[A/S] Battery drained

["mannyferro" <bonnuit@xxxxxxx>]

We are taking our annual Christmas season trip to Disney World this 
weekend, and will be the first time in the 83 Excella 31  and we are 
really looking forward to it.

Departure date is Thursday, the 13th and will be back on Monday.  Our 
friends and neighbors will be joining us there.  (The wimps are 
staying at the Boardwalk Hotel).

I went by yesterday to check the trailer in storage in anticipation 
of our trip, and noticed the battery was completely dead.  So dead 
not a single light would go on.  Not the power tongue jack either.  I 
hooked up the car to the trailer and charged it for 15 minutes and 
made no improvement.  I have power to the brakes and the outside 
trailer marker lights OK.   Called Walt in Ocala and he said to check 
out the "one o'clock" position in the car power outlet to make sure I 
had not blown a fuse.  Took it to the Jerry's Hitches in Miami (who 
had installed it) and it turned out that the "one o'clock" is hot and 
OK. Checked the fuse (20 amp) and it is OK too.

So I went and purchased a Sears battery charger (automatic type), 
removed the battery from the Airstream.  The battery is a Delco, less 
than 2 months old. It showed Red in the condition light. ( Needing 
charge). It is charging at home as I write.

Question:  Walt seems to think that the fact that the battery was 
completely dead should not matter once you hook up the car to it.  My 
personal experience with cars (not RV or Marine batteries) is that if 
a car battery is totally dead you will not be able to keep the car 
running for long, if at all.  If it has a little bit of charge, then 
you can run the car on the alternator for a long time.  Are deep 
cycle batteries the same?

Any ideas on what would cause the battery to be so totally drained?  
I think it could be anything.  It has been in storage 3 weeks.  There 
is no power in storage.  The suggestion has been made to unhook the 
battery when in storage to keep it from being drained.  Are there any 
products that will make this simpler than physically removing the 
battery to get at the negative ground and using a wrench.?

Thanks

M. Ferro
83 Excella 31
00 Mountaineer