Battery on Rpod dead

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Short answer: No. Only one switch is needed.

2-12V batteries: Wire in parallel. Positive to positive and negative to negative. On the connections going to the R-Pod, connect the positive wire directly to one of the positive terminals. Connect the other R-Pod wire to the switch and use a short jumper wire to connect the other terminal of the switch to the negative terminal of one of the batteries. You will then have 12V power when the switch is ON and no power when it is OFF. Make sure that 12V batteries are only wired in Parallel. Wiring them in Series will give you 24V, which will damage your R-Pod.

R-Pod------------Switch--------(-)Battery(+)---------------------------R-Pod
                                              |              |      Parallel connection
                                            (-)Battery(+)

2-6V batteries: Wire in Series. Connect the negative terminal on one battery to the positive terminal on the other battery. Connect the positive wire to the R-Pod to the other Positive terminal. Connect the Negative wire to one terminal of your switch. Use a jumper wire to connect to the open Negative terminal. You will now have 12V power when the switch is ON and no power when it is OFF. Make sure you wire 6V batteries in Series. Wiring them in Parallel will give you only 6V, which will be too low for your R-Pod.

R-Pod---------------------Switch-----(-)Battery(+)--------(-)Battery(+)---------------R-Pod 
                                                                    Series connection

This is how mine is wired since I am using two 6V deep cycle golf cart batteries.

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StephenH Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List podders Helping podders - pHp Joined: 29 Nov 2015 Location: Wake Forest, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 6326	Topic: Battery on Rpod dead Posted: 30 Aug 2016 at 7:15pm
	Short answer: No. Only one switch is needed. 2-12V batteries: Wire in parallel. Positive to positive and negative to negative. On the connections going to the R-Pod, connect the positive wire directly to one of the positive terminals. Connect the other R-Pod wire to the switch and use a short jumper wire to connect the other terminal of the switch to the negative terminal of one of the batteries. You will then have 12V power when the switch is ON and no power when it is OFF. Make sure that 12V batteries are only wired in Parallel. Wiring them in Series will give you 24V, which will damage your R-Pod. R-Pod------------Switch--------(-)Battery(+)---------------------------R-Pod \| \| Parallel connection (-)Battery(+) 2-6V batteries: Wire in Series. Connect the negative terminal on one battery to the positive terminal on the other battery. Connect the positive wire to the R-Pod to the other Positive terminal. Connect the Negative wire to one terminal of your switch. Use a jumper wire to connect to the open Negative terminal. You will now have 12V power when the switch is ON and no power when it is OFF. Make sure you wire 6V batteries in Series. Wiring them in Parallel will give you only 6V, which will be too low for your R-Pod. R-Pod---------------------Switch-----(-)Battery(+)--------(-)Battery(+)---------------R-Pod Series connection This is how mine is wired since I am using two 6V deep cycle golf cart batteries.
	StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS

Artistlin Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 16 Apr 2014 Location: Oakland, CA Online Status: Offline Posts: 2	Posted: 30 Aug 2016 at 7:17pm
	Thanks StephenH!
	Cheers, Lin

StephenH Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List podders Helping podders - pHp Joined: 29 Nov 2015 Location: Wake Forest, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 6326	Posted: 30 Aug 2016 at 7:20pm
	Glad to help. I revised the post to add some more information.
	StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS

jkr98116 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 28 Sep 2016 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2	Posted: 01 Oct 2016 at 12:49am
	I have also been surprised by the amount of standby current in the RPod. By standby current, I mean current consumed by devices, such as the sound system or the gas alarm, when everything is turned off, as opposed to leakage current, the unavoidable internal discharge of the battery. I added a small solar panel to try to offset the leakage current during storage, but there is too much standby current drain (~200 mA). Several contributors here suggest a battery switch. Why do we need one? Why was one not built in? Certainly many (like myself) store without access to A/C power. This blows my mind. It should be easy to totally shut down standby current drains. I have determined that there will be no substitute for detaching the battery negative from the trailer ground. It turns out that on my Zamp-wiring equipped model (like most these days I think), there are two white ground wires attached to the battery. The larger one carries all the standby currents. The smaller one connects to the Zamp connector. This is nice, as I can disconnect the large one, and all the standby currents, and still connect to the battery using the Zamp connector, which is convenient to the little solar panel I am hoping will cover leakage current. I have also been wondering whether it is worthwhile to detach sources of standby current when boondocking. The glow on the sound system when it is off is noticeable, so I wondered how much current supported that (and other sound system functions while off, possibly Bluetooth sniffing?). I did a little investigating with an ammeter. With all appliances, lights and such off, the standby current passes through three fuses: #2, 3 and 6. None passes through the circuit breakers. Absent a master disconnect, routing these currents through easily operated circuit breakers would have been nice. Removing fuses requires removing the front panel of the electrical distribution module, an unwelcome nuisance. Fuse #2 carries the sound system, etc. current. At standby this is ~30 mA. Fuse #3 carries currents for the gas detector and the fridge (and other stuff I expect). At standby this is ~80 mA. Fuse #6 is one of three fuses for lights. The others do not have standby current, and I don't know what the standby current for this one comes from, but it is ~30 mA. Even if you pull all of the fuses and open all the circuit breakers, there is a small (13 mA) standby current. This is why there is no substitute for disconnecting the battery. For safety and convenience, it makes sense to leave fuses #3 & 6 in place always. I could save 30 mA by pulling fuse #2 and killing the sound system when I don't want it (most of the time), but that would make it a pain to replace the fuse when I do want the sound system. So, I was considering installing a panel switch in series with the sound system to turn it on or off when I like. However, as the sound system contributes only ~20% of the standby current, I'm not inclined to bother right away. These are small but not trivial currents. For perspective, one of the smaller LED lamps consumes ~350 mA. So, supplying the sound system around the clock is roughly equivalent to leaving one of the smaller lights on for two hours (or one of the larger for an hour). If I get to the point that I'm being stingy with the lights, I may pull fuse #2 until I can get the battery charged again.

CharlieM Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 23 Nov 2012 Location: N. Colorado Online Status: Offline Posts: 1797	Posted: 01 Oct 2016 at 8:45am
	IIRC from my Pod days, the thermostat is part of the standby current. That's the price of the nice wall mounted digital model. BTW, almost any appliance that has a momentary push button on/off switch will have a small standby current. A tiny circuit is waiting for you to push the button.
	Charlie Northern Colorado OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD

techntrek Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group - pHp Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Location: MD Online Status: Offline Posts: 9062	Posted: 01 Oct 2016 at 9:59am
	Welcome jkr. If you add solar go with at least a 100 watt panel, 200 if you do serious boondocking. From what I understand manufacturers can't install a cutoff switch because that disables the LP detector. I don't know if RVIA code demands this or if they are just worried about lawsuits from a blown-up camper (I've seen reports where this has happened). From an owner standpoint, you need the cutoff switch primarily because of the LP detector but also because of the fridge brains, radio and the thermostat. Instead of a switch you can install a 30 amp fuse in a weatherproof enclosure. Or, you need to keep it plugged in all the time, or use a trickle charger (if it outputs more than the standby loss).
	Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual

ToolmanJohn Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 23 Apr 2014 Location: Connecticut Online Status: Offline Posts: 451	Posted: 01 Oct 2016 at 11:51am
	The battery cutoff switch is convenient, if you remember to use it... Never mind how I learned this.... I have a dual switch (Blue Sea systems 4 position switch) for my (2) 12 Volt batteries. OFF, Batt 1, Batt 2, Batt 1+2 (parallel). I use only the OFF and Batt 1+2 position. It must be at BATT 1+2 in order to charge both batteries, whether from shore power or the Tow vehicle. I bypassed the battery disconnect switch for the trailer emergency break-away switch. I never want to be in a situation where the break-away doesn't work because I forgot to turn the power on. As long as the break-away isn't activated, it cannot drain the battery (battery 1). So the break-away is hardwired to a terminal connected to battery 1. Other people have already noted the parasitic drains namely the propane detector (safety device) and the stereo system ( I removed my terrible combo Television-Radio system , I sold it to a coworker for $50. i haven't watched TV in my camper in a few years, even though I have a small LCD TV in the dinnette seat storage wrapped in the original bed sheet. I always find something to do if it rains on a trip. When I first purchased a camper, I didn't realize the need to disconnect the battery between trips. The stereo on my former 1st camper (2013 Starcraft 17RD) was also hardwired. As long as the battery was connected it would drain it. And worse, when the battery was installed the stereo would boot up and play!! If the volume was down, I didn't hear it and it would kill my freshly charged battery in a couple days.... It took a small amount of detective work to figure that out the first couple times it happened!! What a terrible design flaw...
	2017 ATC 7X20 Custom Toy Hauler 2013 R-Pod 177 (SOLD) 2013 VW Touareg TDI

jkr98116 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 28 Sep 2016 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2	Posted: 01 Oct 2016 at 1:54pm
	I figured lawyers were in the mix on the cutoff switch. I have a 200 w solar for use while boondocking. The little one I referred to is only for trying to maintain the battery during storage, where I don't have access to AC. There is not room to deploy the larger panel in that setting.