TT Electric battery maintenance

RoyB wrote:

You can not use these small round small adapter as they will get hot on you and eventually burn the contacts of your 30A Shore Power cable and require you to replace them.

That is a pretty broad and general condemnation which I quite assure you is NOT the case all of the time.

As long as the contacts are clean and tight on both sides of the adapter, they should operate exactly as the sockets would if mounted at the ends of a cord.

Having said that......if you are exceeding the rated capacity, all bets are off. And you should feel the connectors and nearby cords occasionally for heat regardless of what you are using. They ALL can deteriorate over time.

prichardson wrote:
You mentioned boondocking - for that you will want more battery capacity than most trailers come equipped with.

Most people solve that problem with a generator.

ddro wrote:
OK I am wondering about this and maybe some of you can help.

Which of your questions have not been answered already in the responses above ??

My only comment is: If your coach batteries are going down to 50% in just 3 days with everything OFF that you can get OFF......then the batteries themselves might be worn out.

Mine came with a built-in battery disconnect. It is good for long term "storage".

On 15 amp service you can power most things in the TT except the A/C or water heater on electric mode. If you leave it plugged in to keep the battery charged, you will want to check its fluid level periodically. You mentioned boondocking - for that you will want more battery capacity than most trailers come equipped with.

If your trailer is parked outside and gets a decent amount of sun you can also use a solar panel with a controller. I use a 55W panel with a small controller and it does a good job of maintaing our trailer's battery. Of course if you want to use AC power that will not help.

Dick

Battery University--it has a lot of good information.

While I don't disagree with anything already posted, I'm a huge fan of Battery Tender. Cheap and easy and you can connect and forget. The battery can be either connected to the TT or not when using one. Doesn't matter

It is a really good bet that EVERY trailer or RV in the world is not identical electrically so while the above answers are probably right......one needs a meter to check the charging voltage, or lack of, while it's plugged in.

If you could locate an owners manual for your model it probably has the answer. Mentioning the brand and model in your question might help too.

X2 Yes, you can leave it plugged in long term, with the adapter. It is best to keep the battery at full charge. Don't forget to check your battery fluid level every month or two.

Lights, TV, low draw items can be run with extension and adapter. You should use a 12-3 extension cord, as a minimum, for best results.

Jerry

I have two trailers parked at home plugged into 120VAC separate 20AMP Receptacles in my garage. Separate meaning each 120VAC 20AMP receptacle is on its own circuit breaker in the garage.

I use a Heavy Duty 50 foot contractor grade 10-3 Extension cord from the two receptacles out to the back yard where my two trailers are parked. Then I use a RV 30A-15A "Long Dogbone type" adapter that allows my trailer 30A shore power cable to plug into the extension cords. I make sure this 30A adapter does not ever get hot by feeling of it when initially installed. Be sure to use the large 10-guage 10-3 Contractor grade extension cords. I have used a 12-guage (12-3) but it starts warming up on me telling me it is not large enough for the loads. I would never use the 14-16 gauge smaller "RED" extension cords like you find in the WALMART Electrical section. They are just TOO SMALL to carry the load. Trying to run your Air Conditioner with this small gauge cable will load down the 120VAC Voltage and may do damage to the air condition as well... It needs to get its proper AC Voltage to operate normally.

Be sure you use this type of RV 30A-15A long adapter available from WALMART

You can not use these small round small adapter as they will get hot on you and eventually burn the contacts of your 30A Shore Power cable and require you to replace them.


This setup allows me to use just about anything in my two RV Trailers including the air conditioner however with the 20AMP Service I am only able to use the high Wattage items only one at a time. i.e. I cannot have the Air Conditioner running and then try to use the microwave as this will trip my 20AMP breaker in the garage.

I use this to keep my batteries chargered all the time using the on-board converter/charger unit. There is a caution here however especially if you are using a single mode converter/charger unit. If you leave 13.6VDC on your batteries for a long period of time this will cause the batteries to boil out their fluids which will destroy your batteries. You have to watch your fluids every week to make sure this does not happen. when the fluid level gets below the cores in the batteries they will short out on you with the deposits build-up. Always keep the fluid level above the cores.

I also use one of these RV 120VAC PLUG in meters in each trailer where I can keep a good watch on the AC VOLTAGE level before turning on any high wattage item. This plug-in meter has a the SAFE ZONE marked in GREEN and if the AC VOLTAGE is not within this scale reading I do not turn on the high wattage items (like the Air Conditioner)...


Been doing this for years here when parked in my back-yard setup ...

Roy Ken