Trickle charging batteries
I recently made trickle charging the batteries easy without being plugged in. I wanted the trickle chargers inside the MH without activating everything that is on when the MH is plugged in. Winnebago ...
Forum Discussion
pnichols wrote:
I wonder what Winnebago's reasoning is behind that?
Batteries aren't supposed to be adversely affected by leaving trickle charge voltage on them continuously -
The problem IS......that to get any charging at all from a simple transformer and diode, the voltage must be well ABOVE the safe float point. And as the battery charge increases, so does the applied voltage. After the battery is fully charged, the applied voltage might be near 15 volts, resulting in more current than is safe for long term float.
An inexpensive single stage converter is about the same as a cheap trickle charger, operationally.
To achieve proper "trickle charge voltage", more properly called "float voltage", the charger must have some "smart" electronics to regulate and ramp down the voltage to achieve proper float.
Batteries ARE adversely affected by leaving a "dumb" charger connected for long periods.
