advisability to turn off battery periodically

[Timeking]

Had a cell die, and then the WFCO burned it to a crisp. Had to replace battery and the acid-laden case.

It seems there is little advantage (?) in keeping the battery charging ALL the time when connected to shore power. A fully charged battery measures 12.9 volts, yet the WFCO in 'absorption mode' is hitting the battery with 13.6 volts, as it was designed to do. Doesn't seem healthy to be continually running current through the battery, month after month after month, which I suspect can only increase gassing, and loss of water ... and bad cell and kablooey.

What might I be missing here?

When I turn the battery OFF, it does not get charging current.

[wopachop]

Interesting what Doug wrote. The same is true for older motorcycles and cars. The battery acts as a buffer. Its a giant capacitor. Able to absorb spikes.

That said i also suffer in a Forest River trailer with a WFCO converter. Keep my battery switch turned off. One day the WFCO will die and something better will take its place.

[dougrainer]

WFCO products are JUNK. Always have been. ALL WFCO products are cheap China knock offs of existing good companies products. YES, OEM's use WFCO because they are CHEAPER.
It is BEST to have a LOAD(Battery) Connected to any Converter. It helps regulate the output voltage to prevent voltage spikes. Doug

[Timeking]

After 4 days, the WFCO was still hitting the BRAND NEW battery with 13.68 volts and there was evidence of gassing. After disconnecting, the battery had 12.9 volts which is perfect 100% charge. WFCO failed to drop to 13.2 (the TT is empty and locked). It is my opinion that there was a 50:50 chance the WFCO gassed the electrolyte below the plates and fried the battery because I didn't check it for 3 months (forgot).

My theory is the reason there is a WFCO in the camper in the first place is that WFCO is the cheapest Forest River could find.... which I confirmed by an Amazon search.

[pianotuna]

Timeking,

I know what the manual says. It's just that 99% of the folks here have never seen a wfco go into bulk.

[Timeking]

From the WFCO manual:

If the output current reaches its maximum (normally caused by a discharged battery), this will cause the converter to go into Bulk Mode, which means the target output voltage will change to 14.4 VDC and a timer will start. Although the converter is outputting 14.4 VDC, you will not be able to read that on a voltmeter due to the voltage-current relationship. From the paragraph above, as load current increases, output voltage decreases. The actual output voltage will not rise until the load current is reduced, which happens naturally as the battery charges or if 12 VDC appliances are turned off.

Bulk Mode will be maintained until the current draw drops to approximately five Amps, or until the timer reaches four hours (whichever happens first). Then the target output voltage is changed back to 13.6 VDC for Absorption Mode. Lights that are powered from the output may change brightness slightly at that time

[time2roll]

Timeking wrote:
It seems a plus of all this, is that if the battery gets a little bit discharged, and I charge it, the WFCO will likely go into bulk mode, and 14.4v is supposedly high enough to address sulfation, i.e., a little bit of time being charged at 14.4 is better for the battery than getting 13.6 all the time. Maybe. I think that at one time I had a real "smart" multi-stage converter that would hit the battery with 14.4 every so often simply for that purpose.

Keep us posted on your quest to see 14.4 volts from the WFCO.

The converter I posted above always starts at 14.4

[valhalla360]

Unless you have a large battery bank, which doesn't make a lot of sense if you are exclusively on shore power, is it really worth the hassle to stretch a single battery from 4-6yr life to 6-8yr life?

[pianotuna]

Timeking wrote:
It seems a plus of all this, is that if the battery gets a little bit discharged, and I charge it, the WFCO will likely go into bulk mode, and 14.4v is supposedly high enough to address sulfation, i.e., a little bit of time being charged at 14.4 is better for the battery than getting 13.6 all the time. Maybe. I think that at one time I had a real "smart" multi-stage converter that would hit the battery with 14.4 every so often simply for that purpose.

All the kings horses and all the kings men, can't get a wfco to go into bulk.

The PD converters do 15 minutes every 20 hours @ 14.4, which "stirs" the electrolyte.

[Timeking]

Full time but not stationary. To remind me to charge it I'll set up a task on my Outlook calendar. I think I will measure the batty voltage every day, and use that data to determine how often I should turn it "on" to charge. Of course, if in transit the battery will need to be on, which will be self-explanatory once I unplug and the jack won't go up!

According to BatteryUniversity, battery voltage fully charged is 12.9 (which it was yesterday) and should not be allowed to drop below 12.3, as below that the battery will sulfate. If this time to drop to 12.3 is longer than a month, I will charge once a month.

It seems a plus of all this, is that if the battery gets a little bit discharged, and I charge it, the WFCO will likely go into bulk mode, and 14.4v is supposedly high enough to address sulfation, i.e., a little bit of time being charged at 14.4 is better for the battery than getting 13.6 all the time. Maybe. I think that at one time I had a real "smart" multi-stage converter that would hit the battery with 14.4 every so often simply for that purpose.

[valhalla360]

Gdetrailer wrote:

Op doesn't really need a battery at all if they are staying put and if that is the case the simple answer is to lose the battery.

Until the park power goes out....

Also full time can include travel were he may need 12v when not plugged in.

[valhalla360]

If you are using the rig, unless you've disconnected all the 12v draws, you pretty much need to keep the charger on. Letting the battery run down low before recharging will wear it out faster than keeping it fully charged.

Check the water level once a month if you are worried.

Now if you have it in storage and plugged in...just make sure there are no 12v draws and it's fine...but then why leave it plugged in.

[theoldwizard1]

I have always been of the opinion that when a battery is in storage, it should not be charged more than 3-4 hours per day for maximum life. A cheap mechanical lamp timer and a "battery tender" will do the job !

[Gdetrailer]

time2roll wrote:
Yes you can turn off the battery. If you don't move you don't even need a battery. Charging the otherwise unused battery every 1 to 3 months overnight is fine.

Yes the function of the WFCO is very poor. The linked converter should go to 13.2 volts after a few days.

Timeking wrote:
Thanks. I am full-time living in the TT, and still wonder why when connected to shore power 100% of time, that it is good and/or I need to keep charging the battery. Since I am constantly using light, pump, etc., the WFCO will never go into storage mode, but will always stay in absorption mode.

OP is fulltimer and will be "using" battery all the time and that is the problem, so pretty much negates any multistage converter from ever going into storage mode of 13.2V.

Typically multistage converters will have a specific amount of time after the last usage of current before it drops into storage.. OPs constant use of 12V items will prevent multi stage converters from seeing a lack of use long enough.. WFCO uses 44hrs of inactivity before dropping to storage.

Nothing "weak" about that for a WFCO and even the one listed above will have the same issue.

Op doesn't really need a battery at all if they are staying put and if that is the case the simple answer is to lose the battery.

[time2roll]

Yes you can turn off the battery. If you don't move you don't even need a battery. Charging the otherwise unused battery every 1 to 3 months overnight is fine.

Yes the function of the WFCO is very poor. The linked converter should go to 13.2 volts after a few days.

[Gdetrailer]

pianotuna wrote:
I would get a one week timer. I'd set it to charge the battery bank 1 hour per week for each 100 amp-hours of storage. The Boondocker MBA 45 amp is an excellent choice.

Thought about mentioning a timer, but since OP isn't moving the RV, why bother with a battery in the first place? Which is why I didn't mention a timer.

Since OP is constantly using the RV, they are not "storing" the RV a timer would most likely end up severely under charging since one would be making a bunch of haphazard guesses as to how long to turn on and off the charger..

In this case, no battery at all just makes the most sense since they are not moving the RV.. It is simply not needed and having one there to tends to be a waste of money if it isn't being used or needed.