Battery Care

Richard wrote:Tim, I don't understand the chemistry of the deal, but a dead battery will freeze and become useless. A charged battery won't. Bring that rascal inside an area that won't freeze.

I'm surprised your camper doesn't have a built in charger that works when it's plugged into shore power.

Mine does...Plus it has the Solar charger on the roof. Im surprised that this is not standard on most campers these days.

Supposed to get bitter cold in the evenings this week. I have my camper plugged into shore power and I will even run a small space heater at about half capacity.

abivens wrote:Supposed to get bitter cold in the evenings this week. I have my camper plugged into shore power and I will even run a small space heater at about half capacity.

I suspect that's a lot "greener" than the waste you encountered when you had the last freeze damage. Good idea!

fisherpal2k wrote:No Richard, I just put them in parralell and hooked them together. What that does is provide a larger battery. It will last about 3 times longer than just one battery at a time and they both charge together and everything. When I installed the disconnect I put it directly on the post and put the wire on the disconnect. the top just screws up off the contacts and is safer than a manual knife switch style. I really like it so far.

I like it too. I have a disconnect that plugs and unplugs that is rated at 50 amps. It kills the positive and negative. I like yours better and will move in that directionif I ever have to replace mine. My PUP camper didn't have a battery in the original design, instead getting battery power from the tow vehicle through the 7-pin connector. That just seemed like a lot to ask of my truck's starting battery, plus, I had to unhitch to pul out the bunk ends on the PUP. The electric converter was the same as models that did have batteries. I just ran a heavy set of wires to the battery I had already put in fo rthe electric winch I added. Now, if I ever dry camp, or need lights before plugging into shore power, I simply switch the electric center switch to 12 volt and plug in my quick connect. Your system seems much simpler than wrestling wit trying to "unplug" my connector when I'm done.

Dave had an interesting setup in his PUP. He put the battery in a cabinet with ventilation, and just left the trickle charger plugged up to it. When he l=plugged into shore power, he was charging his battery. It had no connection to the tow vehicle, as best as I remember.

Most of the newer rigs are wired so that when you pug your 7-pin connector in it has a wire run to the converter that actually charges the battery while you drive also. The newer converters can be rated from 20 amp up to 60 amp. Mine has a 45 amp charger on it and when the battery reaches 80% it will start to trickle charge the batteries.
As far as the disconnect I bought it at a NAPA store for 13 bucks and change. I use it all the time now.

On a side note you need to be careful if you leave a tow vehicle hooked up to the camper, if hooking up shore power, be sure to disconect the 7-pin connector from the tow vehicle to keep from sending a charge current back to your alternator on the truck.

Never thought about unhooking the seven pin connector before I hooked up shore power. Thanks for the tip.

Coolbreeze1

Has anybody ever installed a New AGM battery on their camper? If so did you like it better than the standard batteries. I am going to modify my battery holder to carry a 12 Volt 200 Amp Hour AGM Deka Battery 8A4D that I have laying in my garage. I have it so I might as well put it to use, my other battery died on me and its just 1 1/2 years old it has a dead cell in it. I plan on camping up at Cades Cove this year and it will come in handy there running my 12 volt fans and lights. I have a generator that I can take to recharge the battery if I get to the 50% usage mark, but this should last me alot longer than my regular battery that I had.

Life is Good - I would answer your question, but I'm not sure exactly what language it's in. It's definitely not in mine!!!

Sorry, maybe somebody on herecan help.

Wow, I have battery envy!!! You can get good info in the "eletrical" area of www.popupportal.com. There are a lot of knowledgable "12 volt" oriented folks there.

I've been charging my battery every few months with my ancient craftsman 3-amp trickle charger. After the last charging, I put on a harbor-freight float charger to keep the battery topped up. I sure hope it really works and doesn't fry my battery. My plan is to get a digital multi-tester the next time harbor freight has them on sale. I'm going to cut the ends off the leads, and put a 12-volt plug in their place. This way, I can have a 12-volt battery guage that easily plugs and unplugs to the 12-volt outlets I installed inside the camper. They have them on sale for about $5.00 every two or three months. I've downloaded a chart that shows what voltage represents what percentage of battery charge remains, and when I should charge it back up. It's a deep-cycle battery from Wal-Mart. (not a Deep Cycle/Marine Starting Battery, they aren't the same thing at all.)

Richard,
We used a trickle charger to keep the battery up when we had the Pup. We had it for 3 years and always had a good charge. Our trickle charger would cut off when the battery was full. I don't think you need to worry about frying the battery with a trickle charge, just keep doing what you are doing and keep an eye on it just incase. after all...it is still "miss danger". .