Batteries dying overnight

Discussion in 'Trucks [ Eighteen Wheelers ]' started by skman, May 23, 2018.

  1. skman

    skman Medium Load Member

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    I've had this happen a couple times in the last two days. The other day I was blowing out the vents with an air gun and blew out the blower fan and around the dash as well. Not sure if that matters to the story but that's when this problem started.
    The next day, I went out and low battery alarm is going off. Only thing that should have been using battery power overnight is my GPS and sat radio. I thought maybe I bumped a switch when cleaning but everything else was off.
    So I boosted and it started up. Ran that day...my voltmeter was showing 14 on the gauge and showing it move between 13.5-14.5 on the DataStar.
    Next morning it fired up...but seemed to turn over a little slower than usual.
    Last night, I shut off the battery disconnect switch. Figured if something was draining batteries overnight then that might stop it.
    This morning, turned the switch on and batteries were dead again and needed a boost to start.
    I guess my next step would be to disconnect the batteries and clean the terminals. I have a load tester to check each battery separately to see if I have one or more bad ones.
    Cables on the starter are tight and clean (switched starter about 6 months ago) and wires on alternator are tight.
    Truck is out working right now but is there anything else I should look at while I'm messing around?
     
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  3. pmdriver

    pmdriver Road Train Member

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    Check to see if you have a cell dead on a battery, it will start killing everything off.
     
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  4. skman

    skman Medium Load Member

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    I should be able to tell that with a load tester right?
     
  5. Ridgeline

    Ridgeline Road Train Member

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    Yes but if you have one bad cell in one batter - replace them all. Keep the others as spares if you can.
     
  6. Cam Roberts

    Cam Roberts Road Train Member

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    yup. I heard if you don’t, you’ll just be replacing all batteries again soon
     
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  7. skman

    skman Medium Load Member

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    My batteries are a couple years old and when I was long hauling....they were used for inverter and bunk heat. Also,now I'm working local and the roads are terrible. So I guess they could be getting weak...or damaged from vibration
     
  8. WitchingHour

    WitchingHour Road Train Member

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    It wouldn't hurt to do a parasitic load test. Disconnect your battery positive, clamp a lead to it, go through your fuse panel and see if anything is drawing more amps then it should in a shutdown state.
     
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  9. skman

    skman Medium Load Member

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    Good idea. I think I'll load test my batteries and if they pass...I'll do the drain test. I might do it anyways. Then I'll know for sure if there's any other issues. Thanks
     
  10. Hulld

    Hulld Road Train Member

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    When you hit the master disconnect switch that isolates the truck from the battery’s.
    With that being said if your batteries still go dead the problem lies with your batteries.
     
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  11. BoxCarKidd

    BoxCarKidd Road Train Member

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    One bad battery can drain the other three as well. Then they all test bad.
    You would need to disconnect them from each other and turn off the disconnect at the end of the day. Then test them in the morning. Over several days is better. The bad egg usually shows up.
    Unless they are fairly new and or you are home every night best to get em all as said. One service call would pay for them all.
     
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