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Cecilt's avatar
Cecilt
Explorer
Jun 02, 2014

Safe to charge battery while connected to shore power

My battery needs a good charge and I was going to charge it with my portable charger. Any issues of charging the battery while it is still hooked up on the camper and I am hooked up to shore power? tks

15 Replies

  • With the RV converter charging the battery by being connected to shore power, your external battery charger should signal that the battery is fully charged and most will shut down unless it's a very old type or a real cheap basic charger. I'm assuming the converter charger is working and if so should charge the battery by itself. Then the external old etc charger will just be connected with no additional charging amps going to the RV battery because it thinks the battery doesn't need any charging and won't accept any amps. Chargers vary greatly and over the years of being made.

    To charge an RV battery when the RV is connected to shore power, take the + (red, positive) cable completely off the battery's terminal to be externally charged and at least wrap a dry rag around the cable end to insulate it so it can't short out by bumping into against anything. It will be a very high amperage spark if shorted out and if battery acid gasses are present in dense enough concentration, there could even be an explosion happen and acid thrown all over you. After charging the battery, reconnect the cable tightly. Not smart to have dual charging sources connected to a 12V etc storage battery at the same time as many things could happen and few are good things.
  • It won't harm anything but your 2014 should have a good charger built into the RV.
  • Because not every RV has a decent charger in the charger/convertor. the old Magneteks only devoted 4-5A of a 30A convertor to battery charging.

    A $50 Black and Decker (or Stanley) portable charger does a much better job.
  • Your inverter should charge the battery while connected to shore power. Why would you connect an external charger to it?

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