Typical amp draw when "everything" is off

ybakos · June 2023

I have a 2022 CS-S and upgraded to a Renogy 200ah with bluetooth that shows the current draw via the Renogy DC Home app. With all things off, I see a draw of about 1.7 amps. Is this a typical draw on your Tab? Is that draw caused by one or two components or the sum of a bunch of little indicator lights? Seems like a lot for having everything off (even the display on the Jensen is off).

Loving the large battery... I'm trying to dial in the available power while boondocking.

What's your battery draw when everything is off?

VictoriaP · June 2023

The Jensen (both TV & entertainment unit), the fan, all USB outlets, the propane sensor, and the Alde control unit are all known parasitic draws, and I may have missed others. Many of us wire in kill switches on some or all of these to prevent excessive battery drain.

Marceline · June 2023

ybakos said:

I have a 2022 CS-S and upgraded to a Renogy 200ah with bluetooth that shows the current draw via the Renogy DC Home app. With all things off, I see a draw of about 1.7 amps. Is this a typical draw on your Tab? Is that draw caused by one or two components or the sum of a bunch of little indicator lights? Seems like a lot for having everything off (even the display on the Jensen is off).

Loving the large battery... I'm trying to dial in the available power while boondocking.

What's your battery draw when everything is off?

@JKjenn did some testing and it seems like she found 0.75 amps/day with everything turned off. So 1.7 amps seems high.

Grumpy_G · June 2023

In my 2015 320S it's just shy of .3A. Radio,TV in standby, gas alarm and the blue LED in the bathroom light.

pthomas745 · June 2023

Each year of the trailer the "parasitic" drains are a bit different. My 2017 is about like Grumpy's, about .25a. In the newer trailers, allegedly, there is a separate fuse for the Jensen unit (I would check if this is true). If you do have one, pull that fuse and see how things respond. In my 2017, the Jensen stuff was all connected to different circuits.

Tabmanic · June 2023

Just checked our 2023 400 BD, it's about .25a and 3w but I did put a switch on the the radio to cut draw. The radio draw was about .03a

Maple_Geek · June 2023

With the TV unplugged and nothing running, I get about 0.5A which likely includes the Jensen radio, various Victron devices and whatever else leaks a bit of current.

pthomas745 · June 2023

@ybakos There are a lot of numbers in this thread, and your newer 2022 is the outlier. At 1.7 amps, that would be more than 35 amps per 24 hours for parasitic drain which is......a lot. This would leave about zero room for any other electrical use (fridge, especially) with an 80 amp hour battery with 40 usable amp hours. If you can, show us a screen shot of your Victron status page with the battery switch on and no solar or shore power coming in. (You can turn the solar charger off in the settings page).

Da_Birds · June 2023

The clam shell will also draw power when open to keep the gas cutoff solenoid open. I place a small piece of cardboard in the switch housing to turn this off when boondocking with the clam shell open. You just need to remove it when you need to use the stove. Also need to remember to remove it before closing the clam shell. Maybe this was changed in newer models but this is the case in our 2021 320CS-S.

Slackers · June 2023

We've made that mistake of not removing our galley hatch switch hack. It made for a few minutes of panic. We'll need to figure out a way to make our hack (a section of hose) stand out when deployed.

ybakos · June 2023

Ah - I have perhaps deceived myself. My "all off" was with the hatch open and the fridge on but w/o the compressor running. (!)

Right now, parked back at home, closed up, I see a draw of 0.

ashirshac · November 2023

I have a similar 'draw when everything is off question' for our 2023 Tab 400 boondock w/ Lithium upgrade (4x100 batteries).

The following has just started, checking in the past week. With the battery switch turned on, and the battery has plenty of charge, something is drawing about 6-8 amps.

The inverter is shut off. I've verified multiple times that no accessories are turned on: no fridge, no usb, no lights, no pump, no heat, no a/c, no microwave. The fridge is turned to zero. The radio is lit up, so that's on.

I even shut off all breakers and pulled each fuse, 1 at a time, but the Victron connect app continues to show 6-9 amps being drawn. What could be causing this and/or can you suggest a way for me to determine what's drawing power?

Since we are in Massachusetts, and the weather has turned cold around 30-50 degrees F, I was wondering if it has something to do with the lithium batteries trying to maintain heat? The lithium battery heat switch located in the bed cubby is NOT turned on. According to the Battleborn manual, the internal battery heater should NOT show on their monitoring app, so this seem unlikely.

Attaching some pictures. With battery switch off (zero draw, small solar charge)

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021717/uploads/editor/g4/6733xbk25gnv.jpg

With battery switch on (drawing power 7.92A) .

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021717/uploads/editor/cm/59se8tdslexj.jpg

Battery switch off, charging 6.4A:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021717/uploads/editor/ag/rpbl9bey7v5f.jpg

Battery switch on, drawing power 2A while charging 6.6A (so net draw about 8.6A):

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021717/uploads/editor/5o/x2ol0zjig2sg.jpg

Sharon_is_SAM · November 2023

Isn’t the light on the step always on when the step is deployed?

ashirshac · November 2023

The step is not deployed. There is a specific porch light switch that is off.

Yoshi_TAB · November 2023

Hi,

Just a long shot...is it possible the pin for your e-brakes could be pulled or just out enough? That is a big draw and around the amount e-brakes pull?

I don't have them, but doing a quick search I've seen specs for battery heating pads across the board from very low amps to 4-5 depending on the type (internal or external). Are the heating pads fused somewhere that you could pull it and observe any change or are they internal to the battery BMS?

pthomas745 · November 2023

@Yoshi_TAB the emergency brake when I tested mine drew...6 amps! So, that is plausible, as is the heater idea. Each battery heater draws 1.6 amps.

otr_320 · November 2023

ashirshac said: . . . can you suggest a way for me to determine what's drawing power?

I'd suggest using a DC current capable clamp-on ammeter to help you find the source of the parasitic current. When I'm chasing parasitic, I start at the battery terminal and follow/chase the wire that has the parasitic current. Sometimes it's an easy process--sometimes not. Your 6-8a of parasitic could either be the sum of a number of smaller loads or just a single load.

ashirshac · November 2023

@Yoshi_TAB, @pthomas745, @otr_320, @Sharon_is_SAM thanks for the ideas. I'll check these out.

ashirshac · November 2023

Where is the pin for your e-brakes? Is that on the trailer cable that attaches to the TV?

SLJ · November 2023

We are seldom on shore power. There was way too much that was always on from the factory. I put in a switch bank next to the Jensen stereo to cut all the parasitic draws. TV stereo, USB outlets, etc. Disconnected the step light, replaced the two overhead LEDs with dimmable that are off. Only thing left on is the carbon monoxide detector and roof solar controller. I also installed a switch at the batteries that isolates them totally when it's stored so nothing is connected.
Switches are outside USB, inside USB, Stereo, Blu-Ray, TV.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021717/uploads/editor/57/h1w81nggkvsm.jpg

pthomas745 · November 2023

@ashirshac the emergency brake cable is the thin cable that runs from the passenger side of the tongue, free of the trailer chains, and attaches to the tow vehicle. There is a box on the tongue, and at the end of the thin cable is a plastic connector that goes into the box. The plastic connector is a couple of inches long, and the few times I've pulled mine out for various reasons it took some force to pull it out. It will look like this little box sold at e-trailer.

https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Bright-Way/3802348.html

Yoshi_TAB · November 2023

Hi, The box and pin that @pthomas745 discusses looks like this . Yours may be slightly different depending on the one Nucamp used.

Edit: oops..I missed he included a link..sorry for the repeat.

ashirshac · November 2023

@Yoshi_TAB, @pthomas745 It was the e-brake pin! It had been pulled out, perhaps as I was jockeying the trailer in my backyard with my lawn tractor. I put it back in and now the parasitic draw with all accessories except USB and whatever can't be turned off by switch is -1A. So problem solved. Thanks for your help.

MarkAl · November 2023

Is your current draw measured with a shunt at the battery negative lead? If you are looking at the current with a solar controller it will only show the current being pulled from the solar panel.

BrianZ · November 2023

@ybakos and @ashirshac
About 4 yrs ago I did a lot of testing to track down which electronic devices were accounting for our background "phamperage" when everything was "off"..
https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/comment/121905/#Comment_121905
I subsequently installed several kill switches to alleviate most of the background current.

bjn2 · December 2023

Note that the converter has some draw even when you're not using shore power.

Howdy, Stranger!

Quick Links

Categories

Typical amp draw when "everything" is off

Comments