Forum Discussion

peted123's avatar
peted123
Explorer
May 19, 2013

Plugging in at home between trips

Is there any downside to staying plugged in to home electric between trips...could be 3-6 weeks at a time? We generally leave the fridge off, but 9-year old son loves doing his homework out there and listening to the radio. Or is it better to run down the battery a bit to ensure it can fully charge? TIA

Pete

18 Replies

  • i stay unplugged
    i disconnect the battery cables .
    i make sure that the batteries have a full charge.
    if not fully charged the batteries will freeze in winter .
    if left plugged in the batteries will sulfate and that shortens their life .
  • I keep mine plugged in to run the fridge, but the battery charger breaker is turned off, and my batteries are maintained by the solar controller, which is much "smarter" than the factory converter/charger. By having the unit plugged in, not only does the fridge run, but I have 120v at all of the outlets for any projects that i want to do.....
  • We're always plugged in at home and in 5 years of doing this I have yet to have to add any water to the batteries. We use the refrigerator all season long, never shutting it off. Didn't have any issues doing this with our old HTT for 4 years and none with our current TT all of last year. You should be fine assuming you have a decent converter that doesn't over charge your batteries.
  • You might want to put the batteries onto a dedicated trickle charger, like a BatteryMinder Plus. But otherwise, I do not see much harm in leaving the trailer plugged in, especially if it helps your son focus on his homework!
  • We always leave ours plugged in. We do have a multistage charger manufactured by Progressive Dynamics which eliminates over charging of the batteries, still check the water level about every 3 months but can't recall the last time I had to top them off.
  • We keep ours plugged in and the fridge stocked with condiments and staples.
  • We will leave our rig plugged, but will disconnect the battery because for some reason our battery would over charge.