Charging the house batteries

[TGoldsbury]

This year I purchased a 2018 Precept 31UL, at home it's always plugged into shore power. This weekend I had a friend tell me the trickle charge you get while plugged in is not as strong as what you get while running your generator, and if you only use the trickle charge your house batteries will eventually run down. He suggested running the generator for an hour while coming home from a trip. Any input on that would be appreciated. Thanks

[Vicr]

Your friend doesn't know what he is talking about. There are hundreds of Precept owners that keep their coach batteries charged by simply keeping the coach plugged into shore power. I've done it for the last 4 years with my 35S.

[TGoldsbury]

FYI, here's the reply I just received from Jayco

The trickle charge will do what it should and will charge the batteries just fine, but with that being said it would be a good idea to run the generator about 30 minutes to an hour as this will not only exercise the generator but will also make sure that batteries are receiving a full charge. I would agree with your friend that the generator would be your best option.

[Vicr]

Originally Posted by TGoldsbury

FYI, here's the reply I just received from Jayco

The trickle charge will do what it should and will charge the batteries just fine, but with that being said it would be a good idea to run the generator about 30 minutes to an hour as this will not only exercise the generator but will also make sure that batteries are receiving a full charge. I would agree with your friend that the generator would be your best option.

After 4 years and 4 internet and facebook forums this is the first I've heard this from a "Jayco" person. Please explain to me the difference between 120v from the generator and the 120v from shore power supplying the charger in the converter. Maybe some of the other electrical "experts" will chime in here.

[JimD]

Pretty bad when Jayco doesn't know how their products work.

There is what is called a transfer switch in the 120 volt circuitry. It has two inputs and one output. The output feeds the coach's 120 volt items which includes the converter which charges the battery. The inputs are 120 volts from the shore power and generator.

When on shore power the transfer switch passes the 120 volt shore power through. When the generator kicks on the transfer switch will switch over to that and pass through the 120 volts from the generator.

In either case you have 120 volts coming in from one or the other source. The coach doesn't know the difference, it just gets its 120 volts and is happy.

As far as the charging is concerned, Jayco is once again wrong. The converter is not a trickle charger. It is capable of full tilt charging. These are "smart" devices and will taper their output to what is required by the battery. It may select boost mode, normal mode, or storage mode. The converter will cycle through these settings as needed and maintain the battery. I suppose it is somewhat of a trickle charger when in the storage mode but will come out of that mode every so often to hit the battery with a heavier charge rate.

Jayco was correct on one aspect though. You should exercise the generator every month but need to put a heavier load on it than just the converter. You are suppose to load it to 1/2 capacity for an hour or two every month to prevent it from getting gummed up.