# Charging The Battery



## Husker92 (Feb 11, 2006)

I have a 2006 21Rs and have had it about four weeks. I'm getting ready for a trip and noticed that my battery was very low.

How long should I expect it to take to put a full charge on the battery by using my Dodge?

I guess the way to prevent this is to install a negative cut off switch on both batteries.


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## 2500Ram (Oct 30, 2005)

Good question on only using the TV to charge the batteries. We normally bring the TT home a night early and plug in to charge the batteries before we leave.

I'll be interested to read the replies.

Bill.


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## nascarcamper (Jan 27, 2005)

It should charge the batteries pretty quickly if you have a heavy duty alternator. I would suspect that it would shorten the life of the alternator. It's probably best to use the built in charger or a regular battery charger before you leave home. I ran mine down one time and it charged completely at least by the gauge on the way home but it was a 3 hour drive.


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## Husker92 (Feb 11, 2006)

nascarcamper said:


> It should charge the batteries pretty quickly if you have a heavy duty alternator. I would suspect that it would shorten the life of the alternator. It's probably best to use the built in charger or a regular battery charger before you leave home. I ran mine down one time and it charged completely at least by the gauge on the way home but it was a 3 hour drive.
> [snapback]86713[/snapback]​


Thanks for reminding me about the built in charger. I'll use the house power to charge the batteries.


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## 7heaven (Jun 4, 2005)

Husker92, Welcome to the site!!! Glad you got your answer so quickly. Be careful, there are a few Sooners and Longhorns lurking around here.....


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

Husker92 for the best battery performance you should invest a few bucks and buy a deep cycle battery charger. You can pick one up at Wal-mart for around $35 or so. These will properly charger your battery for maximum life and power. While towing your truck will top it off, but it won't really deep cycle charge it. Even the built in charger on the Outback (and most RVs) is not much more than a trickle charger.

To better understand your batteries and how to take care of them I highly recomend reading this link, The 12volt Side of Life


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## Sluggo54 (Jun 15, 2005)

7heaven said:


> Husker92, Welcome to the site!!! Glad you got your answer so quickly. Be careful, there are a few Sooners and Longhorns lurking around here.....
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 action Not to mention a KU Hayhawk or two!


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Husker92....Welcome to the site!!! Congrats on the Outback!!

If you really want to improve the battery life, ditch the single battery that came with your trailer and install 2 6v batteries. The link Y-Guy gave you will explain how to install and wire 2 6v's vs. 12v's.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

The WFCO converter installed in you trailer is a full 3 stage charger capable of charging at up to 14.4.vdc and 45 amps depending on how discharged the batteries are. Never store your trailer and batteries at less then 100% charge.

Always plug in your trailer when you get back from a trip for 3 days then isolate the batteries. If you will not camp for a month and it is warm you can just leave them installed and close the isolation switch for a couple of days every month or 2 days before you go camping. If it is really cold outside, bring the batteries inside and place them on a battery tender type charger at 13.2 vdc and 1.0 to 1.5 amp max.

Check the electrolyte level every 4 to 6 weeks during the camping season. Top it up with distilled water only.

Doing all this you should have a set of batteries that last as long as possible and will preform as needed.


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## kampy (Feb 14, 2006)

Rock chalk Jayhawk, go KU

Maybe this battery thing is the reason our slideout won't work. We had our camper delivered to storage at the campgound we will use the most. I have posted our slideout troubles earlier, but to make a long story short. Slide out worked great to extend. Worked great to bring in. Husband wanted to bring it back out again (forgot to put something it). It wouldn't go. Just made a soft popping noise. Waiting for service. Brand new 31rqs. First time we camped in it. Could the battery have been weak from the dealer? It was towed for about 3 hours. Yes, the electricity was hooked up when we were bringing it in, and sending out the slide. What I am reading here suggests that maybe the battery was weak from the get go. It sat on the lot for about 4 or 5 months before we purchased it.
What do you all think? I would like to have a quick fix to this thing in that I want to go camping again and service is backed up until the end of this month. Maybe I am just reaching here.
Kampy


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

kampy said:


> Rock chalk Jayhawk, go KU
> 
> Maybe this battery thing is the reason our slideout won't work. We had our camper delivered to storage at the campgound we will use the most. I have posted our slideout troubles earlier, but to make a long story short. Slide out worked great to extend. Worked great to bring in. Husband wanted to bring it back out again (forgot to put something it). It wouldn't go. Just made a soft popping noise. Waiting for service. Brand new 31rqs. First time we camped in it. Could the battery have been weak from the dealer? It was towed for about 3 hours. Yes, the electricity was hooked up when we were bringing it in, and sending out the slide. What I am reading here suggests that maybe the battery was weak from the get go. It sat on the lot for about 4 or 5 months before we purchased it.
> What do you all think? I would like to have a quick fix to this thing in that I want to go camping again and service is backed up until the end of this month. Maybe I am just reaching here.
> ...


I'd sure try pluging in the trailer to shore power to see if the slide works. If it does, great, that's one hurdle out of the way. If it worked with AC, then I'd take a different 12v battery (ensure it's charged) and hook it up. If it works, you've saved time and money. I''d chaulk this up to you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Batteries are seldom put into a trailer until they are ready to go out the door. It could be the battery but not likely as a weak battery should still move the slide but very slowly until there is nothing. So it would not even make a popping sound.


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## CJ999 (Aug 11, 2005)

nascarcamper said:


> I ran mine down one time and it charged completely at least by the gauge on the way home but it was a 3 hour drive.
> [snapback]86713[/snapback]​


I had the same experience recently, after a 3 hour drive my batteries showed fully charged by the trailer gauge. However, when I measured them with a volt meter there was considerable room left.... don't remember exactly but I think they measured about 11.4 volts. I put them on a deep cycle charger and they came up to 12.47 volts.


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## W4DRR (May 17, 2005)

CJ999 said:


> nascarcamper said:
> 
> 
> > I ran mine down one time and it charged completely at least by the gauge on the way home but it was a 3 hour drive.
> ...


Don't forget, the alternator in the TV is adjusted for temperature. That would be under-the-hood temperature...not outside. This is to prevent over or under charging the vehicle's battery. Unfortunately, the trailer's battery is sitting out in cooler air. As under hood temperatures _increase_, the charging voltage will _decrease_. So it is possible under certain conditions the trailer battery will not receive a full charge, nor will it charge quickly. This effect is compounded by the fact the trailer battery is being charged through maybe 20 feet of 10 or 12 guage wire, which will kill some of the voltage also.

Bob


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## Husker92 (Feb 11, 2006)

I'm back from our first trip in the new outback. It's a great trailer!









We had a few battery issues but with all this great advice it will be the last time for that!









For now on, I'm pulling the batteries and using the charger before the trip and purchasing a generator.

By the way - my 2006 21Rs came with two batteries.

Thanks again. This site is a great resource!


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Husker92 said:


> I'm back from our first trip in the new outback. It's a great trailer!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'm sure it came with two 12v batteries. If you do a lot of dry camping then you should really look into replacing the two 12v batteries with two 6v batteries. 12v batteries are for car (burst of power to start car) 6v batteries are built for long, consistant power (golf carts use 6v batteries)

When you add the two 6v's together you'll have 12v's. You should read this link listed below...it's is a great site for people that needed info on batteries.

http://www.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volt.htm


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

Also check the site on batteries. I was thinking of upgrading and their is agruements to both 6v vs 12v. Check it out. I am making a check list and once everything is compare including $$$ we will see if 6v wins over 12v.

Thor


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## LateralG (Feb 11, 2006)

Thor said:


> Also check the site on batteries. I was thinking of upgrading and their is agruements to both 6v vs 12v. Check it out. I am making a check list and once everything is compare including $$$ we will see if 6v wins over 12v.
> 
> Thor
> [snapback]87905[/snapback]​


Yep. Since there are deep cycle 12V batteries, it seems to boil down to cost and availablilty. Each has its advantages, with neither having a huge advantage. My preference is for 12V deep cycle because of cost, availability, conventional height, and redundancy ... if one fails, I still have power.


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