How to Increase Battery Capacity
After spending 10+ years studying RVs prior to buying one I’m amazed at what I still don’t know! Turns out the cure for that is this amazing forum. The latest issue I’m lost about is a LOT more ...
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The batteries should be enclosed for safety. It's too easy for some metal object to accidentally fall and short them out otherwise. I think this may even be a legal requirement, though I don't know that for sure. (For the same reason, I would strongly advise against using a chain for a hold-down, but rather some arrangement that has no real chance of shorting them out or shorting them to ground. Nylon straps are one possibility among quite a few others.) Bear in mind that a lead acid battery is capable of supplying several hundred amperes in a dead short, sufficient to melt and/or weld metal.
The charge line from the truck through the trailer connector is rarely a quick way to charge depleted batteries; the wiring is usually far too long and too small gauge for that to work particularly well (mostly due to voltage drop). It does not go through the converter; the converter takes 120V in and produces 12V (well, 13.6V or whatever) output.
To answer your question, the truck alternator can put out a good bit more power than the converter, but it won't get to the trailer through the normal wiring so it's a moot point when driving unless you make significant wiring changes/upgrades. If you hook up good jumper cables and use the truck to charge the battery that way you'll see reasonable results. Note that not all jumper cables are good jumper cables; many, and probably all inexpensive ones, are pretty pathetic.
If you'll be camping with hookups for a couple days or more in between dry camping stints, that should be sufficient time for the existing converter to charge the batteries at least most of the way. Where it is not particularly effective is in doing so in shorter periods of time, like a few hours, which is much more of a concern if you're using a generator.
The charge line from the truck through the trailer connector is rarely a quick way to charge depleted batteries; the wiring is usually far too long and too small gauge for that to work particularly well (mostly due to voltage drop). It does not go through the converter; the converter takes 120V in and produces 12V (well, 13.6V or whatever) output.
To answer your question, the truck alternator can put out a good bit more power than the converter, but it won't get to the trailer through the normal wiring so it's a moot point when driving unless you make significant wiring changes/upgrades. If you hook up good jumper cables and use the truck to charge the battery that way you'll see reasonable results. Note that not all jumper cables are good jumper cables; many, and probably all inexpensive ones, are pretty pathetic.
If you'll be camping with hookups for a couple days or more in between dry camping stints, that should be sufficient time for the existing converter to charge the batteries at least most of the way. Where it is not particularly effective is in doing so in shorter periods of time, like a few hours, which is much more of a concern if you're using a generator.
