Nothing coming from Extra Battery -- Trying to resolve

[jeff00seattle]

It is possible that something got left on from your last trip that drained the battery?

Good question, my very smart spouse asked the same question.

If something was left on that did drain the battery, and then now all are are off (because I verified with the van engine on).

Would something that may have previously drained the battery completely kill the battery from ever recharging?

Lets try something different and try disconnecting the extra battery from the isolator. Then retake your voltage measurements.

Can I do this measurement by disconnecting under-hood circuit breaker from home battery, and then measure voltage from terminal on under-seat circuit breaker against the van body as ground?



The battery I purchased in 2009 was a Fullriver DC200-12, BCI Group: 4D

[Scalf77]

Yes, you can remove the wire from the breaker under the hood, either one would work the one going to your extra battery or the one coming from the isolator. Actually remove the one from the isolator and tape it off. Now check the voltage on your camper side again.

-greg

[daveb]

Originally Posted by jeff00seattle

Would something that may have previously drained the battery completely kill the battery from ever recharging?

To what point a battery will recover depends, but to answer your question, unless the battery has a bad cell, most likely it will recover and hold a specific % of charge after a complete discharge if you give it a hard charge for a day or two. But I've had a fairly new optima that went bad and I wasn't able to get it to charge up. The battery just sat too long discharged...my fault. Like I said, just a light left on could kill a battery over the period of a few days. The longer you wait to charge it back up the more damage will be done. Sometimes the age of the battery will determine how much it will recover after a hard discharge. Hopefully your battery is OK.

[BajaSportsmobile]

I would completely disconnect or even remove the battery in question and charge it for several days with a quality charger like a ctek - it will probably recover just fine.