SoundGuy wrote:
dboliek1112 wrote:
I have a 2000 Winnebago Chieftain 35U Motorhome. In order to keep batteries charged during the winter, should I keep A/C power constantly on so the converter charges? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Now that others have had their say I'll chime in with my own view I believe no one else has mentioned. ;)
During the season from April to Nov I park our trailer on the driveway here at the house and leave it plugged in 24/7. HOWEVER, I would not do this if the trailer's electrical system wasn't protected by an EMS w/surge protection such as the Progressive Industries EMS-HW30C I have. The reason - just as when camping irregularities in service power can and do occur, whether you know it or not, and can destroy costly electrical devices in the trailer, including the converter / charger. Right as this very moment my own EMS is displaying a PE4 error code, meaning a recent loss of ground which periodically seems to happen when there are power disruptions in the neighbourhood. In the years I've been protecting our rig with an EMS I've experienced low voltage that triggered the EMS and on one occasion one side of the incoming house source power going excessively high while the other side went excessively low, obviously a power distribution problem. The trailer in this case happened to be plugged into the side that went high so my EMS disconnected power to the trailer - had it not I'd have had some serious repair to deal with. All this being reality, I'd suggest that those not using an EMS only plug in as necessary to allow the converter / charger to restore the batteries, otherwise unplug and protect your trailer from incoming power line vagaries. If you do decide to ignore this advice then at least turn off all the breakers to everything but the converter so in a worst case situation only the converter may have to be replaced. Best solution though - invest in an EMS! :B
Good point and thanks. Ordered a PI EMS last night. Should have mentioned that'll be first step.
