Power issues

[Kbs]

Hi, We have acquired a new 2017 pd31 and are having some power issues and looking for some sage advice. After bringing the unit home, we noticed that the house batteries were running down quickly and not holding power. We also noticed that the residential fridge would not work through the house batteries. It only worked on shore power or via the generator. Had a few other problems, so back to the dealer we go. They have the unit for a few weeks and tell us it’s fixed. They changed the batteries and the invertor is ok. So back to pick it up and again noticed that the same issue with the fridge. Talked directly with the technician and he said” the invertor is too small, run the generator when traveling down the road”.... we pointed out ,as nicely as possible, that it would be impractical to do this no way Thor would wire this way. Dealer service manager agreed, so left the unit and they talked to Thor and, yep, miswired so Thor walked them through rewiring. Picked the unit up and yep it now works through the batteries. Yea.....
However, we noticed that again the house batteries drained completely in just a couple of days with nothing turned on. And the fridge now ignores the battery cutoff switch. So when the unit is in “storage” we can still turn the fridge on... So, is this normal for the fridge to work even though the battery cutoff is in storage mode? Should the house batteries drain in just a few days with nothing on? And what is the “normal” battery voltage we should see on the battery monitor? Ours reads 12.3 with new batteries. Thanks for any help or guidance or help and guidance.

[Bob Denman]

By closing up one can of worms: you may have inadvertently opened up another one...
Your refrigerator is going to chew through battery power the way that I go through bacon...
A lot of folks with residential 'Fridges so run their generators while driving; so it's not completely impractical..
Try installing a bayonet-style battery disconnect switch on your battery bank, and that should put an end to the parasitic losses.
Good luck!

[Trkyte@msn.com]

It's correct that the frig doesn't go through the use,store switch. The invertor is wired directly to the coach batteries.
Hopefully your new batteries a a deep cycle type and not cranking type. Every time you deep discharge cranking type batteries, they will not recharge back to 100%.

The invertor will also draw power even when it has no load. Try turning the invertor off, use,store in store position and see if the batteries still discharge

[TurnerFam]

your Inverter is not going to be impacted by turning off the '12v disconnect' switch, since it is wired directly from the batteries. The 12v switch is only for your 12v items in the coach, such as lights, fans, usb ports, etc.

always turn the Inverter OFF if you don't want any 120v outlets, such as the fridge, to be powered while parked, sitting, or in storage.

also, the point of the Inverter is not necessarily to always keep you from having to run the generator, but it certainly cuts back the time you may need to. The inverter will easily power the fridge, and maybe other outlets, while traveling or off-grid parking, between shore power or generator usage.
Any coach manufactured with a residential 120v fridge WILL have an inverter because it ONLY runs off 120v power, whether from shore power, the generator, or the inverter.