthen the angle iron sliding battery tray by about 1 1/2 inches to make room, and had to cut one edge off of the plastic tray.

I also installed a link 1000 battery monitor/controller, so I now know the exact state of the house batteries.

Sorry for the long post.

Tom Elerding

Re: Battery Drain

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 4014
I've owned three CCs and all of them had Les Schwab (LS) batteries.
All the house batteries have failed, some before waranty was up and some after. In my last coach I replaced the LS batteries with AGMs after they failed and was told by the AGM dealer the the LS batteries were not deep cycle and would barely make one year when used as a deep cycle. Why CC keeps using them I don't know (I have an idea tho'). I think all of the battery drain problems we keep reading about are caused by the LS batteries in varying degrees of sulfation and the solution is to buy some decent batteries. jerry in NM, '00 Magna pulling a '98 Jeep GC.

Re: Battery Drain

Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 4020
Seems when I was in Les Schwab I saw batteries with their name on them or no name at all. I never paid that close of attention. Are these the batteries that everyone is talking about? The batteries in my coach are Champions ( two say deep cycle and one is referencing CCAs) so the question is: Is a Champion and Les Schwab battery one in the same?
Don

'02 Intrigue #11427

Quote from: jerry
I've owned three CCs and all of them had Les Schwab (LS) batteries.
All the house batteries have failed, some before waranty was up and > some after. In my last coach I replaced the LS batteries with AGMs > after they failed and was told by the AGM dealer the the LS

batteries

Quote
were not deep cycle and would barely make one year when used as a > deep cycle. Why CC keeps using them I don't know (I have an idea > tho'). I think all of the battery drain problems we keep reading > about are caused by the LS batteries in varying degrees of

sulfation
'02 Intrigue #11427

Re: Battery Drain

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 4021
The standard battery used by CC is made by GNB which was purchased by Exide.
Why didn't I negotiate/specify an upgrade when I ordered my coach? I knew better!

Dick May

2002 Intrigue, #11438
Dick May
2002 Intrigue, #11438, towing a
2014 Jeep Gr Cherokee ecoDiesel

Re: Battery Drain

Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 4022
Don, I know at one time Schwab and Champion were the same. I had a cranking battery failure while in Junction City which was replaced under warranty. The Schwab people asked where I lived and put a Champion battery in my coach because it would be easier to get warranty adjustments where there are no Schwab stores. That was about three years ago.

Walt Rothermel
2003Allure30811

Re: Battery Drain

Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 4023
I'm new to the group and a new CC Allure owner, but I will weigh in on this issue. I purchased my '02 Allure in November. It was new (never titled) but had a little over 5k miles due to transporting it to the dealer in Michigan and then used as a show coach for a couple of rallies. The coach had Champion batteries. We drove it back to Kansas and put it in storage with the batteries showing a full charge. When I went out to check on some things several weeks later, I noticed that the house batteries showed 60% of full. Since everything had been turned off (or so I thought), I decided to run the generator and charge up the batteries. I ran it for 6 hours and still didn't get a full charge and over the night, they were back down to 60% of full. I called CC and after discussing the issue, the tech. decided that they batteries had bad cells. I've since replaced them with AGM batteries with CC saying they will pay for the labor and transportation, and Champion agreeing to reimburse me for the cost of the original batteries. I have checked the new batteries on several occasions and they are maintaining a full charge (I now have the coach plugged into 110). As a side note, when I ordered the AGM's from Lifeline Distributors, the salesman was surprised that I didn't have them in my coach as original equipment as his company sells CC all of their AGM batteries and thought that was all they used.
Ken in Wichita
'02 Allure #30711

Re: Battery Drain

Reply #9 –
Yahoo Message Number: 4031
While at the Snowbird rally I had a chance to meet with the Exide battery rep as well as one of the Les Schawb technicians. In my 2000 Allure the original batteries were manufactured by Exide and labeled Les Schawb. The batteries Les Schawb are now selling manufactured by Exide are labeled Champion. Personnally, I think their so called 8D deep cycle batteries are not true deep cycle. I made this assumption by comparing the batteries by weight when demonstrated by a local battery wholesaler here in Jacksonville that I was dealing with in some replacements. There was not much weight difference in my original 8D Les Schawb deep cycles when compared to a normal engine battery. That is why I went to Trojan house batteries.

Jim Hughes

Jacksonville, FL
2000 Allure #30511

Re: Battery Drain

Reply #10 –
Yahoo Message Number: 4034
As stated, I have a '02 Allure. The inverter is a Trace RC7 GS that has a control panel which shows the percentage of the battery charge among many other things.
Ken Allure #30711

Re: Battery Drain

Reply #11 –
Yahoo Message Number: 4035
Hi, David.

My '98 Intrigue had the same light display when I bought it. I replaced the on/off switch with (I think) a remote panel that had a better display... though not a digital display... and had the ability to equalize the batteries. Which inverter do you have?
If it is the Heart there are a couple of remote panels available. I did the install myself which means it is a simple job and well worth the effort and expense.
Hope all is well with you and Karen. Do you have any plans for the July rally in PA or the FMCA in NY?

Dick May

2002 Intrigue, #11438
Dick May
2002 Intrigue, #11438, towing a
2014 Jeep Gr Cherokee ecoDiesel

Re: Battery Drain

Reply #12 –
Yahoo Message Number: 4048
Ken,

The battery problem may not be the batteries as much as how they are used. We have a 2001 Magna with every option made and then some and we have never had a battery problem. The coach is over 2 years old and we have 33,000 miles on it and we have used it for at least 12 months. We store it for the months it is not in use. We do have solar panels and we do not live far north but we store it without any hook ups in SC. One other thing, we do very little dry camping where the batteries do a lot of discharging and when we do dry camp we run the generator every evening to keep the batteries from deeply discharging. We also have never equalized our batteries, I don't think you need to do that because of the way we use our batteries. This is our 3rd diesel coach since 1995 and we have never had a battery problem. We were given the option of putting gels in our coach when we ordered it but we turned them down, I don't think the batteries are junk, but that's only one man's opinion.

Bill G. 2001 Magna #5998