Plugging in at home

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Fawn
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Joined: August 28th, 2021, 9:33 pm

Plugging in at home

Post by Fawn »

I’ve gotten different info from various sources. Is it OK to leave the TV plugged in while resting at home? The previous owner said she did it to keep the battery in good shape. I just read another comment that said it was bad for the battery. What’s the verdict?
chin_k
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Re: Plugging in at home

Post by chin_k »

Depends on your charger. Some charger will boil the battery acid, while some are more advanced and can be used all the time. If you have lithium, you should not keep it at 100%, so that is another complication. If you don't care about getting the every last bit out of the battery, then don't bother with this issue. Some of us are OCD that we never leave anything on our plate, including the gravy, while others don't even bother with doggy bag.
2000 Concourse dinette, on 1999 6.8L Ford E350 Triton V-10 Chassis
deppstein
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Re: Plugging in at home

Post by deppstein »

I agree with Chin that one important factor is the converter/charger you have. If it is an original (old school, not smart-multistage unit, then not a good idea to keep plugged in as it will overcharge your batteries. Many of us have upgraded the original converter/charger to a Progressive Dynamic 4655, which is a multi-stage smart charging unit.
But battery type also figures in here. I have the traditional deep cycle batteries, so I will speak to that. I will keep the Rig plugged in for several days at a time, which gives the batteries a full charge (steady voltage of 13.2). Then I usually unplug for a period of time, particularly if the weather is below freezing (since it says the Progressive Dynamic unit has a low operating temp parameter of 32 degrees). I also drive my Rig at least once every 10 days to keep things moving (sitting for long periods is not good for any vehicle). Then when battery gets down to around 12.4, 12.3 (approaching 60-50% capacity…you should try to keep it from going below 50% to maintain good battery health), I plug it in again.
Based on Chin’s personality descriptions, my wife would definitely peg me as paying TOO much attention to all this…her approach would be the simple plan that if you have a smart charger, plug it in and leave it!
Again, this pertains to regular lead acid batteries. If you have AGM or Lithium, see what those people have to say.
Hope this helps.
David
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Blue~Go
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Re: Plugging in at home

Post by Blue~Go »

Fawn wrote: February 14th, 2022, 10:54 am I’ve gotten different info from various sources. Is it OK to leave the TV plugged in while resting at home?
Could you clarify what you mean about leaving the TV plugged in?
1999 Concourse
chin_k
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Re: Plugging in at home

Post by chin_k »

Blue~Go wrote: February 14th, 2022, 3:00 pm
Fawn wrote: February 14th, 2022, 10:54 am I’ve gotten different info from various sources. Is it OK to leave the TV plugged in while resting at home?
Could you clarify what you mean about leaving the TV plugged in?
Blue, TV == RV, don't you know? That is how we can tell someone disappeared from the web for a few months, and when they came back, they don't even know simple fact like this! ;)
2000 Concourse dinette, on 1999 6.8L Ford E350 Triton V-10 Chassis
Fawn
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TV is typo RV is what I meant Re: Plugging in at home

Post by Fawn »

Thank you for all your help. I’m not exactly sure what I have but since it’s a 1998 Concourse, I probably have the “old school” batteries and charger. Tomorrow I’ll check the manual and all of the paperwork I got from the previous owner. She didn’t mention any major conversions.
I hope I haven’t done too much damage by having kept the RV (not TV) plugged in most of the time. Learning as I go for sure.
deppstein
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Re: Plugging in at home

Post by deppstein »

Don’t be too hard on yourself…having an older Rig leads to a lot of trial and error.
If previous owner didn’t do much upgrading, then you likely also have basic lead acid batteries…and they are not very expensive to replace ($125/per battery or so).
Then you can start fresh and keep it as simple (or get as sophisticated) as you want/need, depending on how you want to use your Rig. Just traveling dnd plugging into shore power at campgrounds or RV parks would allow you to keep it simple…a desire to camp in more remote places without electrical hookup would require a steeper learning curve—like solar.
At very least, I would recommend replacing old converter/charger with a PD4655 and getting new batteries.
David
chin_k
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Re: Plugging in at home

Post by chin_k »

I just want to point out that the original charger/converter that we have in the late 90's and later Concourse usually is the Magnatek 45 amp model. If you want to go upgrade to the Progressive Dynamic drop-in replacement, you may want to get the PD4645 instead. There is very little difference in price between the PD4655 and the PD46545, but the wiring in the Chinook is meant for the 45 amp, and I don't really think that any of us really going to use 55 amp anyway with the LED replacements and other upgrade.... I want to point the amperage out in case people got confused and thought that it was 55 amp originally. My OCD is showing again...
2000 Concourse dinette, on 1999 6.8L Ford E350 Triton V-10 Chassis
BobW9
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Re: Plugging in at home

Post by BobW9 »

Note the auto-resetting fuse coming from the battery to the LVD and then charger is 50 amp, so anything higher should blow that fuse (comes back on after some cool down period).
2000 Concourse, Ford Triton 6.8 V10
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SMan
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Re: Plugging in at home

Post by SMan »

FWIW We've had our Chinook close to 9 years now. I still have the original Magnatek charger. For the most part I have left my rig plugged in at home during the winter even knowing that the charging system is a single stage one. (We do drive it often the rest of the year and often leave it unplugged) I am only on the second set of batteries since I purchased it. I do try to check the cell levels and not let them get low. We got well over 5 years out of the last set. I think we were very lucky despite our poor battery treatment.

All that said I have a new Progressive Dynamics PD4645V Converter/Charger sitting on the workbench ready to install. After replacing the batteries in December I thought I'd try to make this set last a bit longer.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002OR2FIW?ps ... ct_details
Steve aka SMan
2004 Premier V10
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