Do you leave plugged into shore power...?

camperdave wrote:

w4phj wrote:
I'm plugged in 24/7 using a 50A outlet in my garage.

Measured charge current at 400ma in trickle mode.

Batteries have 2 quarts of distilled water added about every 3 months.

That seems like a lot! Unless you have a lot of really big batteries I guess. My dual 6 volters need something like a cup of water a year added (never measured, but less than a turkey baster bulb/cell).

Exactly.....

2 QUARTS every 3 MONTHS???


My dual 12V need a tablespoon per cell twice a year

w4phj wrote:
I'm plugged in 24/7 using a 50A outlet in my garage.

Measured charge current at 400ma in trickle mode.

Batteries have 2 quarts of distilled water added about every 3 months.

That seems like a lot! Unless you have a lot of really big batteries I guess. My dual 6 volters need something like a cup of water a year added (never measured, but less than a turkey baster bulb/cell).

When Our charger goes to "Float charge" there isn't much Amperage draw. It never boils the battery dry.

I leave my rv plugged into a timer so it gets a bit of juice daily, not 24/7/365
bumpy

goufgators wrote:
I read recently that one should not leave the MH plugged in when not in use. We're on our 5th MH and have always left them plugged in when not in use. If, for no other reason, to keep batteries charged. What do you do?

Only time in the last twenty year we have not left ours plugged in is when it was Impossible.

Why would you not?

JMHO,

I'm plugged in 24/7 using a 50A outlet in my garage.

Measured charge current at 400ma in trickle mode.

Batteries have 2 quarts of distilled water added about every 3 months.

time2roll wrote:
Solar

We have solar too, but when at home we don't worry about the inverter being off or on and using anything in it.

Even when we winterize it and in storage for the winter we keep it plugged in.

goufgators wrote:
I read recently that one should not leave the MH plugged in when not in use. We're on our 5th MH and have always left them plugged in when not in use. If, for no other reason, to keep batteries charged. What do you do?

Keep it plugged in. This "assumes" you have a multi-stage charger for the batteries. Anything else that is being used to keep the batteries up should be replaced with one that is.

In days of old when folks were bold a converter was not a think of beauth. Big iron core transformer. Lousy voltage regulation and no smarts so it kept on a chuging out a few too many amps no matter the battery was full last week (Boiled them dry swiftly)

Today most RV's have either a well regulated single stage that actually will never get a battery to "Full up" or a "Smart" (2 or 3 stage) charger that will then drop down to float and can be left plugged in full time.