Is having a battery in a TC necessary?

mlts22 wrote:
I am almost certain that you have a single stage, "battery boiler", converter. I assume the rig is over five years old, which almost makes it certain that a single state is present.

ANd LIfeline batteries need a special set of chagring voltages, which a standard single stage converter can't provide.

You sure your not leaving your lifeline in the camper all winter with no power source? That will centrically kill you battery.

realter wrote:
I've had numerous battery problems in my Northstar Laredo. 3 batteries in less than 5 years. Now the charger (converter) doesn't seem to be working. If I never boondock, always staying someplace with electricity, is it necessary to have a battery? The batteries are inside, so have to use the high priced lifeline type battery. Thanks for any help.

So, you don't have listed what kind of TC you have. But suffice to say, you have to have a 12v converter. All the lights, fridge, water pump and furnace run directly from 12v. Virtually nothing runs EXCLUSIVELY off 110v except the AC. Even the fridge set to 110v mode needs 12v to run the brain.
If you have electric jacks, you need at least one battery. If you try to run the jacks down, all 4 at once will burn out the converter. Most jacks draw between 20-30 amps each, and the average TC converter is around 45-ish amps. You could get away with one jack at a time, but what a PITA.

delosholly wrote:
" bought a camper to only go to all places that have electricity, you bought the wrong RV. The purpose of a camper is be able to get away from that crowd to begin with."

You are not correct. While many TC owners have a TC for that specific purpose, not all of us do. We camp 99.9% of the time in campgrounds that have electricity. For us, the TC allows: pull a cargo trailer for our scooter while still allowing our cats to be with us in the cab and have a way to get into the camper part without us having to catch them every time like we had to with a toy hauler. And we did not want a motorhome style RV because we wanted the truck for other purposes.

No problem, my friend. If you want to sit in an overcrowded manicured lawn golfcourse with 300 other campers, I am ok with that. I am glad that you have your reasons for your camper and your scooters and kittys. I was trying to add a little levity to the thread, but you want to take it all serious, so my apologies for offending you, if that is what I have done. May all your adventures in your camper be excellent ones sir. I wish you nothing but good memories and good times.

realter wrote:
I just looked and it is a WFCO, model WF8945AN-P.

Easy to replace with the PD-4645. Take off the front panel of the breaker box and there are two screws holding the converter in. Slide it out, disconnect 2 wires, then slide the new Progressive Dynamics Intellipower in its place and re-connect. Easy job. You don't have to remove the whole power panel or fuse box to change it out, the converter is just one component that slides out of the chassis. The PD-4645 was made a direct swap-in replacement to Magnetek, WFCO and other cheap OEM equipment, and comes with step-by-step instructions. Or, take it to the dealer and have them replace it with the same junk.

I have never understand why a 7300 series converter might be considered a " battery boiler ",. Not my experience with one.

NRALIFR wrote:

finaddict wrote:
This will sound a little critical, but if you bought a camper to only go to all places that have electricity, you bought the wrong RV. The purpose of a camper is be able to get away from that crowd to begin with.

Word to the wise: Never tell another man who to marry, whether he should have a gun or not, or what type of RV to buy. Those all VERY personal choices. :W

:):)

But you should warn him not to marry your EX and why:B

Battery cost : You could use a wet cell battery if you install it in the trucks bed , between the wheel well and truck cab or if you have room, under the trucks hood or in a Torklift frame mounted battery box.
Some chargers need to have a battery to act as a buffer. The chargers sometimes charge the battery and things work off the battery.
If you don't use a battery in a system like that, then you need to install some kind of condenser to act as a buffer.
Even though you stay in places with electrical hookups , you'll need 12 v battery power to op. things if the 110 elec. goes out . You'll lose your carbon monoxide and propane detector, water pump as well as everything else.
I lost power 2x while using the shower, 12 v battery worked the pump to make me less soapy .

I just looked and it is a WFCO, model WF8945AN-P. Today in the daylight I find the 9 page guide which covers more than I want to know. I'll try some trouble shooting on that page first. If unable to fix, is this something that I need to take to a camper dealer, or would some other business be able to fix it? I definitely would not try to install one myself.THANKS FOR ALL THE PROMPT HELP!!

Just because a battery is "inside" it does not mean it has to be a sealed AGM or gel type battery. Lance has doors to the outside that have venting and with their 830 models there are hoses going from battery covers to the outside.

Your charger has been malfunctioning and I doubt many camper manufacturers put the best possible chargers into their campers. Replace the charger with a good one and your battery problems should disappear. Be sure that you have good connections from the charger to the converter and from the truck to the camper.

It is hard on a battery than to have it only partially recharged and then discharged repeatedly. The flooded lead acid handle this the best which is part of the reason that they are used on golf carts and forklifts. The AGM type suffer the most with partial recharges and discharges which is a reason to avoid them if you do not need them.