Power w/o battery?

[cccougar]

Is it possible to be plugged into shore power and have power in the tt without the battery being hooked up?

[pianotuna]

Hi,

The slide motor is one of the biggest 12 volt draws. It would depend on the individual converter whether it has the "oomph" to power the motor without a lot of voltage drop. Voltage drop is a motor killer.

TucsonJim wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

I would not operate the slide without a battery.

Why is that PT? I've done it many times with no detriment at all. Just make sure all the other 12v items are off at the time.

Jim

[westend]

There is the chance of exceeding the typical draw of the converter. It may be enough current to blow a fuse or trip a breaker. Somewhat converter dependent.

[Jack_Diane_Free]

My trailer specifically states on a printed decal above the slide switches to "do not operate slide mechanism without battery installed". Must be a reason for this.

[hohenwald48]

There is no problem with extending your slide using just the converter for power. A battery is not necessary. I doubt DOT will be prowling around in your yard to see if you have a battery for your break away either.

[TucsonJim]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

I would not operate the slide without a battery.

Why is that PT? I've done it many times with no detriment at all. Just make sure all the other 12v items are off at the time.

Jim

[pianotuna]

Hi,

I would not operate the slide without a battery.

[korbe]

Our battery stays disconnected all winter long and we will plug in to shore power at different times. My guess is if you can operate your slide with only the converter, then every thing else should work ok.

[RoyB]

Just be mindful that DOT requires your trailer to have a 12V battery for your emergency break-away cable to stop a run-away trailer if it becomes disconnected when being towed. This is a DOT law...

Although you can just run off the 12VDC coming from the on-board converter/charger unit when on shore power having the batteries connected sort of smooths everything out. If your on-board converter/charger unit is a smart mode system it will automatically keep you battery charged-up without incident..

If you only have a 13.6VDC single mode charger on-board then it would be wise to check your battery fluids on a scheduled basis as this DC voltage is known to boil out your battery fluids over time which will destroy your battery...

Roy Ken

[TucsonJim]

Some converters (e.g. Progressive Dymamics 9100/9200) have a circuit that will shut down the converter if there is too much current draw without a battery connected. For example, if you had all your lights turned on and the current draw was more than the converter can supply. If this happens, simply turn off some of the lights and the converter will come back on. This condition will not happen if a battery is installed in the circuit.

Here's a link which talks about it. See the small print at the bottom:

Progressive Dynamics Converter Installation Guide

[cccougar]

Thanks and sorry. I have a Wildwood Heritage Glen 272 bh 2016 with 30 amp. I don't have a battery (long story) but would like to extend the slide and start doing work inside. I just didn't want to plug in and damage anything without knowing first.

[SoundGuy]

cccougar wrote:
Is it possible to be plugged into shore power and have power in the tt without the battery being hooked up?

Sure, just make sure the battery cable ends aren't shorting out to anything, including the trailer frame. Unfortunately you haven't told us what rig you have which could be important in that older trailers with converters built 15, 20 yrs ago often did require that the battery be hooked up to act as a buffer for the converter. I know of no such requirement for converters used in newer trailers built in the last 10 yrs or so.