You’re ready to hit the road but a good question to ask is, “How long will an RV battery last without being plugged in?”
A 12v battery will usually last from 2-3 days when you’re using it regularly. However, even if you aren’t using it, there could be things pulling power from it. Don’t expect to come back to a fully charged battery just because you weren’t using your RV for a couple of weeks.
Dealing with the Parasitic Load that Drains Your RV Battery
Even if you don’t touch your RV, there are systems that draw from the RV’s battery.
These parasitic loads don’t just annoyingly drain your RV battery. They could cause other problems as well like:
- Shortening your RV’s battery life
- Making recharging your RV battery more difficult
- Sulfation (This happens when a battery doesn’t get a fuel charge and it builds up and stays on the battery plates)
All you need is a digital multimeter to check and see if there is anything pulling from your RV battery.
- Accurate Measurement
- Durable
- Some customers confused about battery installation
If you see that there is a parasitic load, you need to get to the bottom of what is causing the drain. You can pull fuses out for different things you think it might be and test again.
You will still have some drain from the battery because you can’t get rid of all of it but you can cut out the big ones that are killing your battery charge.
Getting a Battery Charge Back in Your RV’s Battery
You don’t have to be in a campground sucking up shore power to get a charge for your RV battery. We put together an article about how to charge your RV battery that can help you.
My recommendation would be to get a great generator for your RV. We personally used the one below because it was pretty quiet for a generator and still gave us plenty of power.
This generator saved us from burning due to lack of air conditioning or not being able to cook quite a few times. Works great.
- Nice run time
- Dual-fuel
- Great brand name
- Lightweight enough for the watts
- Parallel capable
- Not totally budget-friendly
But you can also use solar or your tow vehicle to get more juice.
Wrapping Up Your RV Battery Charge Questions
Now you have an idea of how long an RV battery will last. The less you use it, the longer it will last, but if you’re using it for AC and watching TV, it’s definitely going to go faster than you’d like it to go.
Before heading off, you should check out these other great articles that can help you with your RV lifestyle.
When Jessica was older and had a family, she took her crew on the road for 2.5 years. They lived in 2 different RVs during that time. One 18 foot long and one 28 foot long. Both pull-behind RVs.
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