Home battery charging help!

[Phil Hyde]

We have our Keystone TT here at our house for a couple of weeks.  From our road trip, the battery lasted nearly 1 week running only the fridge and propane alarm.  I hooked up my generator on Saturday which ran for 3-4 hours.  Today I noticed that the battery is almost dead again.

Would I hurt my RV power converter by hooking up a battery charger?  I need to keep power to the fridge for another 4-5 days.

Thanks!
Phil

 

[donn]

Why not simply run an extension cord and plug the trailer in?  The converter will probably have a 45 or maybe 55 amp charge circuit on it and will charge and maintain the battery at full charge.

 

[jerrybell]

I was going to suggest the same as donn.  That is, just plugging the trailer in using an adapter.  If your battery was fairly low, I'm not surprised 3 to 4 hours on the generator didn't get you to a full charge.  I have noticed that I need about 6 hours minimum on the generator if mine gets down to a low charge, 1 or 2 lights on the indicator.  I always keep mine on a trickle charger when parked at the house with no harm to the converter.

 

[Phil Hyde]

Thank you for the replies.

But, I wonder, plug it in where?  I don't have anything larger than a 30 amp circuit.  :-\

 

[jerrybell]

A 30 amp circuit will easily run your fridge and charge your battery.  My trailer is only rated for 30 amp service.  Unless you are running the air conditioner?? and microwave at the same time you'll have plenty of power.

 

[donn]

Heck, a 20 amp circuit will be just fine.  Unless you want to run the water heater, refer and everything else in the trailer at the same time.  My 20 amp circuit has served me for over 30 years worth of RV's and never had a problem.

 

[Phil Hyde]

Fair point about the trailer being 30A rated.  Mine is as well.

But what about an adapter?  I don't have the 30A plug available, and I believe my 30A circuits are indoors.

Is there some sort of adapter I can install in the break panel?

Getting back to my battery charger question, I have a 'heavy duty' extension cord. Can I just hook up the battery charger?

 

[jerrybell]

An adapter can be purchased at Home Depot or Walmart for 4 to 6 dollars.  My only personal experience is with a maintainer charger but it doesn't seem like a regular charger would subject your converter to anything more than it sees when your batteries are being charged from the tow vehicle as you drive.

 

[Lou Schneider]

Be careful plugging a 30 amp trailer into a 30 amp home outlet.  Most 30 amp home circuits are 240 volts - your trailer is only 120 volts.  The plugs for 120 vs. 240 volts are different, but easily confused.

Your best bet is to get an adapter that lets you plug your trailer cord into a standard 20 amp outlet.  You could run a regular outdoor extension cord to your trailer, then use the adapter to plug the trailer's power cord into it.

You won't be able to run everything at once, but a 20 amp outlet will supply enough power to charge your batteries via the converter and let you run your refrigerator on electricity instead of propane if you want.

If you have an electric element on your hot water heater, make sure it's turned off.  It uses quite a bit of power and combined with the refrigerator and converter will probably trip a 20 amp breaker if it's left on.

 

[Joezeppy]

Phil, go ahead and get yourself the adaptor to plug into a regular house outlet. As was said above, it will run pretty much everything except the A/C and electric hot water. We did this for years until I finally ran a dedicated 30 amp RV line for convenience.

And keep the adaptor right in the TT in case you ever need it at a campground - you never know.

 

[Phil Hyde]

Thanks for the replies.  I know I have 30A 120V circuits in the house (requested by me for computer equipment), but I think the only outdoor outlets are 15A or (hopefully) 20A.

Until I can pick up the adapter today, I have the charger (6A) on the RV battery.

 

[Foto-n-T]

Residential outlets are typically 20 amp, RV interior outlets 15 amp.  The adapter will pay for itself quickly, they come in real handy.  While you're at it, pick up a 50amp to 30amp adapter as well. Once in a while you find a campground that has only 50 amp.

I know VERY FEW RV'rs who claim to have too many adapters.

 

[Phil Hyde]

Thanks.  I would not expect to find those power adapter (50A to 30A) at Home Depot.... is that not the case?

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Go ahead and use the regular automotive type battery charger you have. It will work fine. 6 amps is enough to power the fridge and LP detector, and probably a couple lights as well if needed.

Next time you are in a Walmart or wherever, pick up a 30A-->15A adapter for your power cord. If your rig has a 50A shore cord (4 prong plug), also get a 50A-->30A adapter, then use the two together to plug into a house-type 15  amp outlet.

 

[Phil Hyde]

Thanks Gary.  My TT is a 30A plug.

 

[1275gtsport]

Phil all you need is one of these
http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/rv-power-cords/10231.htm

the one in the picture on the left. your trailer power cord plugs into this and then into a wall outlet or extension cord. I use one everyday thru the winter to keep the batteries from freezing. It will also allow me to use the furnace to warm it up if I want to do anything in the MH over the winter.

I would not use the Microwave or the A/C while plugged into this adapter simply because they draw more current. (you might be able to use one thing at a time) In fact your trailer may have come with one of these, my buddy's coleman popup did.

 

[Phil Hyde]

Now that you mention it, I may have one of those. 

However, I just went out at lunch and bought a short extension cord adapter (30A -> 15A).

 

[Mopar1973Man]

That's the way my RV is sitting in the yar just adapted from 30A to 15A socket and it will keep the batteries up as well as run the refridgerator if need be...

I just put the charger in storage mode (13.2 V) and the batteries stay happy all winter long...

 

[PatrioticStabilist]

I'm looking and my batteries are running down.  My husband put in a 50AMP hookup just for the RV and I had it plugged in.  But I also had the switch turned off in the motorhome to the chassis and coach, now the chassis battery is rather low and the coach battery is down.  We have not been driving the motorhome at all other then moving it out from under the cover to work on the roof.  I moved it out so the roof will warm a bit today going to put in a skylight.  I'm letting it run for about a half hour that will keep the chassis battery charged but now I'm thinking I will need to use a battery charger on the coach ones. 

I was reading in the manuals and it says not to turn those switches off that the batteries won't charge.  I thought I needed them off to keep the batteries from running down from "ghost drain". So now I'm not quite sure.  We haven't had a problem since we got it with batteries running down and the chassis group cranks right up.

I know you aren't supposed to let them just set and run, but not about to get it on the road till all the openings are covered and sealed, I could just see wind getting under the rubber roof and well we know what would happen then.

 

[Phil Hyde]

Related to batteries running down and monitoring this, is there an easy way I can improve upon the "dummy" meter inside the RV?  It has a "test" button with LED meters.  The day before it was completely dead it registered 4/5.  So I assume the LED meter is relatively useless.