Battery maintenance

[DBALT]

What are the pros / cons of connecting house power with appropriate adaptor through the 20 amp input in order to keep battery charged?
Thanks

[GHen]

Depends on the other options you have and the charging equipment installed in your rv.

I am always plugged in when at home. The charger built into my converter is a fairly smart one and will adjust the charge based on the battery needs and provides some cycles to reduce the possibility of sulfate build up in the batteries.

When not at home and/or not in the rv, I have three 100 watt solar panels that keep the charge up. During the winter there is the possibility of snow on the panels so I do a full disconnect on the batteries. If I was in a very cold environment I would remove the batteries to the garage to prevent freezing and manually charge the batteries over the winter. The solar charge controller is also smart enough to adjust the charge as needed.

All charging options require monitoring of the water levels regularly. When the batteries are disconnected I don’t need to check the water levels as long as they are full at the start.

The most important goal is prevent the charge from going under 12.2 or so and keep the water level full.

[RPR]

When it’s going to freeze and water has ben added if possible put the battery on charge so the water will mix with the acid and not sit on top of it where it will freeze. Controlled test show a new fully charged battery can handle up to minus 80 before freezing. Half charged minus 10. That does not take in to consideration our good friends “wind chill factor” and age.

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by DBALT

What are the pros / cons of connecting house power with appropriate adaptor through the 20 amp input in order to keep battery charged?
Thanks

What's the built-in charge controller on your trailer? If it's a multi-stage charge controller with a "float mode", then keeping it plugged in to tend your batteries 365 days per year is a good thing. It'll prevent discharge and battery sulfation, and the float voltage will prevent electrolysis or "boil off".

BatteryMINDers and Battery Tenders purposely do this for automotive batteries, motorcycle batts, tractor batts, etc.

20 amps should be more than enough AC current to drive your built-in DC charger controller. You can know for sure by specifying your built-in charge controller. (WFCO WF-8735? Some other brand?)

[CAG]

It keeps your battery charged.



I can't think of any cons, other than you need to maintain the water unless you have an AGM battery.