All batteries dead overnight?

[Jansenart]

Hello gang-

I bought myself a 2005 Winnebago adventurer 38R last week after neck surgery, and went out to work on it the other morning and all 4 batteries were dead. We jumped them, then ran the generator till the house was reading 14.2v...the next day they were dead again. Is it possible that the guy who sold it to me gave me 4 of his rejects, knowing that I would be able to drive it home (it was started and running when I got there to pick it up)?

He had 2 deep cycle interstates for the starting battery (why?) And a pair of random lead acids for the house.

I obviously have to buy new ones...right?

Thank you,
Carl

[Morich]

No!
First step is to get ALL the batteries well charged and that is not likely to get done with the generator as it takes 6-8 hours to recharge the best battery if it is fully down. It's a slow chemical thing and the voltage readings are only at the top of the battery.
Called "surface charge" and not likely to get done that soon.
One key clue to this is the reading of higher than 12.8 as a fully charged new battery will not hold a charge over that amount. The high reading indicates recent charging, not super good condition!
You MAY have bad batteries and often true, But the first step is to find if they will hold a charge.
Second item to know is that there will be small drains on both chassis and coach battery sets which will run them down, given time.
Even with the battery disconnects turned off, there are things left on. Safety equipment like CO and propane detectors on coach and steps on the chassis battery are some.

I recommend first getting both sets fully charged, then it may be worth the time to go by an autp parts store to get a free load test done as that is a pretty good way to tell the overall condition of each.
But it is also odd to have deep cycle for starting as they are certainly not "proper" use of deep cycle.
And it is also very true that folks will be glad to pass on their junk if they can! We have fully fallen into the cracks of ethics no longer meaning much and lying is now considered to be what the smart folks do!

[be happy]

If you are taking Richards advice to take batteries to an auto store to have tested.

Please, Please take pictures of how batteries were wired. As you take wires off terminals zip tie together. I can not tell you how many post from folks about reattaching batteries.

I am not a battery guy but the selection made sense. You need lots of power to turn over the motor. As for the house, like me I am always plugged in, never boondock so need minimum battery power.