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TV & battery disconnect?

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jdw

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TV & battery disconnect?
« on: May 24, 2011, 04:45:17 pm »
I'm trying to figure out why my house batteries drain so fast, even when everything is off.  (I can literally sit there and watch the voltage readout drop to empty from a full charge in about an hour.)

After turning off and unplugging everything I could find, I hit the main battery disconnect.  A few minutes after that, I noticed the little read "powered off" light on the TV was on.  I hit the TV, and to my surprise it came on.

Should the TV (we only have the front one) really be running with the main battery disconnect flipped?  What's it getting power from?  Is it bypassing the disconnect or using the chassis battery?

Thanks folks!

(FWIW the main battery disconnect does seem to stop the power drain, so it's just a matter of finding the "vampire" that's secretly drawing all that power.)

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Bob Mahon

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Re: TV & battery disconnect?
« Reply #1 on: May 24, 2011, 05:34:02 pm »
My battery disconnect kills everything except the step.
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TomHanlon

Re: TV & battery disconnect?
« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2011, 07:24:20 pm »
On my 2010, if the inverter is on, the TV and the DVD player are in the stand by mode, the red lights are on, regardless if the battery disconnect is on or off. If the battery disconnect is off and I turn off the inverter, the red lights will go out, very very slowly.

The step is connected to the engine battery, not the house battery. This is for safety reasons. You always want the step to come out, otherwise you have one great big step down to the ground. That could hurt.
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Bob Mahon

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Re: TV & battery disconnect?
« Reply #3 on: May 24, 2011, 07:33:40 pm »
I knew why the step is on the Chassis battery but did not know the disconnect did not kill the Inverter (seems to me the disconnect should kill everything connected to the "House" batteries).
I'll remember that because it is a fairly hungry power user.

Thanks.
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Ron Dittmer

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Re: TV & battery disconnect?
« Reply #4 on: May 25, 2011, 01:11:19 pm »
This has always been an interesting subject matter to me.

With our 2007 2350 with the earlier Tripp-Lite inverter, we most often dry camp, so our coach batteries are closely monitored.  Without getting into the nitty-gritty of it all, I always shut the inverter down dead unless we need 110v. ADDING: "This is done by reaching in and flipping the switch on the inverter itself."  If I use the battery disconnect switch by the entry door to conserve battery power, that kills more than the inverter.  It cuts off all 12v as well, which means our fridge goes dead too.  And that is a real bad thing to happen while we are out for the day.

If you own an older PC with the 2000 watt Tripp-Lite inverter, and you dry camp a lot, you may find my topic on this subject of interest.
Click Here ----> http://forum.phoenixusarv.com/index.php?topic=73.0
« Last Edit: May 25, 2011, 03:24:48 pm by ron.dittmer »
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jdw

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Re: TV & battery disconnect?
« Reply #5 on: May 25, 2011, 03:20:42 pm »
So the takeaway is the main battery disconnect disconnects everything but the inverter from the main battery?

(And thus everything the inverter is capable of powering can still be powered with the main battery disconnect, uh, disconnected.)

Hrm.  I was using the voltage readout on the inverter control panel to monitor the battery drain.  Guess I didn't think that through.
« Last Edit: May 25, 2011, 03:22:22 pm by jdw »
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Ron Dittmer

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Re: TV & battery disconnect?
« Reply #6 on: May 25, 2011, 03:23:04 pm »
jdw, Your 2011 must be wired differently than my 2007.  My kill switch by the entry door, kills everything "Including" the inverter.
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bobander

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Re: TV & battery disconnect?
« Reply #7 on: May 25, 2011, 06:42:44 pm »
My 2010 is just as JDW describes.  The inverter is wired directly to the batteries, if you have the inverter control panel on, then the inverter provides 110 vac to everything it is wired to when there is no 110vac from either shore power or generator, no matter what position the battery disconnect switch is in.

Bob
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jdw

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Re: TV & battery disconnect?
« Reply #8 on: May 25, 2011, 08:14:57 pm »
Sounds like an intentional change then, if one with a bit of "Huhhhhh?" behind it.
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Bob Mahon

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Re: TV & battery disconnect?
« Reply #9 on: May 25, 2011, 09:13:36 pm »
It would seem a "main disconnect" should disconnect ALL the 'House' systems.
Wonder what the logic was behind this.
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bobander

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Re: TV & battery disconnect?
« Reply #10 on: May 25, 2011, 11:39:33 pm »
Well, just to complete the picture, there are still a few things connected directly to the battery when the battery disconnect switch is disconnected.  As discussed, the inverter is active IF the inverter control panel is on, the macerator pump will run IF switched on, the slide will operate IF the switch is pushed.  These items were not run through the battery disconnect switch probably because of the high current draw that the disconnect switch could not handle.  As long as these items are not operated, there is no parasitic current draw that would draw the batteries down.

This description applies to my 2010 2551.
Bob
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Bob Mahon

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Re: TV & battery disconnect?
« Reply #11 on: May 26, 2011, 05:00:50 am »
After my last post I thought of a reason for not entirely isolating the 'House' batteries; that being to keep them fully charged.

Our Alpine's Chassis and House disconnects would isolate all associated batteries completely, which caused the Cummins ECM and Allison TCM, clocks and memory pre-sets to lose their 'learned' features. Depending on circumstances, an often good but sometimes not so good feature.
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bobander

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Re: TV & battery disconnect?
« Reply #12 on: May 26, 2011, 11:08:45 am »
Quote from: rmmpe on May 26, 2011, 05:00:50 am
After my last post I thought of a reason for not entirely isolating the 'House' batteries; that being to keep them fully charged.

Good thought, but on my 2010, the disconnect switch isolates the house batteries from all circuits in the fuse panel and from the converter/charger, so the batteries will not get charged when disconnected.  I sometimes disconnect the battery if I am plugged into shore power for a long time so that the batteries are not "overcharged".  Not sure if that is an issue with the three stage Xantrex charger, it is supposed to drop to a trickle charge.

Bob
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