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Old 01-17-2021, 03:12 PM   #1
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Charging batteries

I am soon taking delivery of a 2021 Tiffin Open Road 34PA. My wife and I can’t wait. I have been trying to decide how to set up my battery charging while RV is stored. I will have 4 6volt house batteries and of course one chassis battery. I am not sure how to connect a maintainer to the house batteries. I assume each pair will be wired in series and the the 2 pairs will be in parallel. Do I need 2 chargers for house and one for chassis? Do I need one of the multi battery chargers? Do I disconnect the positive and negative going to the coach and then connect the charger to correct poles? What chargers are recommended? My storage facility has power so I can plug a charger/ chargers in. I’d rather not have to remove the batteries from my coach but I that is an option. Any information, diagrams and advice from this experienced group would be appreciated.
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Old 01-17-2021, 03:49 PM   #2
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Option 1 is to plug the RV shore cord in. That takes care of all of the batteries.

Option 2 is to pick up 2 maintainers. One for the chassis battery and one for the series/parallel house batteries. You don't need to disconnect any cables.

Option 3, disconnect the negetive battery cables on the batteries and go home.
Batteries can store like that for 4 to 6 months.
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Old 01-17-2021, 05:01 PM   #3
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If you have power available, all you have to do is plug it in with an adapter as twinboat suggested. Leave the 12v system active in the coach and the Spyder multiplex system will maintain the house batteries. I understand the new Open Roads do not charge the chassis batteries from the Spyder so all you have to do is have them fully charged and turn off the chassis battery disconnect, or connect a trickle charger to them.
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Old 01-17-2021, 05:05 PM   #4
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I store with 2 maintainers as you considered.
I am likely in the minority here as I prefer to run a small maintainer vs running my MH inverter / charger 24/7
If you decide to go that way connecting to house bank is simple just use the same posts that the house connects to. Pos on one series pair and Neg on the other series pair.
I have installed the ring terminal leads permanently and unplug the connection between the maintainer and batty when not used. I started with the alligator clips but made it a little more permanent.
I have had very good luck with batty life by keeping them at full charge.
I dont have the luxury of power where I store a boat so have to charge fully and disconnect during storage.
Either way can work.
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Old 01-18-2021, 07:35 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by twinboat View Post
Option 1 is to plug the RV shore cord in. That takes care of all of the batteries.

Option 2 is to pick up 2 maintainers. One for the chassis battery and one for the series/parallel house batteries. You don't need to disconnect any cables.

Option 3, disconnect the negetive battery cables on the batteries and go home.
Batteries can store like that for 4 to 6 months.
I recently purchased a Schumacher SC1360 which says it's a battery charger and maintainer. I thought I was told or read that I should always connect / charge one battery at a time. Are you saying I can connect it to both 12v in parallel (or 6v in series)?
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Old 01-19-2021, 07:04 AM   #6
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That charger should easily maintain two and even four house batteries in whatever series/parallel configuration you have.

There are limits to how many Ah bank a given charger can recharge and maintain based on the sophistication of the charger, any parasitic loads and the merit of the batteries but in the case of maintenance charging an otherwise good set of batteries the charger can be fairly small. The guesstimate I use is a charger/maintainer rated for 1/100 of the bank capacity. So for a 200Ah set of GC2's a 2A charger/maintainer fits the bill.

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Old 01-19-2021, 08:29 AM   #7
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I don't like the idea of leaving the whole rig plugged in 24/7. My opinion, three different things I think are probably not good doing it that way.

1. Excess wear and tear on the converter/charger (it costs more to replace than a stand alone charger if it goes out).
2. Electricity usage (ours is stored at home).
3. My older in house charger doesn't maintain the batteries all that well. More maintenance involved keeping water in them, posts cleaned, and their overall longevity was short.

What has solved all the issues above was to put the rig on a timer. Energized once a week keeps all the batteries charged. House batteries via the converter/charger,, chassis battery via a separate automatic charger (chassis isn't charged by the converter on my rig).

Don't want to jinx myself but the house batteries are 6 years old, the chassis 9.
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Old 01-19-2021, 09:39 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by RoadEyePie View Post
I recently purchased a Schumacher SC1360 which says it's a battery charger and maintainer. I thought I was told or read that I should always connect / charge one battery at a time. Are you saying I can connect it to both 12v in parallel (or 6v in series)?
Yes.
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Old 01-19-2021, 09:48 AM   #9
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I don't like the idea of leaving the whole rig plugged in 24/7. My opinion, three different things I think are probably not good doing it that way.

1. Excess wear and tear on the converter/charger (it costs more to replace than a stand alone charger if it goes out).
2. Electricity usage (ours is stored at home).
3. My older in house charger doesn't maintain the batteries all that well. More maintenance involved keeping water in them, posts cleaned, and their overall longevity was short.

What has solved all the issues above was to put the rig on a timer. Energized once a week keeps all the batteries charged. House batteries via the converter/charger,, chassis battery via a separate automatic charger (chassis isn't charged by the converter on my rig).

Don't want to jinx myself but the house batteries are 6 years old, the chassis 9.
Your prerogative to do what you want.

I live in my RV for 6 months and its plugged in. I then store it in my yard as a guest house, plugged in.

A good 4 stage converter isnt that expensive, and watts is watts, so electricity depends on use, not how big the charger is.
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Old 01-19-2021, 10:22 PM   #10
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Your prerogative to do what you want.

I live in my RV for 6 months and its plugged in. I then store it in my yard as a guest house, plugged in.

A good 4 stage converter isnt that expensive, and watts is watts, so electricity depends on use, not how big the charger is.
Living in it and using as a guest house are different situations than just storing pretty much unattended except for monthly maintenance.

With the timer, I'm only using power 12 hours a week. I'm not saving tons but the savings do add up over time. Having said that, lowering my electricity bill isn't the goal here anyway. Yes it's a nice benefit, but the main goal is keeping the batteries in good shape, something that's certainly been accomplished since I began using the timer.
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Old 01-20-2021, 07:09 AM   #11
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I have a switch that disconnects the negative battery cable and I just use that and never had a problem.
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Old 01-23-2021, 07:50 AM   #12
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My question here is this. My old Monaco with 4 house and i chassis battery has a battery maintainer installed that charges the chassis battery after the house battery bank is satisfied. If I install a solar charger with something like a 100 watt panel and controller on just the house battery bank, won't that take care of both house and chassis batteries?
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Old 01-23-2021, 08:03 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by johnmontgome View Post
My question here is this. My old Monaco with 4 house and i chassis battery has a battery maintainer installed that charges the chassis battery after the house battery bank is satisfied. If I install a solar charger with something like a 100 watt panel and controller on just the house battery bank, won't that take care of both house and chassis batteries?
It would have the potential to keep charged batteries topped off. My understanding is that those of us that have something like a trickle charger installed for the chassis batteries would still need a way to connect both batteries when not plugged into shore power.
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Old 01-23-2021, 08:26 AM   #14
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Twinboat posted your basic options. They are all good. Other people do what they feel is best based on internet and other sources.

Make sure your lead acid batteries are fully charged for storage. For deep draw house batteries that means 14 to 18 hour charge.

Keep the battery terminal voltage above 12.4 volts. Recharge 14 hours if necessary. Above 12.7 is a little better for long life. 13.2 is optimum. Most modern RV charging systems apply 13.2 or can be set to apply 13.2 volts.

There are excellent maintainers, there are maintainers designed for specific uses, and there are junk maintainers. Can you tell from advertising which is which?

My low end WFCO built in charger has no user settings. It does switch to 13.2 volts after a few days of constant low current. My pair of 100 amp hour AGM batteries hold 13.0 volts for months after charging and disconnecting. They stay above 12.4 volt for as long as I have ever left them in storage.

I recommend you go to the source. Battery University is one of the best.
Battery University https://batteryuniversity.com/

How does the Lead Acid Battery Work? https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/...ased_batteries

Charging lead acid batteries https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/...d_acid_battery

AGM https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/..._glass_mat_agm

How to Charge and When to Charge? https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/...o_charge_table

How to Store Batteries https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/...tore_batteries

Summary of Do’s and Don’ts https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/..._battery_table

I wish you good luck and happy trails ahead!
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