Chassis battery draining 2006 Outlook

Smuckie · 09-13-2023, 08:17 AM

Hey guys, it seems like my chassis battery is draining after a week or two and I was wondering what all runs off it

Smuckie · 09-13-2023, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smuckie

Hey guys, it seems like my chassis battery is draining after a week or two and I was wondering what all runs off it

So I went out and checked amp draw on battery and it was good then I opened the side door and it went way out of specs, what am I dealing with? I appreciate any help

Morich · 09-13-2023, 11:24 AM

Side door where the steps pop out?
Sounds like the auto steps and they are left on even in most cases where there is a chassis battery cutoff!
It seems they are really paranoid on not letting somebody fall out when we have the steps turned off. So to avoid the normal legal problems they make it nearly impossible to keep the steps from flying out!
And if the type I think of, that also turns on a light under the steps to really draw more!

Smuckie · 09-13-2023, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morich

Side door where the steps pop out?
Sounds like the auto steps and they are left on even in most cases where there is a chassis battery cutoff!
It seems they are really paranoid on not letting somebody fall out when we have the steps turned off. So to avoid the normal legal problems they make it nearly impossible to keep the steps from flying out!
And if the type I think of, that also turns on a light under the steps to really draw more!

Yes those steps, I forgot about the light but what would cause even more amp draw? My meter is 20 amp fused and it tripped.

Morich · 09-13-2023, 04:06 PM

Motor as it moves combined with light? Sounds a bit high for a simple motor but if there were other chassis items like ignition, radio presets, etc, maybe the total would be too much?
I don't know your specific RV but it might be time to look at the fuse box for chassis which is often out under the "hood" in front? Or if you have a chassis owners guide in the big folder of info, it may show some form of guide for the various chassis fuses. That might let you scan it for anything that sounds like it may be left on?

Would that let you begin to pull suspect fuses and see if there is one that appears to be a problem? As a general rule, it seems like we have more trouble with the RV batteries on chassis going down more often than the normal car or truck. I have felt that it may be a combo of two things which are different than cars. One is that we usually don't use them as everyday drivers and that gives them more chance to go low over the longer periods between driving long enough to fully recharge them. Battery charging is a very slow process, so if we let one get 10% low and then don't drive long enough to get it fully up like maybe several hours, it might be a gradual creeping thing which eventually catches us?
The second might be that the RV may have more things as drains due to various detectors or radios, etc??

No firm answers but just throwing out some ideas to consider.
Sorry, very hard to chase gremlins!
But we have to start somewhere?

dickb46 · 09-20-2023, 09:23 PM

There are several safety sensors and other background systems that run off the chassis batteries.
I have two new chassis batteries in my coach and if it sits (even plugged in) for 3 weeks the chassis batteries are low. Depending on the age of your batteries they may get quite low.
My fix was a Trick-L-Start. It's a small device you hook between hotel batteries and the chassis batteries when you're plugged in and keeps the chassis batteries charged.
I don't think you have an unusual problem, maybe old or unserviced batteries.
dick

Smuckie · 10-01-2023, 07:36 AM

More info, I can unplug step motor underneath and drain goes away so I bought new motor, still does same thing. Steps locked out and screen door closed it’s all good, open door and amps jump above 15, seems like a short to me, could it be step control box?

Morich · 10-01-2023, 08:01 AM

The steps are a very complex system and I have never gone far enough to fully understand them. But I would caution that what I expected was very wrong! The motor does not run to the end and hit a switch, etc. to remove power but works more as we might expect a stall motor system.

Before going further with more parts changes, I would want to find info with a lot more definite troubleshooting as there are way more ways to work these than I expected! you might chase it and change every part, only to find the cause is a wire rubbed bare at some point!
Until I found the right info and did the right testing, I would not throw more parts at it until finding them needed.
On the control, it has to have the correct inputs to do it's job, so finding what to expect and how to test would be my first step.