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Old 12-03-2011, 05:27 AM   #1
maximo
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Power, converter, battery, 110v

Question:

When running on the battery and the battery dies can you put a charger on the battery without disconnecting the battery and not hurt the converter?


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Old 12-03-2011, 06:29 AM   #2
RichR
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You should be ok if you charge at a low rate.I use 6 amp as the high to re-charge connected to the converter.I do not know what most converters are rated for up a little caution would not hurt.Having lights etc on will slow the re-charge so would be best to re-charge with batteries disconnected for a while.I use a battery charger that has 2,4,6 amp charge rate and do not have the converter connected.
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Old 12-03-2011, 07:51 AM   #3
snfexpress
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If you have power to run a battery charger, why not just plug the Monty in (even at 20 amps) and use the on board converter/charger?
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Old 12-03-2011, 07:57 AM   #4
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When our converter quit charging we had to keep a battery charger connected all the time to keep thing going.
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Old 12-04-2011, 05:01 AM   #5
maximo
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When you are NOT hooked to 110v power your heater,lights,waterpump and other things are 12v and run off the batteries. When you ARE hooked to 110v power are the heater, lights and waterpump still running through the 12v batteries or through the converter changing the power from 110v to 12v?

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Old 12-04-2011, 05:12 AM   #6
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I would guess the answer is both, the battery acts as a reserve when the converter can't keep up with the load
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Old 12-04-2011, 05:50 AM   #7
maximo
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Do trailers have to have a battery in them to use operate? I thought if you had them hooked to 110v you did not need batteries. If that is so the convertor would have to handel the power conversion to 12v, I guess.

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Old 12-04-2011, 05:54 AM   #8
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I'm no electrician, to say the least, but the slides on ours won't go in or out if the battery is dead even if it's on shore power.
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Old 12-04-2011, 11:57 AM   #9
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Am electrician will be along soon, I would imagine, but I believe the 12v system runs off of the battery at all times, the converter maintains the battery as well as provide the amperage needed under a heavy load.
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Old 12-04-2011, 12:03 PM   #10
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On ours the battery and the converter join together on the breaker panel so I would think it's kind of a group effort
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Old 12-04-2011, 02:47 PM   #11
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I've run 12V things without the battery connected including landing gear and slideouts. Things seem to work better and faster with the battery, but in my '06 the battery does not seem to be required for short term needs.

I don't think this is a good idea since the battery helps the converter as needed. Keep in mind the converter affects how much the shore power is being used, so if the the battery isn't there and you are using a lot of 12v stuff off the converter, this will leave less for the 110v needs.
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Old 12-05-2011, 09:07 AM   #12
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One other item to think about is that the battery is needed for the brake break-a-way to work.

You also want to keep your battery charged this time of year so it doesn't freeze. Uncharged battery will freeze, while a charged battery will not.
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Old 12-05-2011, 05:09 PM   #13
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Having just gone through a class on maintaining and operating your RV, we learned that it is absolutely necessary to keep the battery(s) in place with the converter for the 12 volt system. Reason (as told) is that at times, the load on the system can actually exceed the capabilites of the converter, and then the battery(s) act as a buffer to keep the converter from "overworking" itself. Especially high draw items, such as the slides, landing gear, awnings, etc, but you'd also be surprised at how fast the load adds up with all the other so called "minor" items in the trailer.
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Old 12-06-2011, 03:17 AM   #14
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Agreed about the "Minor Loads". If you're using standard lights, those 921 Wedge bulbs draw 1 1/2 amps each, so in our unit we have three ceiling fixture with two bulbs each, so each time you open the door, a nine amp draw, wouldn't take long to kill a battery (obtw-we've changed most of ours to LEDs with a fraction of the draw).
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