House batteries die overnight

[Tboden1]

Boondocked this last weekend with my2023 chateau 22b. Only thing I used was refrigerator on gas mode and by morning the fridge was beeping due to low voltage. Down to 9.3 volts after chargingI load tested the batteries and they checked out good I know there are other things that drain batteries but shouldn't they last a lot longer than 1 night?

 

[dkoldman]

A gas fridge on gas the entire night will not draw down overnight. You say the only thing you used was fridge?

No lights, no TVs, Gas Heater Fans, ?

I had brand new batteries that would barely make it through the morning. I had to buy VMax tanks and I can go 2 or 3 days.

I run the fridge, maybe two TVs, lights and sometimes the heater.

You need tell us how many ahs your batteries have? But with that much draw, you need to find out what is running that you don't know about?

 

[Tboden1]

I do know the unit has 3 phone chargers that have lights on them and the computer detector has a light.the only other thing that was on is the winegaurd antenna still shouldn't be enough to kill the batteries. Also there are 2. 700 amp grp 27dc batteries

 

[SDMiramar]

What are the fridge settings?? Is it on Auto or Gas? It sounds like it’s on auto? It has a 12v fridge with an Auto Gen start on that model I believe. Check the settings on the fridge and either run it on gas only or set up the auto gen start so it will kick on if the voltage drops.

 

[MJC68]

If you truly want to see what kind of draw you have you will need a multimeter hooked up in series on the negative battery cable. There are several You Tube vids telling you how it's done.

My sneaky suspicion is your manufacturer installed 2023 batteries are already several years old and on the way to the battery graveyard.
Remember the RV manufacturer is buying the cheapest batteries they can get by the truckload. Then they sit on a shelf till installed in the unit they are building. They may be a year old before they are even installed.
Couple that with the fact that RV dealers are notorious for abusing the house batteries by allowing them to totally discharge while they sit on the lot and one of the first things that takes a crap in a MH is the OEM flooded lead acid batteries.
Anytime a deep cycle battery is allowed to discharge below 50% it reduces the batteries storage capacity and shortens its life span.
We have owned several RV's over the years and each one we had to replace the house batteries within the first year of ownership.
Some folks on here have had better luck with OEM batteries than we have but it is a crap shoot.
Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

 

[RACarvalho1]

The right thing would be to have a battery monitor that has a shunt on the negative cable of the battery bank and measure exactly how many Ah you use in an overnight.
It may be that (for any/unknown reason) you are consuming more than you think and/or your batteries are busted.

Anyway, you will only start to figuring that out when you know how many Ah you use on an overnight.

Another error we usually do is assuming the batteries are fully charged just before the overnight... That rarely happens...

After you know how much you use, then you can move forward and evaluate battery state and , if needed, what battery bank size you will need.

Example:
In our case, we use anywhere between 57ah and 117ah on an overnight, that includes a 120V fridge/freezer and several cell phone chargers but we don't use TVs...
If you assume that you will arrive at the overnight with batteries at 80% SOC, that 117ah needs to be 30% of my battery bank (so the don't go below 50% SOC in the morning) which means I need to have a battery bank with 390Ah capacity to support my overnights.....
I installed 6V golf cart batteries because of that.

 

[DavidEM]

With “2-700 amp Grp 27 batteries” you do not have true deep cycle batteries. The 700 is a cold cranking amp spec and says nothing about deep cycle use.

Replace them with two golf cart batteries wired in series or a pair of AGMs, preferably Grp 31s if they will fit, otherwise Grp 27s. GC or AGMs are better suited for deep cycle use.

Install a shunt based battery monitor like QWork from Amazon ($35), Renogy ($70-80) or Victron ($100+). Turn all DC consumers off and measure parasitic amp draw. On my 2021 Axis with a propane fridge, it is a bit less than an amp. Then turn your consumer’s on one by one and see what they draw. A propane fridge should draw a few tenths of an amp while cooling, almost nil when off.

David

 

[dkoldman]

I do know the unit has 3 phone chargers that have lights on them and the computer detector has a light.the only other thing that was on is the winegaurd antenna still shouldn't be enough to kill the batteries. Also there are 2. 700 amp grp 27dc batteries

You are missing something simple. Good pictures of your batteries might help, picture of your settings on your fridge may help others to solve for you.

With that much draw, use a voltmeter, or anyplace in the RV that shows the current RV House voltage. i.e. 12.7 vdc or so. then make sure everything is OFF and turn on Fridge to Gas Only. If it drops below 12.4 vdc within an hour you need new batteries. Batteries either work or they don't.

Note: BEFORE you buy new batteries take some time to learn a little about AHs and capacity. If you do, the battery and brand don't matter so much, but DO NOT BUY FLA (IMO). I would get AGM that have the most AH capacity for a Group 27. No math necessary, just verify it is Group 27 hopefully at least 100 AHs if two or more have same capacity, buy the cheapest. If price is the same, buy best warranty.


I bought vMax Tanks AGM, I have Grp 31 and 125ahs each ( 250 ahs total). I had same issue as you but not that severe. I would be at 12.2 vdc overnight, but that was less than optimum for me, my genny would start every morning after quiet time to recharge. My NAPA OEM batteries checked out fine, but I replaced and never had an issue since. I can go 2 days with normal usage, but rarely need to, because even when boondocking our genny will run 2 hours every day for something.

Note: I ever let my batteries get below 12.4vdc, my AGS protects me

 

[Wylie-THOR]

I have a 2022 Chateau 22E and I'm trying to boondock. I have a 100Watt solar panel to charge the house batteries. While sun is out, they charge fine, but after the sun gets off the panel, the batteries lose power and go down to 8.5. I need to run the truck engine to get enough power to run the generator. Once that is done, they charge up pretty quickly, but it seems to me they should stay charged better than that. I'm planning to do a lot of boondocking so I want to feel comfortable with my set up. Any suggestions about getting the batteries to keep a charge? Thanks for the help.

 

[paulwadley]

You might want to have the battery(s) tested first to be sure it/they will accept and hold a charge. The batteries, if not hydrated will die and never return to 100%. Some have swapped out the Lead Acid Batteries for Lithium Batteries in order to boondock longer and have the batteries recharge up with good results. Look here in the forum for battery change out to get some ideas.

Paul

 

[DavidEM]

First read my post #7 above, last paragraph. That is the only way to know for sure where your amps are going.

David

 

[16ACE27]

I have a 2022 Chateau 22E and I'm trying to boondock. I have a 100Watt solar panel to charge the house batteries. While sun is out, they charge fine, but after the sun gets off the panel, the batteries lose power and go down to 8.5. I need to run the truck engine to get enough power to run the generator. Once that is done, they charge up pretty quickly, but it seems to me they should stay charged better than that. I'm planning to do a lot of boondocking so I want to feel comfortable with my set up. Any suggestions about getting the batteries to keep a charge? Thanks for the help.

1 - Your batteries may be toast. get them fully charged and tested as mentioned above.

2 - A dead house battery bank will take HOURS to be fully charged from SP or the generator. You didn't define "pretty quickly" buy from 8.5 VDC it can take 6 to 12 hours to fully charge. How do you know they "charge up pretty quickly"?

 

[Galobo]

To add to the above I would think your batteries have been allowed to discharge to many times and have not been properly hydrated. I would have the batteries load tested and if bad I would go with AGM, less maintenance and gas leaking.

 

[NordicVetMBA]

I do know the unit has 3 phone chargers that have lights on them and the computer detector has a light.the only other thing that was on is the winegaurd antenna still shouldn't be enough to kill the batteries. Also there are 2. 700 amp grp 27dc batteries

Lead acid?

Lead acid or AGM batteries can only discharge to 50% - so when calculating, use 350 for a number.

So you would be able to do 4200 watts for an hour, for example - (350amps x 12 volts) (ignoring inefficient loss through your inverter) -

So if you have 420 watts of stuff going all night (cpap machines, TVs, etc.) - then if the total averages 420 watts, you should be able to run for about 8 hours - (since you will lose about 15-20% going through the inverter).

if using more like 800 watts- then "half it" to 4'ish hours.


Lead acid or AGM would take at least 8-10 hours to charge off from your generator, the voltage would come up quickly (because it does with lead acid or AGM), but they don't absorb the power very quickly - it would take many hours to fully charge.

Vs lithium will charge in a couple of hours when setup properly, and can discharge to 0% - so 350 ah of lithium is roughly equal to 700 of another chemistry.

 

[DavidEM]

A G27 battery may have a 700 amp CCA (cold cranking amps) rating but it cannot have a 700 amp hour rating. The OP has a starting battery and he is confusing CCA with amp hours, just like the PP just did.

David

 

[Wylie-THOR]

Update

I have a 2022 Chateau 22E and I'm trying to boondock. I have a 100Watt solar panel to charge the house batteries. While sun is out, they charge fine, but after the sun gets off the panel, the batteries lose power and go down to 8.5. I need to run the truck engine to get enough power to run the generator. Once that is done, they charge up pretty quickly, but it seems to me they should stay charged better than that. I'm planning to do a lot of boondocking so I want to feel comfortable with my set up. Any suggestions about getting the batteries to keep a charge? Thanks for the help.

UPDATE: although I was told my batteries were self contained, come to discover they need water. They are tucked in where I can’t reach the cells for adding water. So by now they are probably mostly dry. So I’ll need to replace them next service. It’s always something, but I still love this life!

 

[dkoldman]

I may come under fire for this, but it is my opinion and you are welcome to use as you may see fit.

For starters, I would not put replacement FLA acid batteries in my RV for House application in no circumstance. No need to dump batteries that require water as long as they work, but I did. My reason to change was to get more AH capacity, NOT to avoid the water maintenance, but I may be like you; I am not wired for water watering batteries; and I have no intent of buying a water filler system. Just go with sealed maintenance free.

My next point, battery experts with crow that FLA and AGM batteries are the same because of the same lead acid technology To me it is like saying a Cadillac Escalade and a Chevy Trax are the same because they both have Gas engine technology.

So for a House Application in RV, I see two choices Lithium or AGM. I have AGM. If I needed more than 125ah / day ( I don't ) I would look at the extravagant cost of Lithium.

Buying AGMs solved all of my batteries problems. My AGMs never go below 12.4 vdc and my generator charges my AGMs to full charge in 2 - 3 hours. Normally my AGS controls this and it will top off my batteries usually around 6:00 PM each day so that by 8:00 PM it can shut down for Quiet time and be at full charge overnight. I can go 2 days, but I let it run the 2 hrs / day anyway because unlike most RV owners I like to see and hear my genny running. I always get a good vibe we can be sitting outside and suddenly the genny starts up assuming we are boondocking.

FWIW, I have no Solar and no trickle charger. Not needed.

 

[Jimbo57]

Tboden1 does your rig have heated tanks under your rig, those would may use a lot battery thru inverter to heat tanks . Just a thought

 

[ducksface]

I didn't read every post.

I have had a
'Surface charge'
Problem in the past.
Bad battery tests good for voltage but drops in minutes....