Rv Battery Drain Test

So you parked your rv for a while or put it in storage.

Rv battery drain test.

Luckily you can usually find the cause of a parasitic draw yourself. What is draining your rv battery in storage. Routine maintenance and recharging a discharged battery as soon as possible will extend the life of the battery. If the measured voltage after charge is less than these values the battery has one of two problems.

An rv deep cycle battery is a sturdy and efficient battery that recreational vehicle owners rely on to power most of their onboard electronics and appliances including water pumps coffee machines blenders microwave ovens and tv among others. You thought you had everything shut off but you come back to find the batteries are dead. Connect the cables to your battery and then test your lights to check the new deep cycle. This device clamps around one of the battery cables and reads directly in amps or milliamps depending on the size of the current drain.

The leading cause of dead lead acid batteries is sulfation. Phantom loads are things that consume power even though they are off or not being used. Start by connecting a digital multimeter to the negative battery. Check the voltage after that period and it should be 6 37 v for a 6 v battery or 12 73 v for a 12 v battery.

It has a bad cell. If you have a sealed battery and don t trust the battery indicator light on the panel you need to use a digital voltmeter to check the rv battery. Begin by making sure the shoreline cord is unplugged and that all 12 volt components are turned off. Before you do this know what voltage the battery is after all a 6 volt battery that reads 6 volts is fully charged whereas a 12 volt battery that reads at 6 volts is dangerously low.

When a battery is in a low state of charge small crystals start forming on the plates sulfation and if it. The easiest way to check for a battery drain is to use a clamp on dc ammeter. It was left in a state of discharge too long or. And remember as soon as the battery state of charge drops below 12 5 volts sulfation starts and if the battery stays in that condition for an extended period of time the battery will die.

If your vehicle is drawing power from the battery and all of the lights and other electrical components are off you might have a parasitic battery drain or draw. In your rv it s possible for these parasitic loads to drain the battery when you don t use or charge the battery for long periods of time. Remember that there are many phantom loads these days. My top 10 battery tips to extend the life of your rv batteries.