Should you keep RV pluged in at home?

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kyjohn

kyjohn

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 1, 2013
Posts
95
Location
Western Ky.
When at home, should you keep your Motorhome pluged in and should you keep the battery switch turned off? We are new to this and want to make sure we do this right when we are at home. Thanks
 
It might depend. Some motor home house batteries will not charge if the battery disconnect switch is operated. In this case it would be pointless to plug in. In other cases, some have Trik-L Charge units  (or other similar units) installed to maintain the engine battery and thus require you to plug in if you want to use that equipment. Again, depending on the motor home, this may or may not work with the battery disconnect operated.

You will have to check out these aspects on your particular unit (or future unit in your case!!) to see if any of this applies....
 
Also, are you going to use an existing outlet or install a dedicated 30 or 50 AMP service?
 
kyjohn said:
Going to use the outside 20amp GFI.
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Mistake #1 ???  Generally speaking, Often GFI plugs don't play nice with motor homes and trailers.....  Many problems were solved here by simply avoiding their use for this purpose.... but YMMV
 
Every motorhome we've owned has been kept plugged into an outdoor GFCI outlet when we're at our base cottage, since we often continue to live in the coach while we're remodeling the interior. I'm just now getting the materials together to add a dedicated 50 amp outlet after upgrading the cottage wiring and service. The GFCI has never been a problem.
 
kyjohn said:
When at home, should you keep your Motorhome pluged in and should you keep the battery switch turned off? We are new to this and want to make sure we do this right when we are at home. Thanks
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We've always kept our RVs plugged in at home. But our converter/chargers have always been the 3-stage that control the charge rate to keep the unit from overcharging (and boiling or ruining) the batteries. If yours is a single stage charger, I'd either get a trickle charger, change for a better unit, or plug in only long enough to get the battery up.

Whether you should disconnect batteries is dependent on how your motorhome is wired, whether it charges with batteries disconnected.
 
NY_Dutch said:
Every motorhome we've owned has been kept plugged into an outdoor GFCI outlet when we're at our base cottage, since we often continue to live in the coach while we're remodeling the interior. I'm just now getting the materials together to add a dedicated 50 amp outlet after upgrading the cottage wiring and service. The GFCI has never been a problem.
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OK, now not sure what I should do. Guess I will plug it in when I get it back from getting the oil and trans oil and filter changed. Plus a few other things. Yes, it would be nice to have the 50amp at home but might some day. So far we are loving the Motorhome and camping.
 
I agree w/NY_Dutch as I also have had this and other coaches plugged into a GFCI plug 24/7 for  the times they were parked at the house..my Dolphin is and has been plugged into said circuit since last fall. I have never experienced any issues w/that set-up..
Maybe I'm just lucky.

George
 
Plug it in and try!! You will need a good adapter or two though. Worst case, the GFCI will pop!!

Guess you have to fix your signature too: "Still looking for Motor Home"  8)
 
You are right. Not looking anymore.  ::) Love the one we bought. A 2004 Thor Four Winds Infinity 32R with two slides. 31K. Then plug it in I will. Thanks
 
Like most we keep ours plugged in to a 20a circuit at home. Plug into the GFCI first, reset it, then go plug into the MH and it should work fine. If I plug mine into the GFCI last with the MH hooked up it trips the GFCI for some reason. Sometimes they are a bit touchy. If you leave it like we do keep an eye on your battery water levels until you get a feel for when you need to add water to them. Don't want to dry them out being charged all the time.
 
I have a 30 Amp outlet on the side of my house.  I leave my travel trailer plugged in year round.  I check the battery monthly.  Never had any issues.

 
OK, thanks guys. But I think I will be getting me a 12 gage 110 cord to run from the house. I will plug into the GFI then the RV with the switch off to RV house batterys to see if lights come on or are off. Then I will know if I should keep the house batterys switch on or off while pluged in. Or I guess that it would be best to leave the switch off while parked at home. I did not get any books with RV. It was a one owner but was told the wife could not find them after her husband got ill.
 
Frizlefrak said:
I have a 30 Amp outlet on the side of my house.  I leave my travel trailer plugged in year round.  I check the battery monthly.  Never had any issues.
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Yes, that sounds like the best way to go. Might do that some day but might go with the 50amp. I take it you never over charge the batterys?
 
kyjohn said:
Yes, that sounds like the best way to go. Might do that some day but might go with the 50amp. I take it you never over charge the batterys?
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The 50 amp route is good, but if you're doing that, consider an RV pedestal (just like in an RV park) with 50, 30 and 20, along with individual circuit breakers for each. That's what I had an electrician put in, and it's great.
 
If the battery switch is off, the batteries will eventually discharge on their own (called self-discharge). If you don't want to leave the main house charger engaged, you should probably add a trickle charger (battery maintainer) if it will be more than a few weeks between uses.

As often happens, this whole topic got overly complex and scary, with numerous cautions about things that can go wrong.  Go ahead and plug in. Just keep an eye on the batteries for signs of overcharging, e.g. lots of moisture on the battery tops, loss of water in the cells, and warm to the touch sides. If you don't have any of those issues over the course of 2-3 months, you have no worries. But if you can't remember to "keep an eye out", probably best to not have the charger operating.
 
Kinda off topic, but I just added a 50A outlet to the post where I already have 30A service(see Hot! Hot! Hot!). Lowes has the complete outlet box for about $35, not a bad deal.

Ernie
 
Gary RV Roamer said:
If the battery switch is off, the batteries will eventually discharge on their own (called self-discharge). If you don't want to leave the main house charger engaged, you should probably add a trickle charger (battery maintainer) if it will be more than a few weeks between uses.

As often happens, this whole topic got overly complex and scary, with numerous cautions about things that can go wrong.  Go ahead and plug in. Just keep an eye on the batteries for signs of overcharging, e.g. lots of moisture on the battery tops, loss of water in the cells, and warm to the touch sides. If you don't have any of those issues over the course of 2-3 months, you have no worries. But if you can't remember to "keep an eye out", probably best to not have the charger operating.
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Thanks Gary, I will keep an eye on the batteries and check for the signs you mentioned abouve. So I should keep the house batteries switch on? Like you said "Overly complex and scary". Also I will check out Lowes on that plug in Ernie.
 
You won't know until you try it, as was stated in the very first response 8). In any event, it cannot do any harm to leave the switch on and plug in. To add to Gary's list of problem indicators: "smell". Any hint of a rotten egg smell is a dead giveaway to a battery overcharging problem.

For "nice to know" information: Instead of using the cabin lights as a test, measure the voltage across the batteries. The cabin lights will light if the battery switch is in the correct (ON) position but will not prove that the batteries will charge when the switch is in the store position. Measuring the battery voltage will. A reading of 13.2V or better across the batteries when plugged in will tell you they are under charge, less than that says no charging is taking place. Measure with the switch in the store position and then in the ON position  and note the difference (if any).

If the batteries require water, use only DISTILLED water which can be purchased by the gallon at most drug stores.
 
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