Is it necessary to have a battery

clutch · 03-25-2019, 11:14 AM

Our 2011 Eagle is on a permanent lot and is never moved. My question is do I need to have a battery hooked up or will the power from the park be enough?

Thanks,, MIke

SOMBATFAMILY · 03-25-2019, 12:55 PM

battery is for you 12v electrical needs such as lights. Trying disconnecting the battery and see if everything still work. If everything still work then you don't need battery. With battery disconnected you should also disconnect battery charger.

Lake Huron · 03-25-2019, 03:10 PM

Your 12v battery is like a stand by generator at your house. Power goes out, gen kicks in. Power goes out at the trailer, 12v kicks in. Assuming you dont have a residential fridge and/or keep any perishables in it while you're gone, I'd say you wouldn't need the battery. Like posted earlier, pull the positive off the battery while the unit is connected to shore power and see if all your 12v items still work. They should.

parallax · 03-25-2019, 03:18 PM

I think alot of folks, disconnect there batteries, including myself, when plugged into shore power for extended periods of time, because if you leave your battery hooked up, your converter will continue to charge your battery, and over the course of time, will boil out your battery and ruin it. I can run all my stuff off of my converter.. ( changes 110 volt A.C. to 12 volt D.C.). and is usually installed on most trailers from the factory. If you want to disconnect your battery, I would disconnect your negative terminal instead of your positive terminal.. less change of accidentely sparking things. and is safer..

o2silverado · 03-25-2019, 06:07 PM

The converter is not intended to run the 12v continuously with out a battery. The battery is a storage reserve per say. Try running some lights and then kick on the furnace and see what happens. I've been on a seasonal site for years and completely neglected my battery for a few years . Long story short you will end up replacing your converter if you run it for extended period of time with out a battery in place.

clutch · 03-25-2019, 09:14 PM

Thanks for the replys. I sent Jayco an email and expect a return message from them soon. I will let you know what they say.

Siamese · 03-25-2019, 09:36 PM

I'll pass this link on to you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA05uYcU3zI&t=1645s

It's a delivery of Jayco 26BH, and the guy doing the walkthrough with the new owner does a terrific job. At about the 1:00 mark in the video, he begins talking about the role of the battery in the trailer's electrical system and how it works with the AC power. See what you think.

Akraft · 03-26-2019, 08:05 AM

Yes, you must have a battery when towing. There is a break away switch so if the trailer some how disconnects from the tow vehicle, the trailer breaks will engage. This will cause it to come to a stop instead of causing serious damage to what ever it hits. It is a safety feature that is required by the DOT.

michael.g · 03-26-2019, 08:10 AM

Our TT is on a seasonal site as well. This year will be its third season. I removed the battery before we left for the winter the first season and left it in the shed. A few months later we visited the camper, grabbed the battery and dropped it off at my wife's parents so it could be charged. When we got there at the beginning of the season, I didn't stop to get the battery, but connected shore power and opened all 4 slides without issue. We ran without the battery for a few days before finally getting the battery.

At the end of last season, I removed the battery and put it in the shed. I visited the camper last month and I again connected shore power without the battery and opened all 4 slides to make sure there wasn't any sign of water, bugs or rodents. All looked good, so I closed all 4 slides. I also put a voltmeter on the battery and was surprised to see it was holding a charge pretty well. After almost 6 months off the charger it was still at 12.89 volts.

I don't plan to keep the battery off the TT while we use it during the season, but it is good to know I don't need it for short periods of electricity needs. Our TT came with the higher end WFCO converter/charger.

-Michael

**Mustang65** · 03-26-2019, 10:00 AM

There are a lot of seasonal campers that do not have batteries in their TT's. There are also 2 that I know of that still have their original batteries in their TT's from 9 years ago. The batteries are bone dry, not a drop of water in them at all. One of them has had their charge controller replaced a few years ago, the other is still the original. Granted the controllers in these TT's are old technology.

The benefits of having a battery are that it acts like a shock absorber for the 12Volt system. Surges, low voltages and power failures happen at a lot of CG's. When there is a power failure, which happens on occasion at our CG due to issues at the local electric company, you will lose your CO detector. Not a good thing to be disabled for any length of time.

When you start things up on the 12Volt side of the house, heating system fan, the initial load is balanced across the battery and the controller. Also when there are power fluctuations, or load changes, without a battery installed, the lights may flicker (I guarantee that DW would have something to say about that).

So is there a definite right or wrong answer? I would leave the battery in place and working, but that is my personal opinion.

Don

My Registry

RVing with SOLAR

RedHorse1 · 03-26-2019, 10:19 AM

I always remove the battery when in storage. Last year I was going to do some maintennance and would need 110 so I brought ext cords. Plugged into shore power and discovered the 12v side of things was completely dead. A little poking around and I discovered that my battery disconnect switch had to be “ON” for the 12v to work. The switch was factory installed and I can make things work so I’m ok with it. Just seems odd to me.

clutch · 03-26-2019, 10:31 PM

That video was what I was expecting, it was very good. Still haven't heard from Jayco.

clutch · 03-28-2019, 02:49 PM

Having a battery would ultimately be your decision. Some use it as a backup & failsafe purposes in case of a power outage.

They would at least be able to use the 12v appliances. Not necessary but can be useful.

Thank you for reaching Jayco Customer Service

https://www.jayco.com/tools/dealer-locator/

Image result for newest jayco logo

Daniel Garcia

Customer Service Specialist

Jayco Towables

This is the message Jayco sent to answer my question. It appears that using a battery for my trailer is optional. This wasn't really what I was expecting to hear from them.

Thanks to all that replied.

jloco · 03-29-2019, 08:29 AM

My 2016 38FDDS was delivered to my seasonal site in April of 2016.. I leave the battery in the rig 365... Almost 3 years now and it's still good. I've topped off the water once or twice. I believe the cg turns on the power on occasionally during the off season to charge the seasonal owners batteries

mikegray · 03-29-2019, 11:16 AM

That was a great video for me. I have a 2014 26BH and have looked for something like this to teach me a few things. I just bought it 6 months ago. The walk through I got was not much.
Thanks, Mike

bankr63 · 03-29-2019, 11:45 AM

The only other thing I would say is that, if your power is unreliable and you have a dual fuel fridge, it is worth having the battery to keep your refrigerator operating during power outages. The fridge needs both propane and 12v to keep operating.

qs271a · 04-03-2019, 12:45 PM

As stated in other post's, you can run your slides and use the lights with your battery's out, and plugged into shore power, but you don't want to leave them out all the time. I know two of my camping buddies that had their converters burn out because of this. They pulled out the battery's and left them plugged in to run small heaters inside for the winter. They got away with it for a couple of years before it happened. It was explained to them by the RV dealers, when they had the new converters installed, that your converter charges your battery's, and then goes into a trickle charge mode to keep them topped off, which is how their designed, but when you disconnect the battery's, the converter tries to give them a FULL charge all the time, which inevitable burns them out. I have always kept my battery's in the RV when I'm plugged in, and have never had a converter go out. My Eagle came with a battery disconnect switch that shuts off 12V power, which is very handy for storage when not plugged into shore power. My propane detector is hard wired into the 12V system, and drains the battery's pretty quickly when not plugged in, so the disconnect switch is there for that purpose. Just think of it this way, use battery when plugged in, don't use battery when Not plugged in. Hope this helps.

krbjmpr · 04-03-2019, 01:34 PM

Linear / Ferroresonant converters required a battery in order to filter the crappy power found at its output. No battery = up to several volts of AC imposed on top of battery voltage. Modern converters, especially those with out fancy-schmancy charge wizards, don't require battery connection *unless you are operating a high drain device* like hydraulic motors and large slideouts. SwitchMode converters (all are now) are designed for roughly 13.8vdc at about 5% less than full rated output. Say what? If your converter is rated for 100A, and output voltage is 13.8, it will maintain 13.8vdc at up to around 95A before the voltage begins to drop by design. If the converter begins to run hot, it will also reduce voltage. It doesn't care unless you are pulling some serious amps like when trying to level a Class A pusher with a 6 point ground control 3 hydraulic. or even electric for that matter.

The converters with charge wizards and such, it can be a crap shoot if battery is required or not. Personally, I go out of my way to find a converter that has an adjustable output. I reset mine back to 13\2.8vdc. Why? Because I don't charge a battery. and 12.8vdc is just shy of what a fully charged lead acid battery after resting for 24 hours should read. Is also a lot easier on the electronics, much less heat built up particularly in the LED lights. My battery is Lithium, I have it isolated with a blocking diode (75A), and charge as needed with its own charger that talks to the monitoring circuits within the battery. Pretty cool. Not as expensive as you would think.

Rjd · 04-03-2019, 01:51 PM

OK...so does that make sense to you? (Gee's how many times did that guy say that in the video?)

mwcotton · 04-03-2019, 01:53 PM

The battery in a TT is the voltage regulator for the 12v system. If you check the manuals for your Furnace, Refrigerator, and Hot Water Heater they will caution you to keep a battery in place. If the battery is removed there is a very good chance that the delicate electronics on the control boards will be damaged. Don't chance it!

You may also like: