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01-09-2019, 03:26 PM
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#1
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Senior Member
Winnebago Owners Club
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Canada
Posts: 614
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How do you trickle charge your batteries?
The last time I parked our Tour I made sure everything was turned off, disconnected both chassis and house batteries and took our 50 amp cord and using adapters came to 110V 15AMP and plugged it in.
When we got back to the coach (2 months later), the house batteries were dead. I then thought to myself, "self how can the batteries charge if they are disconnected?"
So this time I turned off everything in the coach and did not disconnect the chassis or house batteries. Now I am told the 15 AMP GFI has blown and when they reset it immediately breaks again.
The storage facility is telling me that the big electric cord is causing the issue.
What/how do you do it?
Arriving back in 6 weeks and really don't want dead house batteries because even the genset won't fire without house batteries.
__________________
Allan & Mary-Ann
2011 Winnebago Tour 42QD AKA Bailey
FMCA #F490316
Blog: bailey18.com
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01-09-2019, 03:57 PM
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#2
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Senior Member
Holiday Rambler Owners Club
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Oregon
Posts: 100
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You cannot plug your coach into a GFI outlet
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08 Holiday Rambler endeavor skq 400 Cummins
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01-09-2019, 04:54 PM
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#3
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: NorCal
Posts: 3,000
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I simply plug coach into shore power with 115 V adapter, never had a problem, inverter charger keeps all batteries charged with help from Xantrex to keep chassis batteries charged.
__________________
Outbound
2002 Monaco Executive 500 ISM
2004 GMC 2500HD 4X4
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01-09-2019, 05:20 PM
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#4
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Senior Member
Freightliner Owners Club
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Western WA
Posts: 1,294
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Your coach should have a Trik-L Charge Charger installed from the factory. It should keep both sets of batteries charged. Chech your manuals, check your coach.
__________________
Sold the Motorhome, joined the fully retired gang. '07 Winnebago Journey 34H, ISB-02, MH2500
Toad - '08 Ford Taurus X, Blue Ox, Aventa
US Gear UBS
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01-09-2019, 05:32 PM
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#5
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 1,513
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On our coach there is a setting for the energy management system to tell it how much power is available. It knows automatically if it’s 50 amp but if it less you have to tell it 30 / 20 /15. That helps it prevent overloading the source.
Part 2, in our case the charging system is not controlled by the EMS. The charger has it’s own setting for maximum source current.
My guess is your charger is demanding more than 15 amps.
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Newmar Ventana 4037, 2023.
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01-09-2019, 09:19 PM
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#6
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 642
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The circuit available to me at our storage yard is shared by 6 units. The inrush current when I first plug in the bus directly trips the breaker. As an alternative I bought a pair of good quality trickle chargers, one for the house batteries and one for the chassis batteries. I use my switches to isolate both battery sets and I connect the two chargers to their respective battery sets (fitted with a quick connect so no need to mess with the battery posts) and then I plug the chargers into an extension cord. No breaker tripping, virtually no water consumption and batteries are consistently good to go.
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2022 RAM 3500 Cummins SRW long bed, 2019 Open Range 319 RLS, Reese Goosebox, disk brakes
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01-09-2019, 09:34 PM
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#7
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Senior Member
Monaco Owners Club Workhorse Chassis Owner
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Clovis, CA, USA
Posts: 13,090
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Had the same problem when I plugged into my front porch 110 outlet at home. Kicked a GFI in the house.
I discovered if I went inside the coach BEFORE I plugged into the house and flipped the double gang 50 amp breaker off and then plugged into the house everything was OK once I turned the 50 amp breakers back on inside the coach.
It would be interesting to see if you have the same problem at another location...maybe at home. If six RV's are using the same outlet the problem may be at the storage unit end.
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2004 Monaco La Palma 36DBD, W22, 8.1, 7.1 MPG
2000 LEXUS RX300 FWD 22MPG 4020 LBS
Criticism is easier than Craftsmanship
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01-09-2019, 09:37 PM
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#8
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Senior Member
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Bluff Dale, TX
Posts: 624
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The only way to totally disconnect the battery bank is to remove the ground cable from the bank of batteries. If your house batteries were dead they were still connected to a load.
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Most RV batteries live a long and useful life, some are murdered.
2000 National Sea Breeze F53
1998 CRV Toad
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01-09-2019, 09:46 PM
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#9
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Posts: 2,296
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Our coach is stored outside, with both house and chassis batteries maintained by a 100w solar panel with a Blue Sky 2000-E 25 amp controller. We've had it for several years now and it works great.
Best of luck and safe travels....
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Jim & SherrySeward
2000 Residency 3790 v10 w/tags 5 Star tune & Banks system Suzuki XL7 toad
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01-10-2019, 09:30 PM
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#10
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Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 698
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If the batteries were dead when you plugged the coach back in to the 15 amp outlet, the initial current draw can trip the breaker because the battery charger will try to deliver a LOT of amps to the batteries. This has happened to me.
Once you get the batteries back up to a normal charge, the current draw will be much lower and everything will work OK.
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01-10-2019, 10:00 PM
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#11
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Senior Member
Thor Owners Club Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 3,788
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RV's and GFI outlets rarely get long. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Your best alternative is as Dark Sky suggested separate trickle chargers connected directly to the two battery banks rather then using the installed charger. That and hope no one unplugs your power cord or something else to disable power.
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2006 Hurricane 31D built on a 2006 Ford F53
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01-11-2019, 03:39 PM
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#12
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2016
Posts: 2,078
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I do use a GFCI outlet to maintain my batteries when at the house. Most coaches have to much leakage to allow that and trip the GFCI. Using the built in charger is the best way however a couple of friends use little battery maintainers and they work as well.
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01-11-2019, 07:53 PM
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#13
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Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: So Cal Wine Country
Posts: 702
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For MH storage I installed BatteryMinders charger/maintainers (model 128CEC1 (2/4/8 amp) for the 8 house batteries and model 1215C (2 amp) for the 2 chassis batteries) and run a single extension cord to the pole at the storage lot shared with other rv's with no problems. The BatteryMinders have a nice bonus feature that uses constant pulse desulfation (vs. high voltage desulfation) to keep the plates free of sulfation.
Kudos to IRV2 member Winemaker who was of great help answering questions and walking me through his setup.
__________________
Bill
2014 Newmar Ventana 4037, XCR Tag Axle, Cummins ISL, All-electric
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01-11-2019, 08:58 PM
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#14
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 323
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I have both coach and chassis disconnected, and run a single 15A cord to the battery compartment, where I have two trickle charger/battery minders plugged in. One on the two coach batteries and one on the chassis battery. This is plugged into a Kill-a-Watt which says it costs me roughly $0.27/mo.
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