Should I Treat My Class A Any Different?

Should I treat my Class A any differently than I did my 5er as far as battery disconnect/shore power between trips?

Our trips are usually 2 to six weeks apart.  My routine with the 5er was that I'd switch off the batteries between trips and then about 4 days from departure I'd turn on the batteries and hook up the 120/15A (? plain old household outlet) and run the fridge until the morning we hit the road.  This worked well for us -the fridge would be cold and the batteries charged when we hooked up.

This is our first MH and first RV with a generator, so I just want to be sure I'm doing things right (I'm still reading the encyclopedia of manuals that came with the Winnie).

Another question:

We had a good orientation but when the lady told me the coach 30A plug had to be plugged into the 30A female plug on the coach to run the AC, fridge, etc. with the generator -I get that- I should have asked her, does the coach have to be plugged into itself for the generator to charge the batteries?

Any helpful answers are appreciated.  ~J

I leave my coach plugged in all of the time when I am at home.

[Assuming the Class A is newer than about 2002]  If you have power available (that 15 outlet), I'd leave it plugged in all the time. The charger is probably smart enough to manage power needs nicely.  If not, or not sure, your previous technique works well enough.

I too would leave the coach plugged into the 15 amp. But to answer the question.  Yes the cord needs to plugged in to something  either the house or the generator receptacle in the coach. The generator only feeds that receptacle and nothing else.

Thanks, folks!  I've only been on the forum a few days but I knew from what I've read that I'd get good answers real fast.  I knew I wouldn't get the ol' "the search link is your friend" response".  I don't know why people do that when they could answer the question just as quickly as typing that and end up with an updated thread on the subject.  (I do use the "search" link, though.  Comes in very handy.)

Gary ~Yes it is a 2018 that we plan on keeping for as long as it will last (I think).  :~)

Our coach is plugged into a standard 15 amp household outlet 24/7 when we?re home. We leave the fridge off until the day before we?re going to load up.

I got by for years on our 5th wheel (3 different ones) just killing the main power switch.  Tried it one year on our MH and killed all 6 AGM battereries over the winter.  Learned a bit about the MH and AGM batteries. 

The storage garage owner put me in a 110 outlet last spring, but it pops the GFI if I try to plug in the main cord, right after the surge suppression kicks in the relay.  Instead I just went to batterMinders and it worked great over the winter.

FenderP said:

Should I treat my Class A any differently than I did my 5er as far as battery disconnect/shore power between trips?

Our trips are usually 2 to six weeks apart.  My routine with the 5er was that I'd switch off the batteries between trips and then about 4 days from departure I'd turn on the batteries and hook up the 120/15A (? plain old household outlet) and run the fridge until the morning we hit the road.  This worked well for us -the fridge would be cold and the batteries charged when we hooked up.

This is our first MH and first RV with a generator, so I just want to be sure I'm doing things right (I'm still reading the encyclopedia of manuals that came with the Winnie).

Another question:

We had a good orientation but when the lady told me the coach 30A plug had to be plugged into the 30A female plug on the coach to run the AC, fridge, etc. with the generator -I get that- I should have asked her, does the coach have to be plugged into itself for the generator to charge the batteries?

Any helpful answers are appreciated.  ~J

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Yes the coach needs to be plugged into itself for the generator to charge the batteries. 

It is worth while to understand that the generator does not charge the batteries.  The generator only puts out 120V AC which goes to the 30A female plug on the coach.  When you plug the shore power cable into that female plug then the 120V AC then goes to the converter which converts the 120V AC to 12V DC to charge the batteries (and operate all the other 12V devices). 

A Traveler said:

Our coach is plugged into a standard 15 amp household outlet 24/7 when we’re home. We leave the fridge off until the day before we’re going to load up.

Click to expand...

Good idea.  We don't need the fridge running all the time.

AStravelers said:

Yes the coach needs to be plugged into itself for the generator to charge the batteries. 

It is worth while to understand that the generator does not charge the batteries.  The generator only puts out 120V AC which goes to the 30A female plug on the coach.  When you plug the shore power cable into that female plug then the 120V AC then goes to the converter which converts the 120V AC to 12V DC to charge the batteries (and operate all the other 12V devices). 

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Thanks for making sure I understood that process.  I knew it had to be converted to DC but I'm not pretending to know very much about the how and why -the education is appreciated.  I guess I kind of took a verbal shortcut saying the generator charges the batteries.

Mile High said:

I got by for years on our 5th wheel (3 different ones) just killing the main power switch.  Tried it one year on our MH and killed all 6 AGM battereries over the winter.  Learned a bit about the MH and AGM batteries. 

Click to expand...

I also learned an expensive lesson on my 5er by killing the batteries in a similar way, Mile High.  I didn't know the battery switch had to be "on" for them to charge.  Kind of a "duh" moment to the tune of a couple hundred bucks (or at least close to it).