Battery Question

[Jerry B.]

The house batteries on my new2017 Vegas rarely show above 2/3 charged. Usually after running generator (use/store switch in "use") for a short time they will read fully charged but shortly thereafter back to 2/3rds. Is this an indication of maybe something drawing power off of them while sitting in driveway? (Switch back to "store"). Thanks for any help/advice.

[JamieGeek]

Take a voltmeter to the batteries it is very likely that they are shot (especially if you notice that they are Harris batteries).

[Oneilkeys]

Even with the batteries in the "store" mode there will be a drain on your coach batteries that will drain them in a week or so. The only way to stop that is to put in a disconnect switch to isolate the batteries or a trickle charger to keep them up. It takes several hours to charge your two coach batteries using your generator. So if you run it for a short time, they will initially show fully charged and then quickly drain down to a lower voltage. If you leave your coach plugged in to shore power overnight or run your coach for several hours on the road and the batteries still show less than 12.7v an hour after you unplug or turn off your engine, then you probably have bad batteries. Don't count on your coach multimeter for an accurate reading. Get a volt meter to accurately monitor your batteries. I bought an inexpensive one and permanently wired it to my coach batteries.

[Jerry B.]

Appreciate the info and suggestions guys, thanks much.

[tenbear]

Be aware that it takes many hours to recharge discharged batteries. The actual time will depend on your converter. For some good info, google "The 12 Volt Side of Life."

[scrubjaysnest]

What you see at first is called surface charge, this takes 4 to 6 hours to dissipate under no load conditions to get a proper volt meter reading.