Causes of Chassis battery drain on Roadtrek 210

Diver007 · 07-21-2021, 10:29 AM

I've got a 2013 Roadtrek 210 with some form of intermittent chassis battery drain. Occasionally I find the chassis battery dead yet the battery is new.

I've heard of several potential causes with the key off and house battery connect off:

1. Door Switch intermittent failure causing the dome light to come on.
2. Auto headlight fail that causes the headlights to remain on.
3. Failed transfer switch. This is functioning properly.
4. Drain from the cigarette lighter outlets. I have nothing plugged in.

Without a detailed electrical schematic, it's difficult to troubleshoot.

Is anyone aware of other potential causes of Chassis battery drain?

Rockwood27 · 07-21-2021, 01:13 PM

You don't state how long it takes to drain the battery. Is it sometimes overnight or a more longer period, such as being stored for some time, unused? I know, on my 12C190P, the batteries will run down after a month or so of storage if the slide switch on the inverter is not set to off. The console's battery and inverter switch are both off. The inverter's slide switch (upper right part on the front of the inverter) can be set to charge only, off or automatic on (when the inverter's console switch is turned on). Apparently, there is some parasitic draw on the batteries, unless the inverter is shut off.

I believe another source of battery drain is the LPG/CO detector. It's always on and not fused at the electrical panel.

Diver007 · 07-21-2021, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rockwood27

You don't state how long it takes to drain the battery. Is it sometimes overnight or a more longer period, such as being stored for some time, unused? I know, on my 12C190P, the batteries will run down after a month or so of storage if the slide switch on the inverter is not set to off. The console's battery and inverter switch are both off. The inverter's slide switch (upper right part on the front of the inverter) can be set to charge only, off or automatic on (when the inverter's console switch is turned on). Apparently, there is some parasitic draw on the batteries, unless the inverter is shut off.

I believe another source of battery drain is the LPG/CO detector. It's always on and not fused at the electrical panel.

Thanks for taking the time to answer.

I had it parked for 2 weeks when it went dead.

When you say the batteries run down, are you referring to the chassis battery or the house batteries? I'm aware of the house batteries being drained by the inverted. The manual says ". If the inverter is left in the
ON position, it will continue to draw 1.25 amps." I'm not sure this can affect the vehicle battery.

Without a detailed schematic of the electrical system, I'm shooting in the dark.

booster · 07-21-2021, 02:18 PM

Two weeks is a bit short of time, but not be a lot, I think.

You really aren't flying blind in doing the preliminary checks for parasitic losses as you don't need the wiring diagrams. We have the diagrams for our 07 Chevy, and I can tell you they are extremely hard to use as they have split them all up in various sections with index not being much help.

Best thing to do is get a decent ammeter on a multimeter and check what the parasitic is at the battery cable to the coach. Don't have anything on as the meters will be only 2 or 10 amps max depending on what brand and scale you are on, for the most part. If you see more than about .05 amps just start removing fuses from the two fuse boxes until it goes away so you know what is doing it. Open and close the doors and check again as it probably has timers running for dome lights and such even if the lights are in the no light up mode. Alarm circuits are also almost always active and using power. Try disconnecting the connection to the coach from the engine at the separator.

It is a putsy, frustrating job to find where parasitic is going, and then the hard part is tracking down why any given circuit is giving you losses. There is a good reason electrical troubleshooting shops charge a lot.

hbn7hj · 07-21-2021, 04:33 PM

Remove the bulbs from the various storage compartment lights. The one that caused me the most problems is the light inside the rear driver’s side door on a 190P. There is also one in the driver’s side exterior storage compartment.

Probably not your problem but look for storage compartment lights with switches that can be bumped. Youtube has several videos about chasing current drain. They use voltage drop across fuses to locate the circuit that is causing the problem and go from there. It requires a voltmeter accurate with very small voltages but seems to work.

sshouse · 07-25-2021, 05:06 PM

On my 2014 C210P, I discovered that the under hood light was draining my chassis battery within a couple of weeks. I disconnected it and can leave my RT for a month or more without worry.

mkguitar · 07-25-2021, 05:41 PM

some chevies including mine appear to have a problem with the speedometer module brain draining power when the van is parked, the module fails to shut down fully.

at home I use a trickle charger on a timer so it charges for an hour each night

when camping if in place for more than 4 days I disconnect the battery
( which will result in rough running poor idle until the ecm recalibrates)

some on the interwebs have replaced module to good result, others have continued problems

I spent 3 days a few years ago tracking all the parasitic drains when parked, metering, pulling fuses and etc.
the speedo module appears to be my problem

*** there are times when the van is shut down when the radio continues to play after the doors are opened
this may be related- it is a logic circuit fault, not the physical door switches as the interior lights work as expected, turning on with the door opening and off when closed

mike

Bud · 07-25-2021, 06:38 PM

" there are times when the van is shut down when the radio continues to play after the doors are opened
this may be related- it is a logic circuit fault"

Mike, with my 04 Express Van the driver's door and passenger doors don't always turn off the power when opening the door. Sometimes they do work. Not the plunger type, rather part of the door lock system. But in any case, the time out feature Always works to shut off power after 10 minutes or so, forget the time. I could not see any reason to 'fix' it.

Bud

Kegan · 07-26-2021, 02:02 AM

I had a frequently dying battery as well (RT Popular 210). And ignoring what I knew to be true the simplest explanation is probably the right one I figured it was a parasitic drain. Failing to find it, and after many jumps, I simply replaced the battery and no more problems. I had a quality NAPA battery in it, but couldn't read the date code clearly and thought the battery was a bit newer than it was. I don' recall the specifics, but think I wound up replacing it around month 36 on a 48 month battery. I was given some store credit by NAPA and now running fine.

ChicagoTom · 07-28-2021, 07:20 PM

Go to Amazon and search trickle charge dash solar. Plugs into the smoke lighter, and keeps it topped off unless you have no sunlight. I'm surprised others have not answered that 2 weeks sitting is the issue. That would be my guess. Vehicles are different today. The newer, the more drain on the battery while sitting.

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