Charging 6v golf cart batteries?

engineer40 wrote:
Thank you. Thinking through the scenario, if I'm plugged into shore power (since my batteries are charging), wouldn't anything I use in my camper be using shore power and not the battery bank? So my batteries would be doing nothing except charging?

Or am I thinking about this incorrectly? I'm new to campers.

I'm willing to buy a new/better charger if it would make my camping life easier in some way. Thoughts?

Sounds more like a trickle charger intended to maintain an unused battery (they will self discharge over time even with no loads on them)

2 amps at 12v = 24 watts. Assuming it's running at 2amps 24/7, that's 576 watt-hours per day. (it's not exactly correct as charging is actually at slightly higher voltages but that's offset by not being 100% efficient, etc... but close enough to get a rough idea).

So let's say:
- 3 - 12w light bulbs for 4 hours = 144 watt-hours
- 0.5hr of water pump at 100w = 50watt-hours
- 4hr of furnace fan at 100w = 400 watt hours

That basically gets you to 600watt-hours which means you are using more than you put into the battery.

Do you want to charge your cell phones? Run a 12v fan? If there is an electronic control board on the fridge? Radio/TV? Those will all draw more power...and this is a simple low consumption rig. Does it have electric jacks/stabilizers?

Add an inverter to make coffee or run a microwave and it goes up dramatically.

If you are only out for a single night and you start with a fully charged battery, you can probably make it work if you are careful about power consumption but it's marginal.