Voltage drain when parked.

Rickf1985 · August 01, 2015, 12:32 PM

I know I just saw recently some pictures showing different boards that draw power even when turned off. My batteries went flat in a week with nothing on but a digital clock. That has to be a pretty good draw and I need to track it down. I want to look at the fridge and see what board I have while the batteries are charging. I may be able to avoid the hassle of disconnecting a bunch of wires that way. And no, I do not have simple fuses I can just disconnect. I have circuit breakers so I would have to take wires off.

And yes, I did use search but came up empty. I am terrible at search phrases.

Rickf1985 · August 01, 2015, 03:16 PM

It is not the fridge, I disconnected the fridge and still have a 277 mv draw. Oz, I guess you can move this to the electrical section since it obviously going to be an electrical chase at this point. I am suspecting the red LED clock on the control center, I turned off the display but the clock will still be keeping time. I can't think of anything else it could be. I have checked for closet lights and all of the normal hidden things. The only thing I have not done which I will check after the batteries are fully charged is to see if it is bleeding back through the charging circuit. If it is I would think that is a defective charger which is only a year old.

M & J · August 01, 2015, 11:01 PM

Sounds like alot of work. Just junk the Winnie and go get the 72 Wanderlodge.

TerryH · August 01, 2015, 11:27 PM

Keep your generator and go for the Wanderlodge.

kattkisson · August 02, 2015, 06:13 AM

Smoke/ CO detector?

DaveVA78Chieftain · August 02, 2015, 08:48 AM

Do you have the Deluxe Remote Generator panel with a volt meter in it? If so, I think the voltmeter is always connected to the battery.

Rickf1985 · August 02, 2015, 10:22 AM

No, I only have a start switch and a small light that comes on when the generator is running. The only things I know that are on is the indicator light on the dash for the power to coach light, Not sure if that is LED or not, stock for the Winnie in 89. I have the LED clock which I turned off the display so that draw should be nil.I unplugged the ground on the fridge but maybe I should unplug the power? The batteries should be full by now so I will unplug the shore power and start with disconnecting the charger. If that is it I need to call Randy at Best converter about the Boondocker.

I wouldn't worry about it if it were a sma;; drain but this is enough to give a small blue spark at the battery cable. That tells me a light or something. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I NEED TO CHECK THE BASEMENT COMPARTMENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I may have just given myself the clue! More than once I have found that in move stuff in the basement compartments I have hit the slide switch on the light and turned it on. Will check that right now.

Rickf1985 · August 02, 2015, 11:11 AM

No such luck, no lights left on. Tracked it down so far to the wire from the Boondocker to the connection that charges the batteries. Problem is that that same wire from the Boondocker also feeds the rear power center so I now need to figure out if it is something in the coach or the charger.

DaveVA78Chieftain · August 02, 2015, 03:47 PM

Toe bone connected to the foot bone,
Foot bone connected to the ankle bone,
Ankle bone connected to the leg bone .....

One step at a time

Rickf1985 · August 02, 2015, 06:22 PM

Your not helping Dave. N:( W% I have taken about 50 steps today, all in an RV which is hovering at 103 degrees inside. Took the control panel out of the wall. There are two main feeds coming in. One each goes to a buss bar of which there are two. Since my meter popped a fuse and I can no longer read milliamps I am going by the old fashioned tap the wire to the terminal and look far a spark method. The only place I am getting a spark is the electric steps. Kind of strange since I have them turned of in the open position. I also do not think this is the main problem although it will warrant looking into. If I leave BOTH feeds disconnected from the control center I STILL get a spark at the battery! At this point nothing will work in the coach, lights, pump, heat, indicators fridge. Nothing. I also pulled out the indicator light section over the stove and disconnected the digital clock. Still got spark at the battery. Nothing goes back to the generator but the starter cable and the remote so I unplugged the remote, same thing. If I throw the switch on the dash that disconnects the power to the coach by way of the latching relay then and only then do I get no spark. I was not about to wrestle the passenger seat out in this heat but the only thing left is to disconnect the charger and try that. Any other ideas?
And I also pulled the positive wire on the fridge outside in addition to the wire at the control panel.

jeno · August 02, 2015, 07:02 PM

I don't know if this will help or even make sense. I think you have the same rv I have and under the step there is a light that is only active when the step switch is turn on.

Rickf1985 · August 02, 2015, 07:57 PM

Thought about that but when I tried the step with the control panel disconnected the step did not work so I figured the light would not either. The light on mine did not work when the step switch was turned off. Good thinking though, thanks. I am open to any suggestions at this point. I AM going to check the light to be sure once I hook up the batteries again tomorrow.

Rickf1985 · August 03, 2015, 02:46 PM

Would you believe that Radio Shack does NOT have a .8 amp 250 volt fuse for my meter?! That place is worthless anymore. Anyway, I brought my meter home from work and now the draw went from 277 mA down to 97 mA and I didn't do anything. I did find out that the LED clock display is drawing 120 mA.. Has anyone here ever found what is an acceptable level for draw on an RV? There are several things that are always on like the propane detector, clock, and at least on mine the indicator light telling me the power is on to the coach. I have my propane detector off right now for these tests but normally it would be on.

Rickf1985 · August 03, 2015, 04:33 PM

Here is what I have found so far. I have it down to 11 mA draw at this point but some stuff really needs to be plugged back in.
LED Clock display - 120 mA.
TV/Receiver circuit, I am guessing the antenna amplifier - 8 mA
Electric steps, two wires. White wire - 0 mA, Purple wire 14 mA
Pulled fuse on latching relay that supplies power to the indicator light. 85 mA

This all adds up to 238 mA which is 50 less than my highest reading from yesterday but I am using a much better meter today so I am going with what I have. The 11 mA I have left may possibly be the LED clock running without the display lit.

I did notice several times during my testing that the arc I got would be much hotter at the first touch giving me the impression I was charging a capacitor. In testing for voltages on some wires today I check the wire going back to the coach which was disconnected and I got voltage that was decreasing. I am guessing that since the DC clock did not lose time during my short stints of having the battery disconnected that it probably has a capacitor and that was the arc I would get at first when touching the cable to the post.

I am still open to ideas on other things that may be causing a draw and especially any ideas on why I am getting a draw on the purple wire going to the steps. And yes, I did check to make sure the light at the step was going out.

DaveVA78Chieftain · August 03, 2015, 09:52 PM

There is a magnetic switch in the door frame that senses when the door opens. That signal is monitored by the step control box. If power is provided to the steps, the control unit is drawing power as it monitors the condition of the magnetic switch (I think).
HOwever, from the Kwikee Step Troubleshooting manual: If the power wire to the step is disconnected from its source and reconnected, a spark is common. This is caused by the momentary charging of the control unit and does not necessarily indicate the system is staying on, which would cause a drain on the battery.

Your connecting/disconnecting at the battery results in the same situation.

Note: I leave my 3 stage PD9260 converter connected to shore power here at home. Maintains a 13.1VDC trickle charge which eliminates problems such as this and keeps the batteries in good condition. Though, your issue could be a boondocking issue of concern.

Rickf1985 · August 04, 2015, 09:45 AM

On my steps I have an old fashioned push button switch on the door but probably the same controls. I usually leave mine plugged in also and I also have a three stage charger. It was unplugged for when I was working on it and I forgot to plug it back in. I realized the batteries wend dead in two or three weeks with nothing being used and that concerned me. It looks like the indicator for the disconnect relay is the biggest draw, it still works with that fuse out but the indicator light does not. I need to find an LED indicator light. I do not use the TV so I will leave that disconnected, I don't even know where the antenna amplifier is. That leaves me with roughly 25 mA draw. I may disconnect the LED clock altogether since I have the display turned off, I can put a regular wall clock in there. That would bring me down to 15mA if the clock is the 10 mA draw I think it is. I could live with that.

DaveVA78Chieftain · August 04, 2015, 09:09 PM

I think I said,
Toe bone connected to the foot bone,
Foot bone connected to the ankle bone,
Ankle bone connected to the leg bone .....

One step at a time

Glad to hear you made good progress

Mr. T · August 06, 2015, 09:31 AM

I too had a voltage drain. I narrowed it down to the steps. I couldn't figure things out, so I took out the control box and straight wired to a manual switch. Love it. No more drain, and no more constantly having the steps going in and out because I couldn't remember to lock them.

Don T.

Rickf1985 · August 06, 2015, 09:46 AM

I got a response from Kwikee that said the purple wire is an input to the control that can be hooked into the porch light so that the step light is on with the porch light and if I have a drain on that wire then there is a short in the control box. This does not jive with the way mine was wired though since the purple wire and the white wire were both wired to hot. That would mean the light would be on all the time according to what I was told. I am going to call them today to clarify. BUT, How many companies nowadays will answer a tech question on a 26 year old product in one day? Not many, I am impressed.

jeno · August 06, 2015, 01:26 PM

I may not be understanding it right but on mine the only way to power up the step light is to have the step button turned on then the light turns on.

Rickf1985 · August 08, 2015, 10:10 AM

I had a good conversation with the folks at the manufacturer and we came to the conclusion that Winnebago tied their harness into the Kwikee harness which changed the wire colors. I have found this all over the coach. This is one thing that I absolutely hate about Winnebago, all one color wire, no markers on the wires and no decent wiring diagrams. I have the Winnebago diagram for the steps and it shows purple leaving one but being white arriving at the other end, one wire with no connections. It also shows a purple and white wire leaving the control center of the coach going to the step. Talking to the tech I find that the power wire in the step controller is in fact red. The purple wire leaving the control center that I am getting the draw on is giving the indications that should be seen on the red power wire at the steps. The white wire is the switch over ride, I didn't even get into that. I will post up what I find as I get into it bur right now it is working and the draw is down to an acceptable level so I am going to leave things alone until after my Labor day trip. I still need to replace a header gasket, rebuild the carb on my jeep and get my trailer serviced and I am running out of time.

ga joe · August 09, 2015, 10:35 AM

have you checked your fluorescent lights? Could be a bad bulb and the fixture still turned on.

intofire1 · August 09, 2015, 12:34 PM

Wow you done a lot of work. My power drain came from my brake pedal not coming back up, due to an old spring. Replace the spring Brake lights finally went out. Just thought I'd mention it, wish you luck.
Gil in LA

JerryP · August 09, 2015, 12:55 PM

Would a battery disconnect help.

Rickf1985 · August 09, 2015, 07:27 PM

The Chieftain has a built in disconnect, it is on the dash. It it attached to a latching relay and will completely isolate the coach batteries from everything, unfortunately that includes the charging circuit. Ironically the indicator light for that switch was one of the biggest draws at 95 mA. That light is on the whole time the batteries are on for the coach which is basically all the time except for winter storage. I pulled the fuse on the relay that went to the light and lost that draw and the relay still works so I am going to look for an LED indicator light.