Power to RV

[pitch]

My hybrid has never been without power. I keep it plugged in on a 20A circuit 365 days a year. I was told yesterday by a motorhome owner that it was not good to do it, although he did not give me any reason other than his dealer told him so and that he never plugs his coach in.

I use mine as a respite from the house at times and I like convenience.

Am I doing any harm?

[wa8yxm]

Older RV's often had a Magnetek 6300 converter, Modern ones often have a Parallex 7300 which is much better but still not up to my minimum standard.

The 6300, was well known as a battery boiler.. It had two issues that made it a poor choice, One, it only put a few amps to the battery for charging so re-chargind off a generator running it from say 8am to 8pm, NOT going to get the job done.

Second, if you plugged in for long enough to get the battery back to FULL, that dang thing did no know when to stop, So it kept on charging (overcharging) and could boil batteries (once charged) dry in 1-3 weeks.

The 7300, has better regulation but it still has no "Smarts" it puts out the same voltage all the time,, Hopefully not enough to boil 'em dry, but if it's nto enough to boil 'em dry,, It's not enough to fully charge 'em either.

Now, some modern RV's come with better 3-stage converters, IOTA, WFFCO and my favorite Progressive Dynamics with CHARGE WIZARD (Either optional and installed or built in).

These you can safely leave plugged in full time.

[tenbear]

I keep mine plugged in. I use a Battery Minder Plus instead of the built in converter to keep the house battery charged. I also have a trickle charger on the chassis battery.

[bikendan]

pitch, you should be fine keeping it plugged in, IF you check the batteries ever so often, in case the converter starts overcharging.

for me, i could keep mine plugged in but i chose to install a battery disconnect switch. that way i don't have to worry about the converter failing and overcharging the batteries AND it's not costing me money by keeping it plugged in.

after 4 months of storage, unplugged, the batteries were only about 15% down, using the disconnect switch.

[Old-Biscuit]

"My hybrid has never been without power. I keep it plugged in on a 20A circuit 365 days a year. I was told yesterday by a motorhome owner that it was not good to do it, although he did not give me any reason other than his dealer told him so and that he never plugs his coach in."

Hummmmmmmm.....lets see
You HAVE been doing it without problems
He HASN'T been doing cause dealer told him not to.

Who you gonna believe?
You're own experience or some second hand info from someone that doesn't have a clue.

Tell me NO......then justify with good reasoning and I will listen.

[skipnchar]

How often do you check your batteries for fluid loss? That's about the only thing it can harm (other than using up the hours your converter/charger will last). Check batteries about once a month until you know how much water is being boiled away. COULD be quite a bit or could be next to nothing depending on your converter.
Good luck / Skip

[full_mosey]

pitch wrote:
My hybrid has never been without power. I keep it plugged in on a 20A circuit 365 days a year. I was told yesterday by a motorhome owner that it was not good to do it, although he did not give me any reason other than his dealer told him so and that he never plugs his coach in.

I use mine as a respite from the house at times and I like convenience.

Am I doing any harm?

You don't say how long you have been doing that or what batteries or charger you have! But, with a signup date in 2005, I would guess that things have been good so far. Stick with what you are doing.

If you want the best convenience and peace of mind; for your next battery choose AGM. Sears, for one, has a good selection of good quality mfgr AGMs. That is the quickest solution for those who have the boil-out problem that ruins flooded batteries. That is likely the basis for the MH owner's dealer's advice.

AGMs do not boil-out, meaning dry plates from loss of water, even if you have one of those dumb converter/chargers. Those with boil-out problems are usually advised to upgrade the charger. This only slows the boil-out problem.

I have been 100% AGM since Jan 2009.

HTH;
John

[Jim_Shoe]

I keep my 'C' and toad in a heating building I own. I have a quick disconnect on the house batteries and the engine batteries on the RV and toad. I have chargers on all the batteries. The chargers are designed to read the charge levels and automatically adjust to a trickle charge when the batteries are fully charged. I can't remember the brand, but I'll go look and post the brand and model here.

[RoyB]

X2 on all the comments about checking your battery fluids level on a scheduled basis. I also include placing my hand on the sides of the batteries to make sure they are not getting hot.

I lost one of my GP24 batteries before learning this simple thing to do. My older ELIXIR converter put out a constant 13.6VDC and this is right at the boiling out point for battery fluids.

Since then I have installed a good four stage converter and this is on 24/7 here in my back yard setup running from my garage 15A/20A 120VAC setup.

Even though I have a good converter now I still out of habit check my battery fluids on a regular basis.

Been running my same three remaining gp24 Interstate 85AH batteries with good results for around five years. My battery performance is just now falling off - time to start thinking about replacement batteries. My plans are to get four each 150AH Trojan 12VDC T1275s but if money is still tight I will at least go for two groups of 2EA 6V 225AH batteries giving me just a tad less AHs I would get from the four each T1275s

Anything over my current 255AHs setup would work great for me...

Roy Ken

[mowermech]

Checking the batteries for electrolyte level and cleaning corroded connections should be part of the monthly (or quarterly, your choice) maintenance anyway.
Use ONLY distilled water to top off the level, and make sure you know what the correct level is. NEVER add battery acid to a battery!

[naturist]

I, too, think the only issue involves premature battery failure if your converter is not a 3 or 4 stage unit. I killed a battery that way, and since have added a battery cut-off switch (coupla bucks from the RV store) and when I'm thus parked, I'll cut off the battery and put it on a BatteryMinder, which keeps it safely charged and desulphated. The BatteryMinder was about $40, the most expensive part of the deal.

Other than that, enjoy your rig more and worry less.

[mbopp]

If you're worried about it then pull the negative battery lead or install a disconnect switch.
Modern converters with "smart" charging can be left plugged in continuously. Older ones (Magnetek & Elixir come to mind) were "dumb" single stage converters and could boil the batteries.

[SteveAE]

pitch,

If you have a good three (or four) stage battery charger (often called a "converter") that is maintaining the batteries, there should be no harm. If you have one of the cheap pieces of junk converters that come with so many RV's, then you will likely boil your batteries. At a minimum, I suggest you check the battery water frequently until you determine how quickly it is going down.

I agree, it nice to have a little place to go and relax....and pretend to be camping 🙂

[eHoefler]

Nothing to worry about, think about the full timers, they are always plugged in. I have been doing it since day one.