RE: Battery Kill Switch

OK...I learned something new...

After installing the EMS HW50C this weekend, if you turn your battery switch to the "OFF" position, your batteries WILL NOT charge...UGGGGGGGGG!!!! No wonder my batteries went dead during the winter!!!!

I discovered this after installing the remote display. With the battery switch in the off position, I had "0" Amps drawn on LINE 1 and LINE 2.

When I turned the battery switch "ON", the Amps on Line 2 went to 7 AMPs. Nothing else was on in the RV except for the usual detectors. After a few minutes, the amps dropped to 6 and then to 5 at which time we closed the doors and went home.

The moral to this story is that if you have your unit in storage, don't forget to leave the battery switch in the "ON" position if you are charging your batteries.

I know some have reconfigured their RV wiring to shut off the detectors when the battery switch is off, but unless you also rewire your charger, you won't be charging your batteries either...

Ours was rewired by the factory service centre in 2014.

I believe we have a similar experience, as in the "off" position our batteries did not re-charge from the solar system.

Yes, I learned that one early when I switched the kill switch to off in the driveway with the 110 power connected for a month or so, the convertor didn't charge the batts and the phantom loads connected to the batts and not through the kill switch discharged the batts completely.

I moved around some wires at the circuit breaker block behind the batts in the front compartment so that everything is disconnected from the batts with the kill switch off.

If you do the re-wire you won't have to worry about charging the batts in storage assuming they are fully charged when you park the RW. My test every year is that I park my wife's jeep with the batt disconnected for 5 months through a cold Canadian winter. We got home yesterday and I reconnected the batt, the jeep started up immediately.

Watch out for those phantom draws!

So when towing the RV will your tow vehicle charge the batteries with kill switch off?

So when towing the RV will your tow vehicle charge the batteries with kill switch off?

The answer is no. Furthermore, if you have a Schwintek electric drive on your bedroom slide there is a possibility it could fly out when making a hard right turn. The Schwintek drive depends on having power to lock the motors thus preventing the slide from "free wheel". :woohoo:

Refer to the Schwintek manual in the Manuals section of our website.
http://www.redwoodrvowners-dev.com/technical-library/manuals/185-outside-coach/lci-level-up-system/72-atwood-ranges-brochure-19

Plus if your frig is in use, it has to have 12 volts to work whether on gas or electric. Also you may or may not have power to the break away brake depending on how it's wired.