Charging battery with external charger

no-logic wrote:
Yup. Converter still works. Just won't charge the battery. Same issue I had with it the first time.

Have you checked the resettable circuit breaker that's wired into the cable coming from the battery's positive terminal? If it's open there's no way the converter can charge the battery.

As far as using a stand alone charger is concerned, sure it'll work ... just turn the WFCO off. I've been doing this for several years, just leave my WFCO off and instead use a CTEK Multi US 7002 which is only a 7 amp charger, works just fine, in fact better because it does a proper 14.4 volt bulk charge which the WFCO could never achieve.

shastagary wrote:
your wfco converter does more than just charge the battery it supplies all the power for your 12v devices when you are plugged in does it still do that and the battery is not charging?
if it still powers your 12v needs i would leave it in place and use a separate charger at the same time to help charge the battery until you can replace it.
if your battery was dead it will take more than over night to recharge it if it is still good.

Yup. Converter still works. Just won't charge the battery. Same issue I had with it the first time.

Cool. Thanks guys!! The charger is a 15 amp and we will be hooked to shore power. So we will have plenty of juice and the demand will be light. I just didn't want to fry anything with the external charger feeding backwards. So it looks like I'm good to go with just hooking the charger up and letting it go. Thanks for the help my friends!!

your wfco converter does more than just charge the battery it supplies all the power for your 12v devices when you are plugged in does it still do that and the battery is not charging?
if it still powers your 12v needs i would leave it in place and use a separate charger at the same time to help charge the battery until you can replace it.
if your battery was dead it will take more than over night to recharge it if it is still good.

Just slap it on the battery terminals and charge.
Good to go in all conditions.

I do hope the portable is at least 10 amps rated.

You need to know how much you are drawing from the battery in order to answer that. Your WFCO is likely a 45 or 55 amp unit, how large is your battery charger? And can it keep up with your usage? Many small automatic units will give 6 or 10 amps for short terms but are not really able to give that much for several days, and will eventually overheat if the load is maintained.
If your portable is at least a 15 amp, and preferably a 25 you should be well covered. But it's just a guess since we don't know the sizes or demand.

You should be fine charging while connected, its a question of if it is enough.

The battery will charge more quickly with nothing drawing power. By the onboard charger I assume you mean the converter, it should keep the battery charged as long as the rv is hooked to shore power. Do the interior lights brighten when plugged in?