"house Battery Question"

Due to the different answers I've received over time I thought I'd pose this question to the forum and see what the general consensus is..................

We leave our house batteries ON when hooked up to shore power at the house. We are normally home anywhere from 5 to 7 weeks between trips and we like to leave the coach hooked to 30 amp shore power so we can use the lights, microwave, AC, and other various electrical appliances, etc. when we are in it doing some work or whatever. Some say to not leave the house batteries on for extended periods of time, others say it is fine and does not present a problem for them. I am with the latter opinion. I keep the fluid levels checked and the connections clean, dry and free from any corrosion, etc. so I really don't feel leaving them on to be a problem. They get a trickle charge while the coach is hooked to shore power so there is no concern about them going dead from sitting. So what do you folks do when you park your RVs for a month or more.........

Thanks for any and all input on this, BankShot

 

Our coach doesn't know if its hooked up in a campground or at our cottage, so the battery switches are left on unless I'm doing maintenance of some sort that calls for a temporary disconnect.

 

Hi Bank,

The answer is "it depends". Many older converters were pretty poor at battery charging and tended to over charge and ruin them.

Some new converters are fixed at 13.6. This is not enough, and too much as the same time.

Three stage converters do quite a nice job and the batteries should be happy.

If you wish to make your battery bank ecstatic, add a modest solar system.

 

I like to disconnect the battery at home with shore power connected. Then I connect my battery tender and keep an eye on the battery water level every week or so. The tender conditions the battery and keeps it charged. Solar would be a great way also.

 

I have installed quick disconnect devises on mt house and engine battery, I leave them off until when not plugged into shore power and on when plugged in, but that is not for too long before a trip. The quick disconnect thingies are cheap.

 

I leave mine hooked up and the RV plugged in, if not I use a battery minder from Harbor Freight, I wired this in and use a double plug so I can leave the pos and Neg wires on the battery and the other set on the minder and just unplug it and put it away. (I also use them on my mowers, tractors etc.) If you have a wet cell batteries you still need to check the water once in a while.

 

i run 3 deep cycle batteries in parallel, I leave mine on all the time

 

I agree with you pianotuna...my used RV, when purchased, was "overcharging" the house batteries, on shore power. Turned out my converter/charger was the 1-stage version with a continuous charge voltage. I added the optional plug-in Charge Wizard 3-stage smart charge module to my Inteli-Power 9100 Converter. Problem solved!
The Charge Wizard selects one of three charging voltages: 14.4V, 13.6, or 13.2; and one of four operating modes (Boost, Normal, Storage or Equalize) to properly re-charge or maintain the battery. Smart charging saves batteries!