Living with battery (to power TV, fans and charge phones)

Hi Gene,

It is not heating which causes the water to disappear. It is electrolysis, i.e. the splitting of water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. This is referred to as the "gassing voltage" and it is temperature dependent. The colder it is the higher the voltage needs to be to cause gassing.

Fastpaddler - I believe that most motorhomes (not all) will only charge the house battery if the "house battery switch" is in the "on" or "run" position. I set that switch to the "store" or "off" position if parked in my driveway and plugged into AC power. If not shut off, my charger is not smart enough to cut down the charging rate and will heat the water in the battery enough to vaporize the water. Some call it "boiling out the water".

But IF your rv is in the driveway with house battery switch OFF and you have the RV plugged into house AC power to charge your HOUSE BATTERY, DOES that happen or do you need to have the switch ON to enable the AC power through the power Converter to charge the battery(ies)?? I leave my switch on in that case but do I need to?? When the OP finds the switch he TOO needs to know the answer to my question. THanks anyone.

Cody - I just looked at your other post. Doesn't Great West have a manual to download for your year and model? Your setup is a bit different from our Roadtreks. We have a battery switch on an interior wall. If we want to use just 12 volt power in the van, that switch gets put on. The way the newer RTs are wired, if we are going to run the generator or plug into shore power that switch has to be put on first. This switch seems similar to the switch that you found under your step with the battery. What our switch does is connect the battery. Off the battery is disconnected and offline. If we leave it on while the van is not in use - say for a day or more on the driveway, there are things in our Roadtreks that will drain the battery with that switch on. Our CO Detector and Propane Detector are on when that switch is on. If we are in the van we want them on but if the van is sitting on the driveway at home there is no reason to have them on and power draining from the battery. So if I am not using my van that battery switch is always off. Once we start a trip it goes on and stays on until the trip is over - and the Roadtrek is wired to charge the battery when driving or when connected to shore power or when the generator is running. Your Great West may be very different. Roadtrek has manuals that go back to the 1990's - Great West must have manuals available too. Try contacting them.

Take a look at my site, linked below my sig. While I write about Roadtreks, there may be things in article links on my Living in/How to page that are general enough to apply to your Great West also.

1775 and Kimbopolo . I think my RV has the same thing (it is located under the door step). Sorry, Mine is a used rv I recently bought from a used dealer so I am learning how to operate it . The salesperson doesn't not know how to operate it and there is no manual . I posted the photo here along with additional questions hoping someone can help

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/27457621.cfm

I have 2 AGMs on my Roadtrek (same model and set-up as Robert above). I have plenty of power. So much so that I won't be getting solar. Of course, I generally drive a lot which keeps my batteries topped off. If I'm boondocking for a time, running the generator about 30 minutes per day seems to do the trick.

200 reserve minutes is for starting batteries. You want a deep cycle battery with amp hours listed.

Thank you all for your answers

Cody - What you are looking to do is standard in my Roadtrek. There is a 750 watt inverter/converter/charger installed that manages all electric in the B. There is an engine battery and an AGM coach battery (installed outside the van - I have two AGM coach batteries). There is an isolator installed between the engine battery and the coach battery so that neither system drains the other. Both the coach battery and the engine battery charge when driving and also when plugged into shore power (plus in mine when running the on board generator). Take a look at the Tripp-Lite 3-way units to install with your battery to take care of charging. You will not get a lot of time out of the battery between charges if you run too much on it or for too long.

Hi Cody,

There are fewer concerns--until the battery goes into catastrophic failure. When it does--you want it to be vented outside the living quarters.

link to the battery Cody wants

It is always better to plan for worst case scenarios. That way you don't end up as a Darwin award contender.