FYI; I found my house battery drain

Ray,IN · 04-30-2014, 08:48 PM

Sometimes my coach would drain the house batteries in 3 days, sometimes it would stay charged for 3 weeks.

Today I found the reason. We all have a switch inside to turn off the basement bay lights, and they have individual switches. Today I turned on the master basement light switch to do some cleaning. After the cleaning I left the doors open so everything would dry and air out, and switched off the master. I discovered two compartments with lights still on, and only then discovered those two bays are not controlled by the master switch. I had left those lights turned on at the switch thinking the door closed button was turning them off. WRONG! The compartment door button was not consistently working. Now I turn those light off with their own switch every time they are used.
Hope this is useful to someone else. I know it eases my mind.

al2ride · 05-01-2014, 05:56 AM

Thanks for posting the fix. Ours doesn't have a master switch and I have discovered that I have left some on at times. The good thing is that ours is always hooked up to power ever since I installed the 30A outlet on the side of the house.

AFChap · 05-01-2014, 07:35 AM

Are you sure there IS a door switch there? On my Ultimate, there are two doors ...front on each side ...that do not have a door switch at all. I have left each of those lights on several times.

Petro · 05-01-2014, 08:04 AM

When we purchased our present Horizon 3 years ago I found most of the compartment lights were burned out. I replaced them and after some checking I found the door switches were not adjusted correctly. We have no master compartment switch so most of the lights were always on. After adjusting all the compartment door switches the lights now go off when the doors are closed. The previous owner must have been pulling out his hair replacing bulbs continuously.

Don

Wizard · 05-01-2014, 10:48 AM

On mine the water/elect bay and the sewage bay is not controlled by the master switch. All others are

BFlinn181 · 05-01-2014, 11:10 AM

My compartment master switch is near the porch and step light, both battery shut offs, Step and an interior light switches at the entry. We had visited family and then driven about 5 hours and stopped for the night at Walmart. About 3 am the LP alarm was buzzing, a warning that voltage was low. I got up and started the generator (using boost switch) and charged batteries for about 2 hours. When we got home, I found that a family visitor must have turned on the compartment lights. I have now wired a LED indicator light into the dashboard within sight of the living area so I know when that switch is on. No more dead batteries! (I hope)

Ray,IN · 05-01-2014, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AFChap

Are you sure there IS a door switch there? On my Ultimate, there are two doors ...front on each side ...that do not have a door switch at all. I have left each of those lights on several times.

The only basement door that does not have a door button controlling the light is the propane door, which of course does not even have a light. The two doors that are not controlled by the master switch are in the slide, oh, and the wet-bay.
Petro, my door switches/buttons are not adjustable but I now have them all working. All it required was a spray of contact cleaner/lubricant, and working it several time with my finger. Like almost everything else, they were dirty. I expected that since the MH had been stored in a barn for 6 years before it became ours.

Retired and Happy · 05-02-2014, 10:52 AM

D-D-Dang. Now you've given me something else I have to check. I also have to oass this info to my daughter who bought our old MH. We never used the bay lights, but she might.