12 to 6 v battery switchout

Ohms scale:  On your meter, you should have a dial with various things like DCV (Direct Current Volts), ACV (Alternating Current Volts - your usual house plugs are 120V AC), DCA (DC Amperes), ACA (AC Amperes), Ohms (May be on the dial as a Greek letter Ω (Omega) which is the symbol for Ohms) and possibly battery test and transistor test functions. Ohms may be divided into 2000k, 200k, 20k, 2000, and 200 Ohms. Your meter may be different. Ohms is the symbol used to measure resistance.

Take the multimeter and put it on one of the Ohms settings. You should have a reading of 1, which indicates that there is no current flowing. Touch the tips together. The digital display should change to 0.00 for digital or the needle should move to 0 on the OHMS scale on a meter with a dial and needle. That is what indicates that there is a closed circuit and that current is flowing. If the reading is anything but zero, then that is the resistance of the circuit.

your battery switch should have three connections. One goes to one battery, one to the second battery, and the third to the load (the trailer wiring). With the batteries disconnected, turn the switch to Off. Put one probe on the terminal that leads to the load. Touch the other two terminals, one at a time with the other probe. The reading should stay at 1 (or very high on an analog meter). Turn the switch to battery 1. Again, one probe goes to the load, the other to the terminal for battery 1. The meter should move to 0 or very close to it. Touch 2 and it should stay at 1. Move the switch to battery 2. Again, one probe goes to the load and the other probe goes to the battery 2 terminal. The reading should be 0 or close to it. Then touch the Battery 1 terminal. The battery 1 terminal should remain at 1. Last, turn the switch to Off. Touch the Battery 1 and Battery 2 connections. The reading should remain at 1. If all these give you the results I mentioned, then your switch is functioning normally. 

I hope this helps clarify for you what was meant.

1) They sat for just under two months

2) After a couple of years of reading about the 6 v batteries I never saw that they can discharger faster, I wish I had as I might not have done it because my camper is parked where I cannot plug it in.

3) I don't have an "off season" so I guess I'll try to get a solar tender.

3) I have this same kind of  disconnect switch and I keep it set on "off" or "both"

One day I'm going to make it to a rally in hopes of having someone teach me to use my multimeter. I only know how to test the charge on my batteries. This is way beyond my capabilities (honestly, with I can't even read this lol):

" Put your multimeter on the ohms scale and connect it across the switch terminals. You should get an open circuit (or very high ohms) reading with the switch open. Then with the switch still disconnected from the battery  close the switch and measure the ohms again. You should get a reading in the 0 to 1 or so ohms range." Just for fun I put the terms I don't understand in italics.  :)

Originally posted by hogone Probably a goofy battery question but will ask anyway!!  When Im home, I leave the old pod plugged in 24/7.  Should I disconnect occassionally (maybe for a week or two) just to let the batterys drain a little?  jon

Though I remove batteries during winter I read of many who keep their pods plugged in 24/7 for long periods of time without any ill effects.  The only word of caution that could be added here would be to keep an eye on electrolyte levels (once/month) and fill with distilled water when needed.

The dual battery 1-2-both-off switches are generally intended to switch between house and start batteries on a motorized RV or boat. You don't need that for a trailer with two paralleled 12v batteries, it's fine to just leave those connected to each other. If you want, you can get a simple isolator switch to disconnect the batteries from the house loads when the trailer is not in use, but then you need to consider that lead acid batteries cannot be left uncharged for long periods, which is likely what happened to the OP here.

 Alternatives (depending on your storage situation):

leave the trailer connected to shore power or connect to shore power for a day or so every few weeks and let the converter maintain battery charge.

install a small solar module and charge controller

remove the house batteries in the off season and maintain them at home on a small charger.

o

But first  just to be sure you have the batteries connected up correctly.