Using battery charger in place of converter?

[Bucky1320]

I have a 1990 Gulfstream P30 motorhome. One thing that drives me nuts is battery life. If I leave it unplugged, the batteries go dead quickly, and in days I have dead batteries, which isn't good for them. If I leave it plugged in, the batteries get overcharged, which is also terrible for them.
It has a magnetec converter with charger built in.
In the summer, I often leave it plugged in so that the fridge can run on shore power. During that time, I think that the newer trickle chargers would be much better on the batteries. But how do I go about this? I would love to hard wire it, but with 15A output, I don't know that I could rely on it alone for power when we are using the motorhome. If I plug in the charger with the converter charger enabled, then I suspect the converter charger will continue to overcharge regardless of what the charger is doing.
I don't want to invest in a new converter due to the cost. After all, it is a 1990 motorhome, and I don't want to spend more on this issue than the entire thing is worth. 🙂
Any suggestions?

[Gjac]

I am in the same boat a you. I have a Magnatec 950 converter, and did not want to spend money on a three stage converter or solar set up. What I did was buy the 40 amp B&D charger for $50 and use it to recharge the batteries. The Magnetec 950 is a 50 amp converter but is only a 5 amp charger which to me is not excessive. Many on here have reported the smart chargers do not fully charge the batteries which I believe to be true. What I do is charge until the B&D says FUL then float the batteries for several days with the Magnetec. I notice I can go from 5 days to 7 days dry camping using this process. If I am not planning to camp for a while I disconnect after the float charge and just store the batteries. When ready to camp again I plug in to cool the refer and top off the batteries. I check and add water once or twice a year.

[wildmanbaker]

Search for RV converters, and you will find quite a few in the 50 amp range for less that $200. These are 3 and or 4 stage converters, so over charging the batteries should end. Disconnect the charge output from your inverter, and use at 8 gage wire to connect the output of the new converter to the batteries and you should see less water loss.

[Bucky1320]

The above retro I can find for around $200. I'm not missing something am I?

[kaydeejay]

hmknightnc wrote:
A drop in replacement modern converter is about $100. Not expensive at all compared to trashing batteries.

X 3

[time2roll]

[hmknightnc]

A drop in replacement modern converter is about $100. Not expensive at all compared to trashing batteries.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

Add about 60 watts of solar system. Or upgrade the existing converter.