Quote:
Originally Posted by tnchuck100
I will have to disagree with Subaru297.
The new converters are actually excellent at charging the battery efficiently and properly. They are mostly 3-stage chargers with bulk charge and float capability.
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Mustang beat me to it but, this is a 10 year old trailer and it may not have a modern converter.
Also even with a modern converter they are not really designed to quickly and fully charge a battery. Battery manufacturers are publishing charging specs for batteries that range from 14.7 volts to over 15 volts (Interstate). If you don't supply the battery with enough volts it takes a long time to fully charge. A full day or more of being plugged in.
The converter will likely go into float too soon as well which will extend charge time even further.
Upgrading the converter to a modern programmable one is an option.
On top of all that you have long wire runs with small gauge wire in a trailer of any significant length. So even if your converter will put out 14.4 volts it does that at its output terminals. The battery will likely only see 14.2 or so after losses. High voltage (pressure) is needed to get the amps into the battery. Without it the battery is only getting a trickle.
So lets say a 3 hour recharge from the generator gets your battery to 90% state of charge. You are actually missing out on 20% of your battery capacity if you abide by the 50% discharge rule. Also that last 10% has the most energy (watts) in it as well as it can provide amps at a higher voltage.
Anyway I hope that is still useful and relevant to the original question.
- Current battery has probably lost a fair bit of its capacity from being run down.
- It probably never received a full charge to begin with.
- 2 to 3 hours of generator time is probably not charging the battery fully.
- Running the furnace all night takes a lot out of the battery