903 wireman
Member
Do you leave Rv plugged in 24/7 or just long enough to build a charge while in storage ?
Charging batteries
- Thread starter 903 wireman
- Start date
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Rene T
Site Team
Depends how long you'll have it in storage. I've never had to find out because I leave mine at home all the time and I leave it plugged in. It may be just a matter of adding a battery disconnect switch if you don't have one now.
903 wireman
Member
I am constantly having to add water, about twice a month
Rene T
Site Team
903 wireman said:
I'll let the experts answer this one but I would start out my adding that switch
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
Ours were always plugged in, but if the rig didn't have a quality 3-stage charger (our earlier ones did not), I used an appliance timer on the power cord so that it did not charge 24/7. A couple hours per day are plenty in most cases.
I don't know what converter/charger your Cambria has, but it sounds as though it is over-charging. Most recent year chargers aren't that bad, even if not 3-stage, so maybe you have a weak cell in a battery. That drags the voltage down and stimulates the charger to keep pumping in electricity, probably boiling off fluid. Have you done a hydrometer test (assuming its not sealed batteries)?
I don't know what converter/charger your Cambria has, but it sounds as though it is over-charging. Most recent year chargers aren't that bad, even if not 3-stage, so maybe you have a weak cell in a battery. That drags the voltage down and stimulates the charger to keep pumping in electricity, probably boiling off fluid. Have you done a hydrometer test (assuming its not sealed batteries)?
afchap
Well-known member
Mine has a triple stage charger. It is plugged in pretty much all the time except when I am driving. When I have to start adding water to the batteries I know they are nearing the end of their life.
SCVJeff
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2007
- Posts
- 1,304
I CHECK the water only once a year and add if necessary, but I also draw my batteries down to around 63% when in use, so I run a pretty high current charge routine and boiling simply happens. But when done the charger drops to float and then standby (off) until needed. If you're adding water like that you need to watch the charger with a real DVM and see what's going on
John Canfield
Site Team
Same here except I have AGM house batteries.afchap said:
Do yourself a huge favor, replace your Winnebago supplied charger with a good three stage version. Replace your house batteries with premium AGM (totally maintenance free) ones. When my Horizon was brand new, I replaced the charger/inverter with a Xantrex RS2000 and replaced the house battery bank. A buddy sold the Dimensions charger/inverter I pulled out on flebay.
Spend the bucks now and enjoy years of trouble free battery charging (and a good three stage charger will charge faster.)
SCVJeff
Well-known member
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- Jan 20, 2007
- Posts
- 1,304
WORD!John Canfield said:
John Stephens
Well-known member
You guys now have me curious. I'll be storing my coach for six months between trips this year and rely on my solar charger to keep the batteries at a reasonable level along with visiting it every two weeks and exercising the generator, which will charge the batteries for one to two hours. Is this going to be enough? I have done this for the past two years and haven't had problems other than with older batteries needing replacement.
John Canfield
Site Team
The little 10 watt solar panel Winnebago installed isn't going to help much if any and I think it's hooked up to the chassis battery bank. If you added solar panels, that might or might not keep your batteries topped off depending on the wattage. Did you install a Trik-L-Start or something similar to keep the chassis batteries charged?
Running the generator is a good idea but your charger might not pump much current into the batteries, your engine alternator might put more current out (if the batteries accept the charge.)
Running the generator is a good idea but your charger might not pump much current into the batteries, your engine alternator might put more current out (if the batteries accept the charge.)
John Stephens
Well-known member
John, thanks for the info. I exercise the generator every two weeks and start the engine, letting it run until it gets to normal operating temperature, usually about 10-15 minutes. Knock on wood, but until now, I haven't had any problems. I never knew if the solar charger from Winnebago did any good, but each time I go out to the coach, the house batteries show 12.7-13.2 amps and the chassis battery usually reads 12.5-12.9. I went out today and it showed consistent readings. I have never installed a trickle charger because the coach is stored in public storage and there is no electricity, nor have I installed extra solar panels.
John Canfield
Site Team
It sounds like you are doing the right things to maintain the batteries so I wouldn't change anything at this point.
903 wireman
Member
I changed out my batteries, I will see what happens. Question: how do you know what the battery charger you is doing without a gage. Coach information says it USA 3 stage charger. Thanks to all the replies to my original post.
John Canfield
Site Team
You would need a monitor interface with the battery charger or a battery status monitor. The battery monitor would track charge and discharge current. After a couple of days, your three stage charger should float a charge at about 13.2 or 13.4 volts give or take a tenth of a volt. In short, without buying more stuff it's just a guess.
CharlesinGA
Well-known member
The Winnebago Views were switched over to multi-stage converters about 2014, I would think a 2016 model would have a multi-stage unit.
Most likely a cell has gone bad in one of the batteries and is causing the converter to charge too much.
Charles
Most likely a cell has gone bad in one of the batteries and is causing the converter to charge too much.
Charles
Malibu39
Active member
Can someone provide a link to a trick-l-start type product? It appears they are no longer available and this year my engine batteries were toast even though it was plugged in all winter. I replaced them and now want to keep them. Thank you!
