charging rv battery on 50 amps

[donut_dave]

on a trip this summer, we are going to be without elec for 7 consecutive days. I am planning to take the 27 deep cycle battery out of the trailer and recharge using the 50 amp setting on my battery charger which I will be plugging into a generator. I read elsewhere that 10 amps is pretty slow, but will 50 amps be too much and hurt the battery? I would disconnect the battery from the trailer so I don't fry the inverter?

donut

[Almot]

Ava wrote:
How about a solar panel or two. They can charge several amps all day.

Shh...

[Ava]

How about a solar panel or two. They can charge several amps all day.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

REALITY

50-amps setting cannot kill the charger

Why?

These junk chargers have an auto-reset 20-amp circuit breaker in the output. Helps to have taken these things apart and see what's inside.

[Almot]

donut dave wrote:
an older converter (2004 trailer) atwood mpd 35446. I read the brochure on it and I can't find a charge rate listed. it just says: low voltage power for charging.

Doesn't say "low current power", does it? ...

Like time2roll said, charging current tapers off as the battery is getting fuller. Running generator for hours, to push a few amps into single battery isn't optimal.

Still makes sense upgrading the converter, if only to keep that "low voltage" where it should be.

[Lwiddis]

“7 consecutive days. I am planning to take the 27 deep cycle battery out of the trailer and recharge using the 50 amp setting on my battery charger which I will be plugging into a generator.“

Why do this the hard, noisy and time consuming way? Get a solar system.

[pianotuna]

Use the converter and add the 10 amp battery charger to the mix.

[red31]

30A charger

[Old-Biscuit]

IF you have a generator to power the portable battery charger why not use it to power RV and let the on-board converter charge your battery?

[time2roll]

50 amps... even 200 amps will not hurt the battery as long as it is at the proper voltage. Your 2-10-50 charger OTOH may release the magic smoke if you leave it on the boost/start setting for more than a few minutes. Use the 10 amp setting. But really just leave the battery in place and plug the main RV cord into the generator, put the charger on direct, and if your generator has an 8 amp 12v charge connection use that too.

I suspect after this trip you will get bored with all the antics and seek out a converter upgrade.

Atwood converter models seem to start with the amp rating. So 35 amps. Probably at a fixed 13.6 volts so it will go good for 30 minutes into a low battery but amps will taper quickly after that. That is when the portable will continue at 10 amps.

[enblethen]

I would call Best Converter.
It may be best to upgrade your converter. I up graded mine to 45 amp output from the original that only had 7 amp charge output.

[donut_dave]

enblethen, it is an older converter (2004 trailer) atwood mpd 35446. I read the brochure on it and I can't find a charge rate listed. it just says: low voltage power for charging.

[enblethen]

Your on-board system could charge better then 10 amps, but depends on what system you have. Late model converters can charge as high as the Schumacher and slow charge.
What inverter or converter do you have? I am quite sure it is a converter.

[Almot]

Common recommendation from wet cells manufacturers is max charging current 20% of capacity. If all you have is a single 90-100 AH battery, then 20 amps is fine, and 50 amps is a bit high. Though BFL13 here would probably disagree.

I am not convinced that 30-40A converter would charge at a "much lower rate" than 10A. Correct charging voltage with converter is another question, though.

In any event, offgrid camping with a single battery is not an optimal scenario.

[donut_dave]

triker33, it will but i'm pretty sure it would charge at a much lower rate than 10 amps.