12v system not working, R-POD 180

Originally posted by TariS Did you ever crack this problem?  We have a 178 with battery drain issues I am struggling with.

There are several things that are 12V and always on, !ike the 'fridge controls, CO2 and Propane detector(s), thermostat, radio/c!ock, .... Mine will drain the battery in about 2 weeks without a power source. I have a 25 watt solar panel hooked to the battery, and it will just about keep the battery up with all it its base loads. Fifty watts probably would. So, I keep my battery disconnect switch off and the little panel hooked up when in storage.

How old is your battery? Their capacity Dec!ones with age and use, shortening the time to "dead".

Dang! I was hoping you had it taken care of. Thanks for getting back to us, I know I will be watching and hoping it is something as simple as loose battery post connections...they are tight, right? Maybe smear a bit of dielectric grease on the connections to hold the corrosion off..not the answer for you but a good idea anyways.

Hmm, are you sure your battery is good? Load tested at a shop to confirm serviceability?

When I was working on military aircraft I was taught to divide the system having an issue in halves (if the answer isn't apparent), test and continue halving the system to steadily reduce the size of the problem.

Everything working from TV and shore power eliminates much more than a half! Working through it in my head...if it isn't your heavy duty, deep cycle battery, all that is left is aft (errr, I mean behind) your battery and at or forward of your fuses/breakers...may be some loose connections at the breakers or are there connections between that need tightening?

Good luck!

Andy

Thanks everyone! Yes, I have a battery disconnect switch wired in and can confirm it worked last time. Turn off, 12v off. Turn on, it worked fine. Put it away for two weeks with the switch off, when to bring it out today and no power.   I'll double check the post connections (good idea to check those!) but last time they were pretty solid.  I had tested with a voltmeter at the junctions under the trailer past the 12v cut off switch last time and had power.  I'll keep looking! So frustrating!  I run through things again.

Haven’t load tested them. What’s interesting is if I test at the batteries I see 12.88v, but if I test at the solar plug in on the side which theoretically goes doorway to the batteries I get 0.38, so something is wrong. Having it plugged int to shore power for four hours and unplugging didn’t make a difference, no 12v power after unplugging shore.

There isn't a diode in the line to the solar port from the battery, and you don't need one. Those wires run straight to the batteru. The solar charge controller will take care of any potential reverse current flow at night. So something is wrong on that line too. If you're not using solar just leave those two wires disconnected at the battery for now while you focus on getting 12v back operating the trailer.