Truck Sits.... Do I Need A Switch?

[JAG1]

I use my truck primarily for hauling the rv and short runs to town. Anyway it's not often enough to keep the batteries fully charged. Where would you hook up a switch to stop the battery discharge when the truck is stored?TIA

[Wild and Free]

They make a master disconnect switch which disconnects the battery ground. Just a simple inline mechanical switch between the battery and ground in the main battery cable. There are many different styles.

[flagmanruss]

The parasitic draws are all on one fuse, I believe. I think Mike posted that it had a easy pull handle on it. The truck will even run without it... I think you lose the clock & radio resets.

[JAG1]

Might be better to just install a battery maintainer on it. I wonder if those can keep up with the slight draw plus keep the batteries full.

[Wild and Free]

Might be better to just install a battery maintainer on it. I wonder if those can keep up with the slight draw plus keep the batteries full.

Not only will they keep the batts charged but help them last longer.

[Ed ke6bnl]

Not only will they keep the batts charged but help them last longer.

I had batteries going down even after replacement, I never got around to check the milliamp draw when truck is sitting but installed a maintenance charger on the truck. and like you the truck is used for hauling my 5th wheel and some hauling of cars and loads.

[Mopar1973Man]

As for the parasitic loads all you got to do is pull the IOD fuse in the cab out and that will stop. But batteries will not hold a charge just sitting either. You got to charge the batteries at least once a week or use a battery maintainer.

[Cummin Dodge]

Might be better to just install a battery maintainer on it. I wonder if those can keep up with the slight draw plus keep the batteries full.

I highly recommend a battery maintainer I get mine from wal mart for 19.99 they are made by schumacher battery chargers I have had one for five years and I just recently purchased a second one. I put it on my big deep cycle batterys over the winter and it holds just fine.

[flagmanruss]

If I had the truck where I could use a plug in maintainer, rather than solar, I would do it. In fact, I have an (unapproved) flood light on my telephone pole with underground feeder to the house. Since I no longer use the flood (no longer have horses) I've thought of cutting off the lead & putting an outdoor box on it. It's not real close to the truck but it'll reach with a cord & it's on the correct side of the driveway.

[pepsi71ocean]

i would venture to say something isn't right. parasitic loss for me was very little over the 6 month span my truck was ooc.i have two deep cycle marine batteries i think 1000cca, in my truck and my truck sat for the better part of 6 months over the summer until i got my new trans back in i think November? anyways my batteries were still reading 12.3v after all of that sitting, and i didn't use a charger.unless your trucks usage is that infrequent then id consider looking at something else.

[JAG1]

Your right.... there might be something wrong cause last weekend the batteries were at 12.5. Now I find them down to 12.3. That's a lot of draw down in 5-6 days. I even took the Schumacher maintainer back when I found out it couldn't keep up. It wouldn't bring the batteries back from a just a light load after 30 hours, 12.5 up to 12.6. So O'Rielly's took it back no problem. Dang.... I hope nothing's wrong:think:

[MoparFreak1988]

You don't have any aftermarket remote starters or remote entry on there do you? we had two cars neither of which were diesels that would die over time if they weren't run. we found there was a drain from the remote starter system about .2-.4 over 1 week on both cars. both cars had the same viper system installed by a technician viper claims they weren't installed correctly so I pulled both systems and now no problem...

On the maintainer side we (me and my father) make a 30 watt solar charger kit. You can make this yourself in about a hour for 45 dollars plus a solar panel (about 130 total- ours go for 160).

They use a deltran battery tender controller and can put out up to 2.5 amps most often right around 2 amps in the sun and is always at least 13.4 volts even in shade (assuming you use a 30 watt panel) it works just like the original trender and will not damage you battery's. The controller (http://batterytender.com/products/solar/battery-tender-solar-controller.html) it will handle a watt range of 5-45.

As far as the panel amazon has a good 30 watt panel for about 80 and a connection kit for another 16.

We made it cause out here in the lake country area there was a need for a reliable powerful tender not needing an outlet for the battery operated boat lifts like mine and extension cords and large bodies of water don't mix. hope that helps you out a bit

- - - Updated - - -

You don't have any aftermarket remote starters or remote entry on there do you? we had two cars neither of which were diesels that would die over time if they weren't run. we found there was a drain from the remote starter system about .2-.4 over 1 week on both cars. both cars had the same viper system installed by a technician viper claims they weren't installed correctly so I pulled both systems and now no problem...

On the maintainer side we (me and my father) make a 30 watt solar charger kit. You can make this yourself in about a hour for 45 dollars plus a solar panel (about 130 total- ours go for 160).

They use a deltran battery tender controller and can put out up to 2.5 amps most often right around 2 amps in the sun and is always at least 13.4 volts even in shade (assuming you use a 30 watt panel) it works just like the original trender and will not damage you battery's. The controller (http://batterytender.com/products/solar/battery-tender-solar-controller.html) it will handle a watt range of 5-45.

As far as the panel amazon has a good 30 watt panel for about 80 and a connection kit for another 16.

We made it cause out here in the lake country area there was a need for a reliable powerful tender not needing an outlet for the battery operated boat lifts like mine and extension cords and large bodies of water don't mix. hope that helps you out a bit

[Mopar1973Man]

If you going to use any battery maintainer make sure to check the electrolyte levels monthly. Even though most battery chargers tend to charge at a very low rate and very safe the battery will still vent moisture from the battery over time and dry out. Event the battery bank here at the house uses about 1-2 quarts of distilled water a month. My Rv uses about 4-8 ounces of distilled water a month and so does the truck. This is one reason why AGM and sealed batteries tend to fail at a shorter life span vs. wet cell batteries because no matter what you do or how slow you charge the battery it will vent moisture as the cells warm and expand. This will never change. Now once the plates are allowed to dry or partial dry then the cell is ruined permanently. Even if you re-load with distilled water and recharge it ruined it will never have the same capacity again. Batteries are a weird animal being they create large amount of current flow chemically between lead plates and acid/water mixture. As the battery discharges then the chemical changes occur to the plates and the electrolyte mixture. So yes. Its best to keep it on a charger. But remember to keep an eye on the electrolyte levels and you'll get long life from your batteries. My first set of OE batteries went 10 years and could of gone farther but didn't want to push.

[JAG1]

Thanks. There are no remote starters or anything like that. Fortunately, I do know how to locate what is sometimes called 'Earth Leaks' with my volt meter. I'm planning on poking around later when it warms up. I like the idea of using solar simply because of the thought of something plugged in all the time could be an eventual fire hazard. I did have a charger get so hot once it melted it.Still considering all options.

[Mopar1973Man]

Like both my RV and house batteries both have 3 stage chargers on them. Normal float chargeBulking chargeMaintenance / Equalizing ChargeNormal float charge is typically 13.0 to 13.2Bulking charge is 14.3 to 14.5Equalize is typically a over charge. My house system is 30 Volts (24 volt system) and RV is 14.8 to 15.0. Equalizing is important because this process causes the battery to boil slightly stirring the distilled water and acid back together. Being that truck batteries typically do see this I will pull my battery cables and throw a charger on for about 1-2 hours and high charger to reach 15 or so volts. This is a normal maintenance thing for wet cell batteries because the electrolyte will stratify or separate and rot the lower parts of the plates out. So this stirs the electrolyte back together and reclaims a small part of sulfation of the plates too.

[JAG1]

Like both my RV and house batteries both have 3 stage chargers on them. Normal float charge Bulking charge Maintenance / Equalizing Charge Normal float charge is typically 13.0 to 13.2 Bulking charge is 14.3 to 14.5 Equalize is typically a over charge. My house system is 30 Volts (24 volt system) and RV is 14.8 to 15.0. Equalizing is important because this process causes the battery to boil slightly stirring the distilled water and acid back together. Being that truck batteries typically do see this I will pull my battery cables and throw a charger on for about 1-2 hours and high charger to reach 15 or so volts. This is a normal maintenance thing for wet cell batteries because the electrolyte will stratify or separate and rot the lower parts of the plates out. So this stirs the electrolyte back together and reclaims a small part of sulfation of the plates too.

Ah ha... So that's why they call it 'battery equalization' . It mixes the tendency to settle at the bottom.