Due our world trip last year and babysitting this year our coach has been in storage for almost 18 months.

During a visit to the service centre, after the 2014 Rally, they rewired the coach to isolate the entire coach, when the switch is in the "Off" position. However, we found today that some things are still drawing power.

Even with a solar system, the lack of sunshine in the Pacific Northwest did not keep the batteries charged, in fact they were completely un-salvageable (which I expected). On a previous trip to the storage lot, with the truck plugged in and running, I got the Level-up panel to turn on and when trying to move the legs, the pump motor operated, but not the hydraulic system.

Went down again this morning to install new Type 31 batteries (existing were either type 24 or 27). Two interesting points - the poles on the type 31's are larger, so the previous nuts securing the cables did not fit. Of the 8 connectors, only 6 of them fit the larger diameter terminal, so we had to drill out 2 of them. Thanks to Terry who drove up to assist, as that was definitely a 2-person job. I can only assume the factory has both sizes of connector and the tech probably grabs a handful and crimps on whatever he has.

This experience raises an interesting question, as I was led to believe that regardless of battery condition, if you were connected to the truck you can move the slides and landing gear. When connected to the truck, which was running, I had all 12 V systems, lights, etc working and the solar controller showed the battery at 100% (13+ volts). However, the truck could not provide the required amps to run the hydraulic system.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

Andy it's unusual that if the pump motor kicks in the hydraulics should work. Normally with low batteries the motor will not run.i do know that for charging the 12 gauge wire in the truck harness should be bigger so the alternator can put more juice out the back to the trailer batteries. I would disconnect the house batteries and try the truck it should then run the hydraulics. If the batteries are stone dead they will take away from the truck output thus not having enough juice to run the pump motor. I take it the slides would not work also. Unless the switch is located where when off there are no other wires attached to the battery eg the red one goes to the switch and everything else os beyond that. there could still be a draw from brakes carbon dector etc. The best thing to do is disconnect the battery cables if leaving for an extended period.i use a battery tender for my bike that I hardly get to ride and it gives the battery a trickle charge and shutoff when they are charged. Works only if you can plug into 120 somewhere

Due our world trip last year and babysitting this year our coach has been in storage for almost 18 months.

This experience raises an interesting question, as I was led to believe that regardless of battery condition, if you were connected to the truck you can move the slides and landing gear. When connected to the truck, which was running, I had all 12 V systems, lights, etc working and the solar controller showed the battery at 100% (13+ volts). However, the truck could not provide the required amps to run the hydraulic system.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

I am experiencing that right now. Just bought two batteries tonight.

My truck does not supply enough power to operate the Hydraulics. The only way I could move them is to plug into shore power. It's been a real pain.

This is the most compelling reason I have found for getting a generator.

I am taking the opportunity to switch the batteries to AGM and remove the battery boxes.

Andy,

The wire from the truck to the RV is not all that large. When you were trying to run your slides, the batteries were probably "attempting" to charge themselves not to mention other ghost feeds...With that in mind, your amperage draw was likely too high for the voltage coming from the truck. Unless you disconnected your batteries while you were trying this connection from the truck, you probably would have not been able to get enough volts to run the pumps...

The other interesting thing we noted this morning. With the isolating switch in the "Off" position, we had power to the panel and also the pump motor ran, but again not sufficient power to get hydraulics. This was attempted when the new fully charged batteries were installed.

We figure the solar system was bypassing the batteries, but it doesn't provide sufficient amps to operate the hydraulics.

Terry traced the wiring, noting it is completely different from his 31SL.

Andy it's unusual that if the pump motor kicks in the hydraulics should work. Normally with low batteries the motor will not run.i do know that for charging the 12 gauge wire in the truck harness should be bigger so the alternator can put more juice out the back to the trailer batteries. I would disconnect the house batteries and try the truck it should then run the hydraulics. If the batteries are stone dead they will take away from the truck output thus not having enough juice to run the pump motor. I take it the slides would not work also. Unless the switch is located where when off there are no other wires attached to the battery eg the red one goes to the switch and everything else os beyond that. there could still be a draw from brakes carbon dector etc. The best thing to do is disconnect the battery cables if leaving for an extended period.i use a battery tender for my bike that I hardly get to ride and it gives the battery a trickle charge and shutoff when they are charged. Works only if you can plug into 120 somewhere

Shane,

I concur with the low batteries, as from previous experience with low batteries, all I got was a clicking sound. For future storage, on the Wet Coast, I will be disconnecting, as you suggested.

Thanks Greg - that is basically what Terry and I eventually came up with.

Hi Andy:

I'll give you my experiences with your issues for your consideration.

In terms of the re-wire, I recall that I had to move a couple of the (small diameter) wires on the circuit breaker block in addition to re-doing the wiring from the batts to the isolation switch to the block. As I recall, the isolation switch only turned off power to some of the items on the block as the main wire from the batts went to the block first (without going to the switch first) then a line went to the isolation switch then back to the block. I was left with a couple of feet of heavy gauge red wire after the re-wire (good for a spare!).

From memory, the two (small diameter) wires that I had to move were the wire going to the jack control panel and the one going to the bedroom slide. This ensured that they were powered down when the disconnect switch was off (and powered by the convertor even if the switch was off).

I would check these two "culprits" with the final possibility being the power going to the CO/CO2 detector.

The other thing to check would be how the solar panel is wired, it it wired directly to the batts (bypassing the isolation switch)? If the isolation switch is blocking the solar charge going to the batts it may be the issue.

A final comment about the battery charge depleting. I've never left a battery idle for 18 months but my wife's Jeep sits in our unheated garage for almost 6 months through our cold Ontario winter (with the battery disconnected) and there is more than enough charge left to easily spin the starter and start the Jeep in the spring (no battery charging required). I know out there in "lotus land" the winters can we less sunny, but a solar panel should keep the batts fully charged (with no phantom loads interfering) even with minimal sun in my opinion.

In terms of moving the jacks using truck power, I haven't had to try it with dead batteries but I was playing around with the RW in California last winter with the trailer disconnected and the batt isolation switch off (only the convertor powering the RV and the jacks). The jacks wouldn't operate (just got a solenoid chattering noise). The convertor probably puts out as many amps as can be moved in the wire from the truck to the trailer, not enough to power the jacks properly in my opinion.

While upgrading my batteries today I had to configure the inverter to AGM. While doing that I found that the original setting for Amp Hour was set to 400.

There are no markings on the original batteries but I suspect the two provided by Redwood did not provide 400 Ah. If that is correct, then the system may have been overcharging. The Ah setting affect how long the batteries do the Asorption charge.