Can A Dead Breakaway Switch Battery Cause A Draw On RV Batteries?

Question:

Is it possible that a very old breakaway battery or its charging circuit can put an extra load on my main RV batteries while I am camping? the electric brakes work fine while towing and there are no error messages When I see a complete wiring diagram, it looks like the breakaway battery is connected to my main rv battery. Im trying to locate a short or a drain of some kind on my 12 volt batteries. There are no shorts inside the rv and everything works perfectly on shore power.

asked by: Chris

Expert Reply:

That should not be the case, but if for some reason your breakaway battery was wired like this then that could be possible.

When wiring the breakaway battery on your trailer it should not be attached to your RV battery, instead it connects to the 12v power circuit of your 7-way connector, and the brake output circuit.

To find the drain on your 12v batteries you will want to is use a Multimeter such as the # PT29ZR, set it to the 10 amp setting, and remove the cable from the negative terminal of your battery. Touch the red test lead to the battery cable you removed, and the black test lead to the negative terminal on the battery.

Any draw on the battery will be shown on the multimeter. Turn everything in the camper off and see if you have any draw. If you do go to your DC fuse panel and start removing fuses one at a time till you find the one with the draw on it. You can then figure out what is on that circuit, and what is causing your draw.

expert reply by: Samuel C