MDL454
WASHINTON
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Joined: 01/01/2007
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Self professed DIY'R fried both house batteries,during last winter storage.RV is a "Class A" 1993 Fleetwood which was plugged into shore power(110) at storage lot.Last spring purchased (2) #6 volt Trojans to replace dried out batteries my fault for not topping off during storage, but I have performed this same routine the last 4 years with no obvious fault .My question.. I have 2 battery chargers available both are automatic with 6 and 12 volt configurations with automatic charge settings ,can I use 1 charger to keep both batteries safely maintained for the 4 months of storage? Driving or checking the RV on a weelky or monthly basis is not a option.I searched prior blogs (1,550+) but had no luck. Thanks!
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Fishinghat
Western Washington, USA
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Joined: 10/03/2002
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Have you considered taking the batteries out and taking them home? At home you could put the charger on every few weeks for a day and all should be good. That's the preferred storage method anyway.
As for your previous batteries that were four year old, it is possible they wouldn't hold a charge anyway and boiled over when the automatic charger tried to keep them topped off.
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wolfe10
Texas
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Go to Home Depot or Lowes and buy a HD 120 VAC timer.
Plug the charger(s) into it and run it 1 hour a day. Be sure BOTH battery banks are on the timed charger(s). No over-charging.
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West Coast FT
California
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Another option is to open the breaker on the converter. Buy a battery tender with automatic sensor. I bought one from a boating supply place. the tender charges at one to two amps max. This won't boil out your batteries. For added safety include a 24 hour or longer timer in the mix. The timer will force the sensor in the battery tender to cycle once a day or longer depending on the timer purchased. This time of the year look in the "trim a tree" department at most discounters.
I think I paid $15.95 for the tender, $9 for the 24 hour timer.
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skipnchar
Topeka Kansas USA
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If the batteries are any good at all they should hold their charge for at LEAST three months without any charge at all, as long as they're isolated from any DRAW on them.
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smkettner
Southern California
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Joined: 03/21/2005
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Yes you can use a 12 volt charger to maintain the 12 volt battery created when two six volts are connected in series. Although not all of them will kick back on automatically when the battery is low. The manual should explain what it will do.
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toolman1
Cerritos, CA.
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wolfe10 wrote:Go to Home Depot or Lowes and buy a HD 120 VAC timer.
Plug the charger(s) into it and run it 1 hour a day. Be sure BOTH battery banks are on the timed charger(s). No over-charging.
I've done it that way on several sets of batteries. Works really well too!!
See ya out there!!
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jerseyjim
New Jersey
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2 6V connected together....2 pos and 2 neg terminals. WHICH terminals on which battery would you connect the charger (1)pos. (1)and neg. clips on?
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wolfe10
Texas
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jerseyjim wrote:2 6V connected together....2 pos and 2 neg terminals. WHICH terminals on which battery would you connect the charger (1)pos. (1)and neg. clips on?
The two 6 VDC batteries are connected: house ground to battery 1 negative. Battery 1 positive to battery 2 negative. Battery 2 positive to house positive.
The charger negative is to battery 1 negative. The charger positive is to battery 2 positive.
Think of the batteries as "a 12 VDC battery in two cases". The charger only sees it as a 12 VDC battery-- it does not care if it is in one case or two.
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jerseyjim
New Jersey
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WOLFE10:
thank you. I printed it.
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