Any issues leaving trailer plugged into shore power?

[tbwrench]

Hello,

I'm wondering if there would be any issues if I left my trailer plugged into shore power during storage? I park my camper in my back yard next to my garage and have access to a power outlet. Would it tax the charger or damage the battery? I do live in Calgary, AB, CAN and winter is a comin! ugh! Thanks!

Travis

[DavidM]

There are no negative issues at all with leaving your camper plugged into shore power. In fact it keeps the batteries totally charged. In harsh climates such as yours, discharged batteries can freeze and burst.

David

[Powder Hounds]

Oh no, not the W word!  Just saw your post, we are here in Calgary as well. Very happy to see another local LL owner!

Derek

[gibby]

Well that makes 3 of us in Calgary then 

[Merlin]

We did a major resupply in Calgary in late July on our way between Glacier and Banff National Parks. If we had known there were 3 other LL owners in town we could have had a mini-meetup 

[Steve Sanders]

We did a major resupply in Calgary in late July on our way between Glacier and Banff National Parks. If we had known there were 3 other LL owners in town we could have had a mini-meetup 

What a beautiful part of the world that is!! It's on my list of places to visit again.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[gbpack]

Our batteries (two 6-volt lead acid type) boil over when plugged into shore power too long. Maybe it's too long of a run from the converter to the batteries which causes some loss of voltage so the converter never changes over into maintenance mode? If that's what's happening, does anyone have any suggestions (other than turning off the battery switch)? Instead of getting a different converter or running heavier electrical cable to the batteries, I was thinking about getting two AGM batteries and using them instead. Since they are sealed, they wouldn't boil over. Any downsides to that?

[charliem]

If your CL is stock (no modified wiring) something is amiss and needs to be fixed. I assume your batteries are properly wired in series. I also have two GC2 6 volt batteries and leave it plugged in all the time with no boiling issues. As for the sealed AGMs, while they might not boil over they might just explode! That pressure has to go somewhere. It sounds like your converter may be faulty.

[DavidM]

If your CL is stock (no modified wiring) something is amiss and needs to be fixed. I assume your batteries are properly wired in series. I also have two GC2 6 volt batteries and leave it plugged in all the time with no boiling issues. As for the sealed AGMs, while they might not boil over they might just explode! That pressure has to go somewhere. It sounds like your converter may be faulty.

Charlie is totally correct. I would suspect a bad converter as well. But maybe the batteries are bad and the converter is fine. When batteries develop a short internally they draw lots of charging current, get hot and boil electrolyte.

Can you accurately measure the voltage at the battery terminals while charging from the converter. If the batteries are full then the voltage should be in float and in the mid 13s. It takes 14+ volts to boil electrolyte which you may be getting if the batteries are bad and the converter is trying to push a lot of amps in. But the voltage will be high if the converter has failed as well.

So mid 13 volts is good and 14+ is bad but it doesn't tell you if the batteries are bad or the converter is bad. One way is to temporarily hook up your car's fully charged battery without the existing suspect batteries and measure the voltage. If the voltage quickly drops to the mid 13s then the converter is fine and the batteries are bad. If the voltage stays at 14+ after a few minutes then the converter is shot. Don't leave the car battery hooked up for more than a few minutes at high charging voltage.

David

[gbpack]

OK. Thanks guys. Will give that a try and see if I can figure out. And yes, the converter is stock. Maybe it's not boiling over at all and perhaps there isn't anything wrong. What's a pain is that the battery terminals are constantly corroded and get a thick layer of that acid material that accumulates on the terminals very quickly, even after cleaning them. I thought that perhaps the batteries were getting too much voltage because the converter wasn't going into float mode perhaps due to the current loss caused by the long run of electrical lines between the converter and the batteries. Is there any chance that's what it could be?

[charliem]

I thought that perhaps the batteries were getting too much voltage because the converter wasn't going into float mode perhaps due to the current loss caused by the long run of electrical lines between the converter and the batteries. Is there any chance that's what it could be?

Not likely for two reasons. First, I believe the PD converter is limited to 4 hours in boost mode. Second, if there is excessive voltage drop in the wiring the high voltage is not, by definition, reaching the battery. The high voltage at the converter would cause the converter to think the battery was charged, thereby dropping back to absorption or maintenance mode. Again, if you have factory stock wiring in the camper, something else is amiss. DavidM's points on the battery itself bear consideration. A voltmeter at the battery terminals will tell all.

[bae146]

We did a major resupply in Calgary in late July on our way between Glacier and Banff National Parks. If we had known there were 3 other LL owners in town we could have had a mini-meetup 

I live just outside of Calgary, this brings us up to 4.  I left my Camplite plugged in all winter for 2 winters with no problems.

Doug

[Merlin]

We did a major resupply in Calgary in late July on our way between Glacier and Banff National Parks. If we had known there were 3 other LL owners in town we could have had a mini-meetup 

I live just outside of Calgary, this brings us up to 4.  I left my Camplite plugged in all winter for 2 winters with no problems.

Doug

Wow, Calgary is a "hotspot" for Camplites! Welcome to the forum.

[PDX David]

I recently upgraded to a lithium Ion (Battle Born) battery (100AH) and after research and conversation with manufacturer, my advice for long term storage with LI battery is to totally charge the battery then disconnect battery and solar panels so it doesn't get any charging voltage (from panels or trailer inverter/charger). I connect to shore power when I need to do anything inside the trailer.  Supposedly won't lose charge due to cold (or hot) weather.  This is first winter with this setup so we'll see how this goes when I power up for first outing next month.

......David

[ADR]

I do not use the onboard charger for storage. 
I use a small less than 1 amp tender-   rational>  if the onboard charger malfunctions when the RV isn't being used it could ruin a set of batteries quickly.
If the small charger/maintainer malfunctions it just doesn't have enough capacity to cook the batteries. 

I will use the onboard charger to bring the batteries up to full before storage - then the AC cord into the RV is disconnected and the small charger is plugged in to external power- this way no AC power is connected to the RV when not being used.

Over the years I've had too many things get blown up by lightning or other surges-  I would hate to have the RV burned down because a surge got the microwave or the charger.

EDIT- perfect example of blown electronics- we had a tornado a few days ago pass within 1/2 mile of us-  power of course flickered and went out- now my relatively expensive Tripp Lite UPS that powers my security system won't turn on