battery separator draining battery in off-loaded camper?

[NRVhawk]

As a noob camper owner, I'm on the steep learning curve of figuring out the charging system. I bought and installed a Trimetric monitor a couple of months ago, which has been very helpful.

Today I offloaded the camper so that I could use the truck to haul some materials. When I checked the Trimetric after unloading, it showed that something was drawing 0.5 A from the house battery. Disconnecting all of the 12V loads by using the 12V master switch didn't change that.

The only thing that I could think of that might be draining the battery was the solenoid in the 1314a battery separator, and sure enough, it was warm to the touch. Felt just warm enough for about 6W of heating, so I'm pretty sure that's what's draining the battery.

It's been continuously draining the battery at 0.5 A for 4 hours now, and I guess it will keep going until the house battery drops to 12.4 V and the solenoid kicks out. Is there any way to stop this drain, other than disconnecting the battery?

Thanks for any suggestions!

- Rusty

 

[wuck]

Sounds like a defective separator, it shouldn't close with just the house battery connected. Make sure it's not connected backwards, but even then it shouldn't close with only one battery connected.

Oh yeah, make sure your separator isn't on the Surepower recall list.

 

[NRVhawk]

Pat, good thought. So I just checked the wiring on the separator, and it's connected according to the installation instructions.

I was able to get it to stop draining the battery by disconnecting the ground wire on the house battery. The solenoid kicked out then, and stayed out when I reconnected the ground wire. So at least there isn't a current draw on the battery now.

The separator is a 1314A model, so it isn't on the recall list. I'll keep an eye on it and see if it does it again the next time I off-load the camper. Sooner or later I'll probably replace it with a Blue Sea ACR.

Thanks,
Rusty

 

[TrapperMike]

I had similar issues with a current draw on the separator on my 2016 FWC Hawk, but seems to disconnect when I shut off the DC breaker between Iota charger and battery. Once I confirm the separator has disconnected, I flick the DC breaker back on.
FWC sent me a new separator, but I'm thinking if I go through the work to remove the old one, I will replace with a Blue Sea also.

 

[NRVhawk]

Didn't think of trying that. Thanks for the tip! That beats having to disconnect the battery ground.