Community Forums

Craft · 06-08-2011, 02:05 PM

When at home do you leave your MH plugged into shore power? I leave mine plugged in. Anyone know of any problems this will cause?

ga traveler · 06-08-2011, 02:11 PM

Two problems. One your converter will keep a constant charge on the battery. this will cause the battery to gas and lose water. so you must keep a eye on the water level. Two. converters are easily damaged by lightening. So they should be unplugged during a storm.

RJay · 06-08-2011, 02:14 PM

Other than increasing you electric bill there is no negative to keeping your coach plugged in. In fact it will keep your batteries charged.

num1dgh · 06-08-2011, 03:02 PM

We only plug in the coach when we're ready to pack for a trip and want to get the refrigerator cold. When we're home, we not only don't have it plugged in, but we also press the button to disconnect the power. We found with our previous coach that little unknown things would drain our batteries if we didn't cut the power.

bullheaded · 06-08-2011, 03:07 PM

Ours stays plugged in. Stays in a hangar 3 to 4 weeks then off again.

Cat320 · 06-08-2011, 06:14 PM

We keep ours plugged in...if you have a smart charger/converter, it will not cook the batteries.

Pusherman · 06-08-2011, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bullheaded

Ours stays plugged in. Stays in a hangar 3 to 4 weeks then off again.

3 to 4 weeks? Waaay too long between trips! We try to get out every week.

DutchStar38 · 06-08-2011, 06:35 PM

When home I only plug it in every other weekend for one day. When not plugged in I use the "STORE" option button to disconnect the house batteries and I turn the chassis battery switch to "OFF". That way all batteries are not connected to anything. When we plan to travel I plug the unit in 2 days prior in order to bring the fridge and freezer down to temps.

Mr_D · 06-08-2011, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ga traveler

Two problems. One your converter will keep a constant charge on the battery. this will cause the battery to gas and lose water. so you must keep a eye on the water level. Two. converters are easily damaged by lightening. So they should be unplugged during a storm.

Our DSDP is ALWAYS plugged in at home, been that way since we brought it home (except when we're on the road). The batteries are still the OEM ones (9 years old on the 26th). I've had the batteries connected the whole time. I did add a bottle of desulfation liquid to them, then 4oz of mineral oil to each cell. That cut the offgassing to almost nothing, adding distilled water was cut way down and almost no corrosion in the battery compartment even after 9 years.
The refer has been on all the time also, the cooling unit did fail when the ammonia leaked out.
Still have the original inverter too.

Dadeaux · 06-08-2011, 06:58 PM

My coach is now 7 years old and has never sat for over a day or two without power. Even when in storage I keep 30 amp power to it 24/7.

Skip426 · 06-09-2011, 12:23 PM

Depends on your charge rate, smart charge would be great, but older systems can over charge over time. My 99DSDP has a 2 rate manual adjust charge rate. Read your manual, check output at the batteries, 13.2 shouldn't over charge, 14.2V will.

RustyJC · 06-09-2011, 12:27 PM

Depends on your converter/battery charging system. Our 5th wheel came with a Progressive Dynamics PD9180 with a Charge Wizard and, other than when we're traveling, has been plugged in either at the campsite or in covered storage since we purchased it in August 2004. The 6V batteries are still the originals. In the SE Texas heat, I'll add water to the batteries every 4-6 months.

Rusty

wa8yxm · 06-09-2011, 04:56 PM

The answer, the real answer is "IT depends"

When I got my motor home I put in a TT-30 outlet with a 20 amp feed and left it plugged in all the time. No problems, Yes, the batteries did "Gas" and I Did have to add water... once a year.... (yes, Once a year) but .. I have a Progressive Dynamics Intellapower 9180 with optional charge wizard for a converter. This is one of the many "Best of class" 3-stage converters which I highly recommend. It babies my batteries (All the "Best of class" 3-stage units share this trait, or should, since that is a requirement) I won't list all the good ones but IOTA with IQ-4 Technology, WFFCO, Xantrex True Charge are just 3 more in that class, as is my Xantrex Prosine inverter/Charger.

Some rigs come with worst of classs single stage converters.. These converters have several features you might find offensive.

First they either never fully charge batteries or, more likely never stop charging, so once they are full, they keep on charging, causing serious boiling of the battery, gassing and eventually killing the beast.

Second they tend to be very SLOW chargers.

But in any case leaving them plugged in full time.. NOT a good idea.

Finally.. there is that electric bill consideration.. Epically if you visit the thing every day and use electric heat

.