Charging 6v golf cart batteries?
Hello all! I'm new to campers but have been enjoying learning about my new (used) Viking 10ft popup truck bed camper. It did not come with any house batteries. After some research and looking at my b...
Forum Discussion
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?
No, only things that are AC power, like a microwave or airconditioner will run straight off shore (AC) power. All the DC components like fridge, waterpump, lights, funrace fan etc still run off of DC current and they get their current from the battery, or a converter (battery charger/DC power supply "converted" from AC shore power). Since you don't appear to have a converter, you're only pulling from the battery.
So, no, the little battery maintainer you have won't do much against the Amp draw.
What you really want is a converter rather than a bigger charger. Wire it in and be done. If you're on a budget, though a big battery charger (20-30amp), $100 min, will be cheaper than a good converter, $200min. And a smaller(10a), but way better than you have charger will be cheap.
Amp for amp, same charge rating will do the same thing, except the converter will give you full power to your camper even if the battery is dead.
Volt meter, get a digital multimeter. Anything will work, quality depends how valuable and how long you intend to keep it.
And 99% of what you use it for will be checking for voltage and continuity. Quality/accuracy is not as important unless you're actually reading current or resistance and need to know actual values. But a cheap one will be, well, cheap, and a decent one will be durable and reliable. I coughed up for a good one 25 years ago and it still works, only needs new batteries every 5-10 years, and it's durable.
IF you want an amp-meter, (I've been repairing and maintianing all my vehicles for my whole life and only had a few times I wish I had one, campers included) then get a clamp on amp meter.
