# Rv Battery Questions



## Jim B (Mar 26, 2010)

We have to park our 210RS quite a distance from the house (and nearest power) so keeping a trickle charger on it all the time is not an option. I've turned off the main breaker on the converter and all of the power switches in the trailer are off. The only thing that I can see that pulls 12V power constantly is the LP gas detector so it does drain the battery over the course of a couple of weeks.

Is there a battery disconnect on the Outback 210RS ? Have any of you installed an aftermarket disconnect switch ? Or is the easiest solution just to disconnect the battery terminals all the time?

Thanks
Jim


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## GarethsDad (Apr 4, 2007)

Outbacks do not come with a battery disconnect. I added one to my TT. James


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## Lmbevard (Mar 18, 2006)

The easiest is still to just disconnect the positive wire from the battery. A Battery disconnect switch isn't that expensive or hard to install if you want one. Usually it is installed next to the battery box so that it's easy to get to but can be locked away.


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

Many will recommend disconnecting the negative wire rather than the positive. The reasoning is that the entire frame is negative and therefore if you plug it in without reconnecting the battery and that positive wire contacts the frame, bad things will happen (Blown fuses, etc). If the same happens with the negative disconected, nothing will happen. Either will break the circuit however.


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## garywies (Aug 23, 2007)

I have seen some small solar set ups that could work for you. Don't have one but seems to make some sense.


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## W Podboy (Jan 4, 2007)

Jim,
I would suggest that you install a solar panel on the trailer or adjacent to the trailer and keep a trickle charge on the battery that way.
We never plug our trailer in to 120 VAC till the day before we leave and use it to cool the fridge down.

The solar panels keep the batteries fully charged. We dry camp a lot so the panels also keep the batteries charged when we are in the boonies as well.
We think they are a great investment for the type of camping we do. In fact the current panels are going to be removed ( they are 18 years old and were first installed on our old trailer ) and will be replaced by a new more efficient panel that produce 3 time the output of the old panels.

If you disconnect the battery, it will still loose it's charge if you leave it in the trailer. This will ruin it and reduce its life span.
With the current solar panels and smart charge controller I am getting 4-5 years of good life out of my batteries on both the old and the current trailer. Just a thought.

Wes


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## Fanatical1 (Jan 9, 2006)

Here's a good thread for battery disconnect switches:

Cut off Switches

Here's what I used:


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## Jim B (Mar 26, 2010)

Thanks for the replies. I'll have to investigate the battery cutoff switch a little more.

The solar charger is a great idea. I just found a couple on Northern Tool. One is a little 1.8W trickle for $25, the other is a 5W trickle for about $49. I think I will try the 5W unit.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200305091_200305091

Thanks 
Jim


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## thefulminator (Aug 8, 2007)

Here is the cheapest and easiest disconnect to install. It's just a few bucks at Walmart.


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## Jim B (Mar 26, 2010)

thefulminator said:


> Here is the cheapest and easiest disconnect to install. It's just a few bucks at Walmart.


Fulminator:

I can't quite tell from the picture how it disconnects... but I will check out WM on the way home tonight...

Thanks
Jim


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## thefulminator (Aug 8, 2007)

You tighten/loosen the green knob which connects/disconnects the contact. It's a very simple design and is brass so it won't corrode very easily. They should be in the service area hanging next the the batteries.


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## hautevue (Mar 8, 2009)

The "little green knob" design is nice in that it's low, i.e. nearly level with the battery post.

I bought the knife-switch style, and it sticks up so far that the battery box cover won't fit down on the box. Naturally rain and road water got into the boxes, so then I had to drill holes in the bottoms to drain the water. One thing led to another...

Should have gotten the "little green switch" style, or mounted a switch on the side or bottom of the TT frame--someone earlier in this thread shows their switch -- a little red switch mounted on the frame.


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## Jim B (Mar 26, 2010)

Fulminator

Thanks for the info. Right where you said they would be in WM. <$4... can't beat that. I'll add it on this weekend.

Did you put it on the Negative post ?

Thanks Again.
Jim


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## hautevue (Mar 8, 2009)

Yes, you need to put the cutoff switch on the negative post. If you put it on the positive post, and then disconnect cables, if a cable connected to the positive post touches ground (the frame, etc.) you unintentionally go into the welding business! The sparks and flash are truly spectacular. [grin!]

Put it on the negative post for safety...


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## thefulminator (Aug 8, 2007)

Yes put it on the negative post. If the ground is disconnected from the trailer then nothing can cause a short.


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## Jim B (Mar 26, 2010)

Just wanted to say Thanks again for the replies and great ideas.

I added the $4 disconnect switch and a 5W Sunforce solar trickle charger for $50 on Monday evening. Of course tuesday and wednesday were non stop rain and no sun to be seen. Today we finally had sun and the battery level definetly went up. So for $55 in mods, the TT battery should be all set in between trips. Now I can only hope that the battery is not toast from being run down so low before the mods.... They should make that simple little disconnect switch standard equipment on all new trailers.

Jim


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

Jim B said:


> Just wanted to say Thanks again for the replies and great ideas.
> 
> I added the $4 disconnect switch and a 5W Sunforce solar trickle charger for $50 on Monday evening. Of course tuesday and wednesday were non stop rain and no sun to be seen. Today we finally had sun and the battery level definetly went up. So for $55 in mods, the TT battery should be all set in between trips. Now I can only hope that the battery is not toast from being run down so low before the mods.... They should make that simple little disconnect switch standard equipment on all new trailers.
> 
> Jim


Sounds good on the mods.

Some of the rigs do come with hard wired disconnect switches, but I agree, it would be nice if they all did.


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## rsm7 (Aug 8, 2009)

Is there any problems with leaving it plugged in all the time? I left mine plugged in all winter and left a light on inside to keep the battery discharging and charging. So far it seems fine. I just topped off the cells last weekend and they were close to full. Will I shorten the life of the charger?


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## WWH (May 7, 2010)

Since I have a three stage charger on my OB and boat I leave them plugged in when not being used.

A fully charged battery sitting on a rubber mat on a shelf in a parts department will go completely dead in three months with no load and no adverse weather conditions. That is why companies like Interstate keep track of how long the battery has been sitting on the shelf before they take it back and recharge it before putting it into another store. They will only do this so many times before they scrap the battery. I used to know how many times they did this before scrapping the battery but my memory is not what it used to be.

I fried a battery on my old TT before I found out it did not have a three stage charger.

Every time they go dead their life expectancy is dramatically shortened. The same is true when they are overcharged.

Overcharging and sparks can make them go BOOM. Over the years I have had to wash the acid from several Technicians face before taking them to the ER for stitches in their face when batteries blew up in the shop.

A slow maintenance charge when needed either from solar or a good three stage charger will safely maintain your battery and maximize it's life which will save you camping time and money.

Never stand directly over a battery and always disconnect the negative post first and connect it last to minimize spark events.

I hope this was helpful.

Walt


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## Tangooutback (Apr 16, 2010)

The solar panel trickle charge is a great idea. I imagine you would want to mount it on the roof. Is there a thread/guidance on roof mounting/wiring a solar panel?


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

Tangooutback said:


> The solar panel trickle charge is a great idea. I imagine you would want to mount it on the roof. Is there a thread/guidance on roof mounting/wiring a solar panel?


Here was the way I wired them on my OB (a similar mod is in the planning for the new TT).

Screwed to the roof with plenty of Dicor under and over the screw head for sealing









Wires run down inside the back of the refrigerator compartment


















Charge controller wired into an open fuse slot in the fusse box (insert a 15A fuse after wiring it in)









This was a 45W installation that ran me ~$250. It worked great.

I now have 60W of panels laying around. Still debating how much I want to install on the roof and if I want some left loose as well....

Mine did more than trickle, they acutally helped to keep the levels up during extended dry camping....


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