[MsNomer]

After 6 days sitting in the driveway, the van battery is at 11.9V, but it did start. Last week after sitting two weeks, we had to jump it with the house batteries. Dealer cautions me that lots of things still happen under the hood when the van is otherwise "just sitting," but that it should be able to sit 3-4 weeks.

What say you? How long can your van sit without running down the battery?

 

[keeponvaning]

Mine never stops it seems.

 

[tgblake]

When I went in for my original test drive the van battery was dead. The dealer had to give it a quick charge before it would start. Records indicate that the van arrived at the dealer in mid October 2014. My test drive was on 3/30/15. I had been looking at the dealer listing for many months which indicated that the odometer had 14 miles. When I took the test drive the odometer still said 14 miles. So I believe that I was the first person to test drive this vehicle and that it likely had been sitting for over 5 months. The test drive added about 4 miles. I came back and bought the van in June and it still said 18 miles. I asked them to give the battery a thorough test and replace it if necessary. They said it tested fine.

I don't drive that often so the van sometimes sits for weeks. A couple of times it wouldn't start and I had to give it a charge. The next time I took it in for service (different dealer), I asked them to check the battery. They said it tested bad and replaced it under warranty. They told me that there are lots of draws on the battery even when sitting and that it should be started every 2-3 weeks.

With the new battery, after about 3 weeks without running, it wouldn't start. I charged it up and now I try to check it at least every 2-3 weeks. About a month ago after 3 weeks, it read 11.8V so I just charged it. Yesterday after about 2 weeks idle it read 12.2 volts so I charged it again.

 

[RDinNHandAZ]

I was away for a month plus a few days recently. Knowing this is an issue I connected a trickle charger on a timer that turned it on for about 1 hour per day. Trickle charging AGMs continually is not recommended I believe. When I returned the van started like always. Think about something like this. Buy a battery maintainer and a Christmas tree lighting timer and charge it a bit every day.

 

[keeponvaning]

I have a 12v solar panel VW used for keeping batteries charged in transit. It's yours if you want it. Just plugs into the lighter socket.

 

[MsNomer]

Might take you up on that in a few weeks. Thanks.

 

[papab]

It says this in the manual, under 'vehicle storage'. Putting it on a charger is easier than disconnecting tho. Can you use your solar system to charge it?

If you are leaving your vehicle dormant for more than 21 days, you may want to take these steps to protect your battery.
• Disconnect the negative cable from the battery.
• Anytime you store your vehicle, or keep it out of service (e.g., vacation) for two weeks or more, run the air conditioning system at idle for about five minutes in the fresh air and high blower setting. This will ensure adequate system lubrication to minimize the possibility of compressor damage when the system is started again.

 

[Dwight]

my take on it....

It's much harder to detect when a battery is nearing its end of life (for me) than in the old days. I think, because cars start easier and more instantly. One turn of the crank, ignition.

I've gone on vacation, left the wifes car behind, come home and found it barely cranked. Battery died soon after. I now consider any sign I get, that a battery might be getting weak, a (lucky) sign to replace it.

 

[RDinNHandAZ]

We face this on both ends of the country as we split our time about 6 months each. In NH I have the house power on so a battery maintainer is an option. Between the motorcycles, cars, and tractor we need 5 of them. Wallyworld! I don’t disconnect the negative side on the tractor, the 1995 Miata, or the motorcycles but have my son stop and they get a few days on the maintainer each month. 2002 is the most modern vehicle there though. From 2002 the residual draw on batteries must have gotten higher. The van seldom sits for 3 weeks and I can put a charger or maintainer on that. The 4 runner sits all summer in a garage that gets to about 95º and we turn the power off. It gets charged before we leave, the negative side is disconnected, and when I return in 6 months it will start the vehicle. When we now return I have begun putting it on a 6 amp charger for a few hours to assure that. Heat seems worse than cold for battery life as long as the battery doesn't get so discharged it freezes. Trickle chargers work and if you can mount the connections for one preeminently to the battery or to the charging posts there is a small SAE plug that can be under the hood or zip tied to the grill facilitating connection. Deep discharge kills FLA and AGM batteries, everybody knows that, as they say.

 

[mloganusda]

Harbor Freight sells automatic battery float charger for $5, when on sale, and are 2 amps. My RV sits for 4 months during the winter and this is what I use full time during this time. I do start up the engine about every 2 months to move or do something else.

MLogan
2017 Trend
Smyrna, TN

 

[MsNomer]

Well, the battery tested weak on a load test and it failed to fully charge after an hour's drive, so we will be replacing it. Lucky us, we are headed to New Hampshire in a couple of weeks. We can save $100 by buying it there. Not too worried about getting there--with the separator, we can use the house batteries if we need to.

 

[islandrog]

I am active on a Roadtrek RV Zion forum. Models are either on a 2500 or 3500 chassis. A number of participants have experienced issues with the chassis AGM battery. My 2016 2500 (10 months old) I picked up at Ram dealer on Thursday. They had it for two days to test the battery after I conducted a test and the voltage dropped from 12.6v to 11.98v in 7 days.
They started they used GR8 to test battery and charging system. Both passed. Performed parasitic draw test and confirmed 80 miliamps of draw when bus goes to sleep. No problem found. They further stated 7 days is normal for the voltage drop I recorded. :-(
The voltage reading when I picked it up was 12.14. After an hour drive home the reading was 12.6v. So today, three days after parking it the reading is 12.05v. As I have read here I assumed I could park it for 3 weeks with no issues. I have only had it not start once when parked for about a month. I had the RV plugged into my home 110 to keep the lithiums charged but was not charging the AGM. Since then, when plugged in to charge the lithiums I turn on the inverter and plug into the RV 110 a Battery Tender Plus attached to the OBD-II port which works well to float the AGM. Is it too much to expect the battery to last 2 weeks?

 

[islandrog]

On Thursday picked up my 2016 2500 from the Ram dealer. They had it to test the battery after I conducted a test and the voltage dropped from 12.6v to 11.98v in 7 days.
They started they used GR8 to test battery and charging system. Both passed. Performed parasitic draw test and confirmed 80 miliamps of draw when bus goes to sleep. No problem found. They further stated 7 days is normal for the voltage drop I recorded. :-(
When I picked it up the reading was 12.14v. After an hour drive home it was 12.6v. Today, Sunday, it is reading 12.04v. Not happy. I have been expecting it to hold a charge for a couple of weeks.