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Old 02-28-2021, 12:43 PM   #1
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Brand new coach - Chassis battery draw

Brand new 21 Adventurer 35F with unknown 1A parasitic draw on chassis battery. Both house and chassis battery disconnect enabled. Inverter off at cutoff. No shore power. Still reads approx 1A draw at the chassis battery. Can’t pull fuses to isolate because everything is on button breakers. After a couple of days without shore power, have to use the battery boost to start. Battery reads 12.6V after charge/settling, 11.4V after about a day of draw.

The only two things I can think of that are always hot are the step motor/light (verified off) and the relay for the battery disconnect (maybe wired wrong by the factory and pulling current while disconnected?). Any thoughts before I hit up the dealer? Thanks.
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Old 02-28-2021, 01:42 PM   #2
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You also have a Propane solenoid and even the power disconnect solenoid and a few other things.

A couple of routes you can take...

1. Disconnect the POSITIVE battery cable (not neg unless as you said the inverter rotary nob is off).

2. Store the RV with at least 115v power available and use a separate trickle charger

3. Put a 100w solar panel on the roof - or even, if possible and secure, on the ground near your RV in storage.

One amp does seem kind of high... with everything off I see less than that. But I have 300w of solar now and my batteries live at 100% state of charge in storage.
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Old 02-28-2021, 03:42 PM   #3
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You also have a Propane solenoid and even the power disconnect solenoid and a few other things.

A couple of routes you can take...

1. Disconnect the POSITIVE battery cable (not neg unless as you said the inverter rotary nob is off).

2. Store the RV with at least 115v power available and use a separate trickle charger

3. Put a 100w solar panel on the roof - or even, if possible and secure, on the ground near your RV in storage.

One amp does seem kind of high... with everything off I see less than that. But I have 300w of solar now and my batteries live at 100% state of charge in storage.
Thanks for the reply. Didn't consider the propane. Even so, 1A draw does seem high, but this is our first Class A so I'm not sure what is typical.

Inverter rotary knob is off. I was under the impression that when the entire coach is shut down, you shouldn't need shore power to maintain the batteries. Our previous coach had a manual disconnect mounted on the chassis battery itself and could go months and still hold a charge.

I have 285 watts of solar on the roof but I believe the Zamp pre-wire only handles the house batteries (is not a dual battery bank charger). I suppose I could replace it with a dual bank charger.

The bigger issue is the number of days. After just 3 days without shore power, I had to use the battery boost to start the motor.
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Old 02-28-2021, 03:53 PM   #4
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What charge state was the chassis battery when the RV went into storage? If it was already low then of course that would explain.

What kind of batteries do you have? My 2017 Adventurer came with 1-12v flooded lead acid chassis battery and 4-12v AGM house batteries.

Perhaps your Chassis power cut off solenoid is not latching? Or your BIM is not keeping your chassis battery charged up. When I first got my WBGO the BIM wasn't functioning and so the chassis battery would go down even when plugged into shore power. I had that fixed and ever since my chassis battery is pretty much always charged.

I have to remember to check the water level in the Chassis battery every so often and clean and lube the cable connectors too.

You can check your chassis battery cutoff solenoid easily. Turn off the chassis cutoff and see if the dash radio will turn on when you set the dash mounted power switch to "house". I'm assuming you have such a switch, but I don't know if you do. They changed Adventurers completely in 2020.
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Old 02-28-2021, 04:36 PM   #5
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What charge state was the chassis battery when the RV went into storage? If it was already low then of course that would explain.

What kind of batteries do you have? My 2017 Adventurer came with 1-12v flooded lead acid chassis battery and 4-12v AGM house batteries.

Perhaps your Chassis power cut off solenoid is not latching? Or your BIM is not keeping your chassis battery charged up. When I first got my WBGO the BIM wasn't functioning and so the chassis battery would go down even when plugged into shore power. I had that fixed and ever since my chassis battery is pretty much always charged.

I have to remember to check the water level in the Chassis battery every so often and clean and lube the cable connectors too.

You can check your chassis battery cutoff solenoid easily. Turn off the chassis cutoff and see if the dash radio will turn on when you set the dash mounted power switch to "house". I'm assuming you have such a switch, but I don't know if you do. They changed Adventurers completely in 2020.
Brand new unit... have only had it a month. Has not been in storage yet. We brought it home and it went on shore power right away. I noticed the issue after disconnecting shore power for a few days to test the inverter and solar charger. Chassis battery does charge when on shore power so not sure if that tells if the battery isolator is good or not.

Chassis battery is the Motorcraft OEM. Lead Acid if I had to guess. The tops are sealed.

Disconnect switch works. If it flip it, chassis is dead (except for the unknown draw). I will note however that the coach would not start when we went to test drive it... chassis battery was dead and coach had a slow engine crank every time up till we got it on shore power for a few weeks. Then of course 3 days disconnected from shore power and issue is back. Bad battery perhaps?
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Old 02-28-2021, 05:19 PM   #6
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Sounds like a damaged chassis battery. Perhaps it was run down to far before you got the RV "new". Someone somewhere could have neglected to turn the chassis switch off.

It may be damaged so much that it can't hold a good charge now.

It's been known to happen so it would not be highly unusual.
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Old 03-03-2021, 07:18 PM   #7
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Before checking the parasitic draw did you wait at least an hour for everything to go to sleep then check without opening any doors? You are going to have some parasitic draw anyway. I assume you charged the chassis battery with a battery charger to make sure it got fully charged? If so I agree the battery may be damaged, who knows how long the coach sat before purchase, or if something got left on and drained the battery and was left that way for a long time. 12.6 volts after charging is not 100%. It's close but not great especially for a new battery. I'd be curious what a load test shows. Charge time can also be somewhat of an indicator, if it charges fairly quickly it does not have much capacity left.
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Old 03-03-2021, 07:32 PM   #8
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Can’t pull fuses to isolate because everything is on button breakers.
Possible one of us is not quite clear on the small breakers. I thought that they would pop out to disconnect if I pushed them and then reset as pushed back in?

Maybe see if that is true or not as a way to find the drain?
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Old 03-03-2021, 10:04 PM   #9
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Steps, steps, steps. With power off and the steps turned on they go in and out. They are a big current draw. Turn them off. Leave them in the out position for entry/exit.
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Old 03-03-2021, 10:21 PM   #10
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Wayne M: Are you saying, when you steps are extended there is no current drain? Does it matter if the BDS is "on" or "off?" ...If so, I did not know that.

I have noticed that when I extend the steps, and turn off my BDS, that the step button does not work (retract) until I turn the BDS on.

So how is it that the steps draw current when they are up -- and the BDS is turned off?

Am I explaining this right?
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Old 03-04-2021, 07:53 AM   #11
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Originally Posted by creativepart View Post
Sounds like a damaged chassis battery. Perhaps it was run down to far before you got the RV "new". Someone somewhere could have neglected to turn the chassis switch off.

It may be damaged so much that it can't hold a good charge now.

It's been known to happen so it would not be highly unusual.
Yep damaged battery. Strap was too tight and the top side were crushed. Got the run around on who would pay for it... Ford said damaged by installer, not covered. Dealer said chassis items cover by Ford. I should have called the sales manager first... he told me to get a battery and bring the the receipt and he would reimburse me.

It has been 2 days since putting in the new battery. I have not checked draw yet but still reading good voltage.
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Old 03-04-2021, 07:56 AM   #12
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Possible one of us is not quite clear on the small breakers. I thought that they would pop out to disconnect if I pushed them and then reset as pushed back in?

Maybe see if that is true or not as a way to find the drain?
Mine don't pop out unless they blow, not the 12V ones at least. Pretty sure I found the issue--bad battery. I already replaced it and it has been 2 days with no issue. Fingers crossed.
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Old 03-04-2021, 08:00 AM   #13
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Steps, steps, steps. With power off and the steps turned on they go in and out. They are a big current draw. Turn them off. Leave them in the out position for entry/exit.
Yep I just recently realized that. Thanks! I did find that we had a bad chassis battery from the factory... installed tightened the strap to tight and crushed the top of the battery. Been 2 days since replacing and so far so good. Does not explain the draw current (have not rechecked it after replacing) but maybe the battery was playing havoc on the reading.
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Old 03-04-2021, 08:29 AM   #14
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Power tools! You gotta love 'em for speed but you have to know when to stop!!
Guess I need to check those little popout breakers as I have not had one blow but "assumed" they could be popped out to work on things.

Does that mean we have to work on it hot or do we trip it and "assume" it will reset again??
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Old 03-04-2021, 10:45 AM   #15
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Wayne M: Are you saying, when you steps are extended there is no current drain? Does it matter if the BDS is "on" or "off?" ...If so, I did not know that.

I have noticed that when I extend the steps, and turn off my BDS, that the step button does not work (retract) until I turn the BDS on.

So how is it that the steps draw current when they are up -- and the BDS is turned off?

Am I explaining this right?

If the steps are turned on there is a current draw if they are extended or retracted, but if the power to the steps is turned off there is no current to the motor. I prefer to turn my switch off with the steps extended so I don't have to hurt myself getting in or out when I check the MH.

The steps stop by an electronic current limiting switch so if the power to the steps is on there is a constant current drain.

Research: This may not be for all models so I suggest that those who own Winnebago's call the service line and ask questions. In my previous 2008 Winni (see signature) I was experiencing batter voltage drops to 11.2 volts after a week or so with the MH in storage. I was plugged into 110V, 20A electrical circuit. I would always have to use the Battery Boost switch to start the engine.

I called Winnebago and the technician said that the converter could not keep up with the current drain if the steps were left on. I turned the steps off when I parked and never had a problem again.


I'm dumb, what is a BDS please.
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Old 03-07-2021, 05:21 PM   #16
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I would pull the chassis battery and take it to an auto parts store to have them check it out. It may have a dead cell. There shouldn’t be anything drawing current off of your chassis battery. The house batteries are used for the steps, CO monitor, and possibly your smoke alarm.
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Old 03-07-2021, 08:12 PM   #17
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I’m with Wayne, I left my entryways step turned on and without the battery on charger it was dead very quick. Just turn it off .
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