# Battery Recharging



## winkhink (Apr 4, 2005)

This weekend was my second outing and ran into a little problem with my battery lasting all weekend. Arrived Friday night and all was good, used the furnace that night, since it was 40 degrees and everything worked great. Saturday my battery was full, as reported by the panel on the wall. I left for about 6 hours and came back, when I left I turned off everything, furnace and lights but left the fridge on electric. I returned and everything was completely dead, no lights but the detector was not going off. I got the EU2000 out and plugged it in and we were good to go. The generator ran for about 3hrs but when I turned it off to go to bed for the night the LP detector went off and the battery was still dead. At 10:30 at night we packed up the camper and headed home, good thing I was only 40 minutes away. When I got home check the battery level and it showed 2/3 full.

That was the situation, now the question: Does plugging in the generator recharge the battery?


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Yes the generator should have charged the battery some what during those 3 hours. The converter in the trailer may not have been doing a very good job of sending current to the battery.

A couple of questions?

1) what is the water level in the batteries?
2) is the defroster on on the fridge? It is just above the top edge of the fridge door and if it is on it really eats up the battery.
3) was the battery reading full when you got to site on Friday?


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

I was told to always charge (when possible) with an actual battery charge (direct to battery of course) vs. using the trailers converter to charge.


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## Central Mass Outbackers (Jun 13, 2004)

Sorry to hear you are having a problem with your battery.

We have the 21rs and our refridgerator is two way, gas or ac, it does not run off the battery. If you have it on auto it will run on ac if available and on gas if not. If you contine to have a problem have the battery checked. Our battery is less than a year old and it just died. Good luck!

Dave.


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

First step is to purchase a deep cycle battery charger. The onboard charger/converter is not much more than a trickle charger and won't do a good job of conditioning and charging the battery. Even an onboard generator only runs the converter/charger so it still won't charge well. Before you go camping use the deep cycle battery charger to fully charge your batteries a few times, then do this when you get home. Between uses you should disconnect the batteries since the C0 detector will slowly drain the battery. If while you are camping you need to charge your batteries again, run the generator and hook up your battery charger direct to the batteries and you'll get a good charge.

If you are only running a single 12volt battery you may want to consider adding a second battery or upgrading to a dual 6volt system.


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## Bull Elk (Feb 28, 2005)

I am not sure that it has anything to do with what you have for a problem, but I noticed something interesting this weekend. I was plugged into the 30 amp and everything works great. I was told by my dealler to never run the "electric" water heater without water, so he recomended that I always trip the breaker when not in use. I did this on Saturday afternoon and accidently tripped the breaker above it as well. As it became dark outside, I noticed that my lights were not as bright inside the camper. The Air Conditioner was still running, along with the microwave. The lights and battery were going dead. I noticed what I had done with the converter breaker and all is fine. This was a 20 amp breaker in my 28rsds and it never dawned on me that the other 110 things would work without the converter. To make a long story short, maybe this breaker is tripped in your unit as well and that is why the battery is not charging. Just a thought.
Good Luck - Rich


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## winkhink (Apr 4, 2005)

Thanks for the help

Water level is good
Found a button in the top of the freezer that said climate control, couldn't find the defroster so I think that is it, but yes that was on
Yes, it was reading full.

I am going to try and reproduce the effect tomorrow as it sits in the driveway. Battery is showing full now, after driving it around and dumping it. I will leave the fridge with climate control on all day and see what that does to the battery. It has sat in the driveway all day today and battery is still at the same level, though everything is off in the TT. Memorial day is coming and it is King Salmon season and want to be sure if I head to where the fish are running it will be warm for my little girl.

I have two batteries and I think I am going to get one of those deep cell chargers just to be safe. Thanks again, I will let you know how it works.

One thing I left out, it rained all day Saturday but my tanks and battery remained covered but didn't know if the weather could play a factor.


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## winkhink (Apr 4, 2005)

report from the dealer says

"converter in the TT is trickle charger and is a half amp and it would take 2 days of a direct hookup to completely charge and my 3hrs would have done nothing. The truck altenator is about 9 amps so that is why driving it home charged it up."

Good to know, I think I am going to go get a deep cell battery charger to run on extended weekends to make sure I have the power. It was recomended that I find one that is a 40 amp that could be changed to a 10 amp. Don't know what that is going to run me but will soon find out.


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## Guest (May 23, 2005)

Winkhink,

The EU2000 has a DC outlet for charging the battery. All you need is a cable with the proper plug on one end and alligator clips on the other. I still recommend getting a deep-cycle charger, but the generator will recharge the batteries a LOT faster than the converter will. I don't know if it's necessary, but I disconnect my batteries from the trailer wiring when I charge them with the generator; and yes, you can use the DC and AC outlets at the same time. I do a lot of dry camping, and do it all the time.







Hope this helps.

Happy Camping,
Gary


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## hurricaneplumber (Apr 12, 2004)

Vector 3-stage smart charger for me. Fully charge before leaving and good to go. The dual 6-volts work perfect for me.

No problems with power anymore.
.
Kevin


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Actually the converter is a bit more then just a trickle charger. The Outback manual is a bit out of date on the converter for the newer trailers.


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## kjdj (Sep 14, 2004)

I have a Honda EU3000is but my prefered quick charge method is plugging the TV in and idle for 30 min. The TV alternator is 125amps but the batts. draw about 35amps when charging from a almost dead state.
My batts are sealed gellcells so I keep the Outback plugged into the house 24/7/365. no problems. If anything I wish the outback charger would output 3 stages up to 14.6 volts. To make the gells realy "sing" I gues I could buy a new 3 stage converter. $$$

For the price and maint. I would buy 2 12volt gells over 2 6 volt anyday. Both have the same total amp/hr rating


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## shadylaner5 (May 8, 2005)

I have 26RS and I installed an optima deep cycle 12v battery, plugged the camper into the 110v 30A house power to charge the battery. The battery after about 8 hrs. was almost to hot to touch. The charging voltage was 13.8v, correct terminals were checked. Has anyboby experienced this problem before. Thank You.


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## Colorado Outbacker (Jun 6, 2005)

I also was having trouble with the batteries not charging and the detectors sounding. Went to the dealer and the simple solution I should have thought of first was that the Battery terminals were dirty. Cleaned them up with a wire brush and everything works great again!


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## Not Yet (Dec 13, 2004)

Colorado Outbacker said:


> I also was having trouble with the batteries not charging and the detectors sounding. Went to the dealer and the simple solution I should have thought of first was that the Battery terminals were dirty. Cleaned them up with a wire brush and everything works great again!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Colorado Outbacker,

Welcome. I love Durango. Went through there headed West -East on 160 about 10 days ago. We just had another member from Durango sign up. He is still shopping for an Outback. You should link up.

If you have never stayed at Big Meadows, on the east side of Wolf Creek Pass (12 miles west of South Fork) it is an amazing place. Check it out...

Enjoy and post often.

Jared


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## Colorado Outbacker (Jun 6, 2005)

Colorado Outbacker,

Welcome. I love Durango. Went through there headed West -East on 160 about 10 days ago. We just had another member from Durango sign up. He is still shopping for an Outback. You should link up.

If you have never stayed at Big Meadows, on the east side of Wolf Creek Pass (12 miles west of South Fork) it is an amazing place. Check it out...

Enjoy and post often.

Durango is very nice, I agree. I moved here 24 years ago to go to college and have never left. Now a Battalion Chief with Durango Fire and have 20 days off a month to camp, hunt and play oh and do hunny-dooooos. Life is good!

I have been to Big Meadows and you are right, very beautiful place. That entire Wolf Creek area is a jem for this country.

Do you know the name of the new member from Durango? I will talk with them. I am enjoying my Outback more than I imagined I would. My goal this year is to spend over a month in it camping this year all total. I am at 13 nights so far this year. I have a 9 day hunting trip to Gunnison planned and a 7 night family camping trip already planned all around Colorado. Other than that it will be night by night to somewhere around Durango. I am enjoying making several modifications to it. Most of them I have learned on this web sight. Taking pictures all along the way.

I am still trying to learn my way around the web sight. Such as how do you add photos to your replies? It has many features to figure out.

Nice to talk with you!


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## camptails (Jan 18, 2005)

I was wondering about charging batteries with a generator as well. If you have a dual 6V set up and you wanted to charge them up. Would it be best to isolate them from the converter and then leaving the batteries in series, hook them up to the generator? Then what is the best way to check charge? Is the little hydrometer the best way....how long do you think it would take to charge up a 1/2 discharged battery? Lots of "how to's" and "what ifs" but maybe someone has done this on the road.

Thanks
Ray


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