When I bought my Lance, I had the dealer prep my truck, and he installed a battery separator and circuit breaker on the firewall. I later discovered that my camper has a built-in battery separator and circuit breaker. Can anyone think of any reason I shouldn't remove the separator and breaker from the truck? (This was a dealer who should have known what he was doing, as he specialized in Lance campers for many years.)

Like you said, it sounds like you have some sort of phantom load. My inverter takes almost zero when off, but I can imagine some will draw a small but continuous amount. If you have an ammeter, one that can detect down to a few thousanths on an amp (mA), you may be able to detect any background drain and troubleshoot from there. I'd also be watching the condition of your batteries in the future. I've had trouble with diminished capacity after just one or two deep discharges.

Yep, they test out ok. Only two yers old. I really do think I have a power drain. I have a 2000/4000 watt inveter hooked up and I wonder if it is pulling a phantom charge even when not switched to ON. I will be back at the house this week and do some puttering. PG

Have you had you batteries tested with a hydrometer? you might have a bad cell that is allowing them not to fully charge or hold the charge. If they have been in there for six years they might have bit the dust.

Different problem on this topic. Evey time i go to get the camper out, the batteries are dead! I have only the built in disconnect. I am not sure if I have a phantom load somewhere or what. I can't get the darn thing back on my truck as the batteries are too low to even start the genset, even if I plug in to my truck. I am gonna pull the batteries, charge them both up to full-they are six volt-and then start pulling one of the battery cables off when I leave the camper. This is getting old. PG

Thanks. I think I'm going to leave the separator in the truck and bypass the one in the camper. If the one in the truck ever fails, I'll have a built-in spare.

When I bought my Lance the dealer preped the truck and I just used the one in the camper. When I added the second battery in engine compartment I had to add a second seperator but then Lance advised to disconnect the one in the TC. Everything works fine in charging both battery's

I have only used the one built into my Lance for years with no problems, but sence it's there, I would leave it for other situations like towing, or carrying another camper that doesn't have one built in.

I have an 821 as well, I have an inline 40 amp circuit breaker off of the truck's battery. I rely on the Lance factory battery separator in the camper to keep the current running one way.

Never had a problem with discharge... I've run the camper battery pretty dead on several weekend trips, the truck always has full power to start.

If it's in your way I'd take it out.