# Battery Charge



## krbailey3 (Jul 21, 2008)

I know that the inverter will not give my battery a full charge, but will the inverter charge the batteries at all with a kill switch activated. I have two batteries on my TT and the power is turned off. If I plug the trailer in will they batteries receive a charge. No dumb questions, only dumb campers, right.


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## mike elliott (Dec 17, 2007)

Just my 2cents but i thinking a kill switch completely disconects the batteries from the trailer so they won,t discharge. so if there disconected they wouldn,t be able to charge


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## Calvin&Hobbes (May 24, 2006)

krbailey3 said:


> I know that the inverter will not give my battery a full charge, but will the inverter charge the batteries at all with a kill switch activated. I have two batteries on my TT and the power is turned off. If I plug the trailer in will they batteries receive a charge. No dumb questions, only dumb campers, right.


Dont underestimate the inverter/charger...It is a pretty good one, and it has charged my batteries as well as my battery charger. If you have a kill switch, I'm pretty sure (as BCDude said) that the batteries wont recieve a charge if they are "out of the loop"- but they also wont slowly discharge, either.


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## Ghosty (Jan 17, 2005)

If you turn on the KILL switch the Batteries will NOT charge... Period...

Yes we have a good inverter on the Outback ... but it will only get my batteries up to a 96% charge point -- which is really good -- however -- I routinely throw on a seperate plug-in-the-AC battery charger to get it competely topped off...


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## hazmat456 (Jul 26, 2007)

don't let the batteries freeze,check there electrolyte levels and they will discharge in a several weeks if not on a maintainer


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Real minor point here but it is better to get the terms correct.

The trailers have "Converter/Chargers" installed in them, they convert AC to DC voltage.

An Inverter changes DC to AC voltage.

Back to the OP. If you have a correctly installed kill switch the batteries will not charge when you are connected to shore power. You can trust the built in charger to do a good job charging your batteries as it is a very good 3 stage charger. This is assuming you have a 05 or newer trailer as some of the 04s only had single stage converters which are a waste of space.


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## krbailey3 (Jul 21, 2008)

Thanks for all of the good info. I turned the batteries on and have the trailer plugged in. I did check the water levels and added some distilled to top them off. The trailer is a 2006 21rs, and we love it so much, I just wanted to take good care of her this winter. She sure took good care of us this summer.


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## rdvholtwood (Sep 18, 2008)

Sorry to get off topic here, but, what type of charger are you using for charging the batteries? Any good suggestions....?


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## Ghosty (Jan 17, 2005)

rdvholtwood said:


> Sorry to get off topic here, but, what type of charger are you using for charging the batteries? Any good suggestions....?


This is the one that I use on my Harley, (ex-boat), RV, 2500HD and Honda tyo top off the batteries....

6/4/2 Amp Charger/Maintainer SC-600A 

I got mine at WalMart for like 42.00


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## shaela21 (Aug 16, 2005)

rdvholtwood said:


> Sorry to get off topic here, but, what type of charger are you using for charging the batteries? Any good suggestions....?


I picked up a 3 stage battery charger from Interstate, and I have been extremely pleased with it. It is a fully automatic charger that will not boil a battery dry.


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## rdvholtwood (Sep 18, 2008)

shaela21 said:


> Sorry to get off topic here, but, what type of charger are you using for charging the batteries? Any good suggestions....?


I picked up a 3 stage battery charger from Interstate, and I have been extremely pleased with it. It is a fully automatic charger that will not boil a battery dry.
[/quote]

Can I ask which model?


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## shaela21 (Aug 16, 2005)

rdvholtwood said:


> Sorry to get off topic here, but, what type of charger are you using for charging the batteries? Any good suggestions....?


I picked up a 3 stage battery charger from Interstate, and I have been extremely pleased with it. It is a fully automatic charger that will not boil a battery dry.
[/quote]

Can I ask which model?
[/quote]

It is a INT 210 from Interstate Batteries. I tried to find a link to it, but it may be discontinued. If you have a Interstate Battery place nearby, I would give them a call and ask about. It has a 2 amp output.

Cheers.


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## ED_RN (Jun 25, 2006)

I didn''t think the converter would fully charge the batteries but it will. Had my trailer plugged in for a day then put my portable charger on at the 2 amp setting. It immediately read full charge and cycled off. If you use the converter you really don't need to go thru thu the hassle of removed the covers and connecting a portable charger.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

ED_RN said:


> I didn''t think the converter would fully charge the batteries but it will. Had my trailer plugged in for a day then put my portable charger on at the 2 amp setting. It immediately read full charge and cycled off. If you use the converter you really don't need to go thru thu the hassle of removed the covers and connecting a portable charger.


I agree 100% with this assessment.


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## GarethsDad (Apr 4, 2007)

CamperAndy said:


> I didn''t think the converter would fully charge the batteries but it will. Had my trailer plugged in for a day then put my portable charger on at the 2 amp setting. It immediately read full charge and cycled off. If you use the converter you really don't need to go thru thu the hassle of removed the covers and connecting a portable charger.


I agree 100% with this assessment.
[/quote]
Unless you have a 04 or older model with a single stage charger. James


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## burleson (Jun 14, 2007)

I read "The 12 Volt Side of Life" -- http://www.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volt.htm -- which is a pretty good post. However, it mentions having a good 3 stage charger (one stage makes sure the electrolyte gets "churned"). I was trying to price one out, but there are so many numbers to compare, it makes my head spin... The 3 stages rely on different voltage, but the only number I see referenced in descriptions of chargers is Amps. I play with electricity only enough to get shocked. So, can somebody tell me if I should look at a 2/10/15 amp, or just a 2 amp charger? And, if I switch to 2 6V batteries, will a 12V charger take care of them if I leave them connected together during the charging process?
Thanks.


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