Long term shore power..

[Wetstuff]

Is there a negative to leaving shore power hooked up whenever the rig is standing for long periods? ...weeks or months? Thanks.

Jim

[Reniram]

Not really..but keep in mind your batteries and the whole electrical systems to the RV are being used,which is not a problem..what you should though is periodically check the battery water and do a walk through and check for any unusual smells or noises..This can be done when you exercise your generator once a month..Generally speaking it's better than just letting your rv sit for weeks or months between trips...

[BobC]

I see in your profile that your MH is a 2002. You might want to consider upgrading your converter/charger to a modern multi-stage unit. It will be better for your batteries. I replaced mine with this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Morich]

One of the worst things to do to used equipment like this is storing it! Things need to be looked at once in a while so leaving the shore power on is not a problem IF you look in once and a while and don't just assume all is well.
One of the bigger problems is overcharging the batteries and that makes them run dry which does kill the battery really quick, so check it often. I do not exercise the genset as often as recommended for emergency genset operation as it is not an emergency and it failing is not a problem for me to get it restarted. I do run it long enough each use to assure it gets fully warmed but once every few months is okay for me. An alternate to changing out the onboard charging equipment is to use a newer/ better designed battery charger which is much cheaper and can be used for other things as well.

[ThomB]

If I could afford/find storage where I could be connected to power I'd do it. If for nothing else to keep the batteries topped off (I know solar will do that and have plans to install some). There is some inside warehouse storage near us, but I think it's about $200/ month + electric. That would be nice, but there is also a waiting list.

[Wetstuff]

Ooooo... I think I better go back and RTFM. With other distractions, I've not had tme to mess with this rig as much as I would have liked - hardy any frankly. Earlier, I did make upgrades to the battery pack and a fixed battery minder system you folks recommended. I may have some time is coming weeks to take a deeper dive into why I posed this question. Thanks. Jim

[Goodspike]

Originally Posted by Wetstuff

Ooooo... I think I better go back and RTFM.

LOL. One thing you could look for would be a battery disconnect. I'm not sure if you have a motorhome or a trailer, but with a I believe just doing the disconnect should work to avoid overcharging situations. You could maybe reconnect every few weeks for a day to top off the batteries. Not sure what you would do with a motorhome since there's two battery systems.

[Cooperhawk]

Ours is an 02 Journey which we have kept up methodically over the years. We have a 40x60 building where we store it when not in use. I usually keep it plugged in to 50 amp all the time.


Last week I went out to the shed just to check on things. I opened the coach door and the lights were flashing on off, on off. I immediately killed the power. After a couple minutes I turned the power back on and everything was dead.


Short story, I took it up to my friend's shop and we started investigating. What we found was that two leads in the breaker box got loose, probably from vibrating down the road, and started arking. It melted several wires in the box and caused a small fire which did little damage. We replaced the wiring and started checking systems and to my great surprise, there was no other damage. I think I lucked out and the breaker box did it's job.


I still have it plugged in, but don't turn on the power unless the batteries are low. I also have the Salesman switch turned off.

[BobC]

I would think there would be some sort of timer that you could use that would connect periodically, say once a week, to charge your batteries. Since you don't need full amperage, you can use an adapter so you can use a 15A timer.

I agree that the salesman's switch should be off.

[Morich]

A charger on a timer is one way to avoid toasting the batteries ful time and it is better than doing nothing but also has some downside as batteries are at their best and last longer if they are not frequently run down and then recharged. best situation is to have them maintained at the correct level but not overcharged to boil off too much water. We get lots of "maintenance free" hype but that really just means they have built covers which try to catch the fluid fumes coming off and run it back into the battery. It helps and does make a battery easier to deal with but not as good as not letting the boil off!
I find matching the charger to the levels I find being used on parasitic drains works better for me.
Newer chargers are better than older and do have lots of good benefits built in to hold the charge stable but we need to do some looking at what is using power when we don't need it.

[Retired FF]

Progressive Dynamics PD9260CV Inteli-Power 9200 Series Converter/Charger with Charge Wizard - 60 Amp

Caution I purchased this unit EXCELLENT choice with a desulfurization cycle. However upon first shipment from >>>>> I receive the 3 phase without constant battery charge/charge desulfurization phase. This unit allows you to maintain constant convertor power without destroying batteries.

[CharlesMoore]

I tried the quote but my tablet balked.....

• My MY has a Xanttex aka Heart battery charger inverter in the 1500 output inverter. The charger is a multistage charger: Bulk then Charge and finally Float. T
• The bulk phase essentially dumps the rated charge amps (75 amps) into the battery until the batteries heat up or reach a voltage of 14 VDC.I
• The Charge phase occurs until the input current decreased to the 14.4 BCC input to a point of less than a few Amps or the time of 45 minutes occurs.
• The Float phase maintains the battery at 13.3 VDC nominal.
• XANTREX

[Retired FF]

My message is " check the product to assure it is correct", Amazon immediately reimbursed their independent supplier's mistake with no problem. However, I feel that wasn't the first 3-stage old stock convertor/charger the supplier substituted. My 1988 WB simple convertor/charger would overcharge damaging batteries constantly. Using the Wizard unit (AND any other quality updated charging unit) permits constant charging without battery damage. Maybe after two sets of damaged batteries, I may have recognized the charger function wasn't what I paid extra for as an upgrade.

[NeilV]

In a 2002 the biggest drawback to leaving it plugged in is the Converter Charger that came with the coach which just boils the batteries to death if left plugged in all the time.


While you can add a float charger you would have to turn off the built in Converter/Charger if you leave the coach plugged in all the time or better yet upgrade to the Progressive Dynamics unit with the Charge Wizard and Automatic Desulphation Cycle however please note that the built in chargers were wired back in 2002 to only charge the house batteries and not the engine starting battery so additional provisions will have to be made to take care of keeping the engine starting battery charged.


Depending on your location though batteries can go dry just from the local climate even when not being charged. Here in Sunny South West Florida its not uncommon to have batteries lose water just while stored on a shelf in an unconditioned storage space such as a shed, garage or in a seldom used vehicle. I keep gallon jugs of distilled water in my coach and check the fluid levels in the batteries regularly and still at times find extremely low fluid levels even though I do not have power available to leave it plugged into when in storage.

[Wyatt]

I think that the short answer is, it depends. If you have a three stage smart charger as is built into our Intent, it’s actually preferable to leave it on shoreline power when not in use, with the battery cut-off switch in the ON position to allow the smart charger to maintain the battery levels for you.
If you do not have a smart charging system, it wouldn’t hurt to leave it connected to shoreline power all of the time, but you’d want the battery disconnect switch to be in the OFF position, keeping the batteries out of the loop.
This is from their manual:
Three-Stage Smart Charging
In order to maximize battery life, it is best to charge batteries slowly, keep them topped off with a trickle-charge when the RV is not being used. The 3-Stage “smart” charger continuously measures the battery voltage output and regulates the amount of charge using three modes of operation; Absorption, Bulk and Float modes.
All WFCO power converters are automatic three-stage switching power supplies. The converter senses which mode it needs to be in by checking the RV system voltage.

[Wetstuff]

NeilV - "you would have to turn off the built in Converter/Charger if you leave the coach plugged in all the time " That's what I have to figure out

....better I disconnect the umbilical before I go any further. Thanks all.

Jim