Dead truck battery

[harrisgowing]

Chuck went to the storage pole barn to do the monthly exercise of our 2015 Royal Splendor on the Ford 550 diesel chassis and the truck batteries were dead. House batteries were fine. It is stored inside in an unseated space but it has not been super cold here in Northern Michigan - our garage has rarely been much below 30 degrees. Outside temperature is about 25 degrees today. Everything had been turned off and it ran just fine about a month ago when we drove it for about an hour. The nice gentleman who owns the storage barn put a trickle charger and engine warmer on and Chuck will go back tomorrow. We stored our 2004 in the same place for 10 years and this coach there last winter with no problems. Any ideas or suggestions would be welcome! Thankfully we will not leave for Florida for about a month.

Thanks, Judy

[harrisgowing]

I would like to clarify my post a bit. Although the Ford diesel chassis is a 2015, we took delivery in June of 2014 so this is its third winter in the same storage. Time flies! Also, there are 2 120 volt truck batteries and 23,600 miles on the coach.

Thanks!

[randallrae]

When in storage the trucks batteries are under a constant parasitic load . Over time this will slowly discharge the batteries . If they become discharged to the point that the engine just has enough power to start you would have to run the engine above an idle for at least 3 hours to fully charge them . The best thing you could do is put a battery maintainer on these batteries while in storage . Of course the age of the batteries also lowers their reserve capacity .

[harrisgowing]

Thanks! We have never had this problem in 12 years and these relatively new batteries have never been run down due to leaving the truck lights on. Truck did not start at all. Are there additional problems/issues with a Diesel engine?

[stevek]

I had a problem with my Engine Battery being run down on my 2011 Ford 350 gas.
It turned out to be the radio.
Even tho I always turned the radio completely off, for long term storage:
The radio would turn on Automatically.... due to the Weather Alert program built into the Radio.
I was able to de-program it.

Plus I added this:
It connects your engine battery to your house batteries.

[harrisgowing]

Thanks, Steve, the radio may well be the problem. It comes on with amber alerts on its own. We presently do not have electrical connection in storage but may need to arrange that for a trickle charger. Just have never had this problem. Our storage owner is a very knowledgeable rv person who is helping, but these new coaches have unanticipated issues. We also have not done a long trip since last spring, just short hauls and brief exercising, which may have contributed to the battery drainage.

[Dallas Baillio]

I had a problem with my truck battery discharging so I has a cut off switch installed. I leave the hood up to remind me to reconnect the battery when I go to my storage facility once a month to exercise the generator. It is a cheap solution than needs no external 120 volt electrical hookup.

[John S.]

I had this problem with my 07 24 foot. I solved it by putting a charger on the batter when it was in the garage for the winter.

[whemme]

I would like to clarify my post a bit. Although the Ford diesel chassis is a 2015, we took delivery in June of 2014 so this is its third winter in the same storage. Time flies! Also, there are 2 120 volt truck batteries and 23,600 miles on the coach.

Thanks!

Chuck,

I assume you have two 12 volt chassis batteries rather than two 120 volt batteries?

[montir]

The new Ford Diesels, like most newer vehicles, have a substantial parasitic load on the batteries. It is not a problem if they are driven every few days but if left to sit for a month the batteries will often be below 50% charge. As I recall, on our F-550 the chassis batteries will be at about 12.3V after 2 weeks. I monitored the batteries during the first month we owned it and determined that connecting a battery maintainer to the chassis batteries was a really good idea. Since there is 120V power at our storage location, this is a simple and effective solution. It has been long enough that I am not sure of the voltage after 2 weeks but it was low enough that I didn't wait any longer to install the battery maintainer.

The chassis parasitic load consists of a few computers for the engine and other components, the alarm system, the remote receiver, the radio, the touch pad on the door and probably other items I haven't thought of. Most parasitic loads on the house batteries can be removed by turning the battery disconnect switch. However, I discovered that the electric door lock will still draw power and the electric step still operates with that switch off. I don't think the step uses any power until the door is opened but the door lock uses power all the time. I overcome this when it is in storage by placing a piece of electrical tape over the contacts on the edge of the door. This has stopped all battery drain on the house batteries.

Our 2015 Lexus has the same discharge issue and any time we are going to be gone for 2 weeks or more I connect a battery maintainer so we won't have a dead battery when we return.

[bcope01]

To eliminate the parasitic load on the batteries, you could put a battery cut-off switch inline. Below are just some of the types available in the marketplace.

Bill

[John S.]

I would check with Ford before doing that. If I do that to my Jeep my transmission will lose it programing.

[jlef123]

I vote for the trickle charge solution. Potentially a lot less problems and an easy fix. By the way, the battery shutoff with the green knob in the previous post has a high failure rate. I would strongly suggest that no one consider using it. I speak from experience & online research. I even used a USA mfg. switch.

[harrisgowing]

Thanks, everyone, and yes, Bill, my drafting error mislabeled our batteries as 120 V. Unfortunately, we lack engineering experience and any aptitude in that direction. But we are now using a trickle charger and that seems to going well. Fortunately we have a connection for the charger in our storage unit but will check the coach once a week. I also really appreciate the tip on covering the connections on the coach door lock to save the coach batteries from parasitic load. These new coaches are a challenge for those of us who are not mechanically experienced. If you need someone to dissect a governmental statute or legal document, we are your guys! But, we, especially me, have learned so much in the last 12 years of operating Born Free coaches and we have not destroyed one yet. It has not been easy. Thanks to all of you on the forum, and the wonderful folks at Born Free, for keeping us on the road.

Judy

[montir]

You mention that you are using a trickle charger. A low-cost trickle charger can destroy a battery over time. The safe device to use will usually be called a battery maintainer or a battery minder. They will adjust the output voltage to the proper float level for the type of battery in use (flooded, AGM or Gel). If you are using one of these you are all set.

The one I use is shown here http://www.bestconverter.com/Battery-Mi ... p_139.html

It is probably overkill for your requirement but it incorporates all the features to obtain the longest life from batteries. I initially bought it to maintain 3 very large Gel batteries plus 3 engine batteries in a luxury Class A. I used the trickle-start shown above to allow it to charge all 6 batteries at the same time. As long as I went to the storage unit with fully charged batteries the 8 A output was sufficient for the maintenance job.