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jwstrout's avatar
jwstrout
Explorer
May 24, 2018

Batteries on shore power.....what to do?

Hello All,

At the end of June, my wife, and I are traveling to Yellowstone for 8 days, and 7 nights.

I have two 6 volt golf cart batteries on the trailer that I installed last year. They have been on a maintenance charger all winter, and are showing 12.6ish volts. Upgrading to a smart converter/charger is on my short list of upgrades this year, but it is not going to happen before this trip.

The campsite we reserved has a shore power connection. So I am thinking that leaving the trailer plugged into the shore power, and letting the power run through the old school converter/charger for the entire trip is a bad idea. I'm inclined to disconnect the batteries while we are there to prevent overcharging and/or possible damage.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Jeff
  • j-d's avatar
    j-d
    Explorer II
    May 26, 2018
    Very surprised at the C-C in our 2003 Jayco Class C. Coach is VERY entry level, and being that old, I thought its IOTA brand C-C would be a Battery Boiler. Wrong! We have a single 12V Deep Cycle from Walmart. Used GP27's but last time they were out of them and a GP29 just fits my tray. Point is, We've lived in the RV 2-weeks at a time, 1-month at a time, 2-months at a time, and always leave the coach plugged in at home to run a dehumidifier. Adding water is about a twice-a-year event. That IOTA, and I'm sure it's a cheap one, from 2002, does its job right.
  • MEXICOWANDERER's avatar
    MEXICOWANDERER
    Explorer
    May 26, 2018
    Battery drier-outer's, were commonly BW Magnatek converters.

    I had a 775-2 unit in the 80's that I installed piggy-back schottky rectifiers in parallel with the silicon rectifiers. Could not leave it connected even overnight but it was a step up from the regular ferroresonant bleeder converters of the day.

    As the capacitors aged voltage crept upward. Wotta hoot

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