Need some advice. I have my 5th wheel plugged in next to my home into a 50 amp circuit at all times. No negative side effects seen but just wondering if this is a good or bad, like a constant charge going to the battery, thing.

 

That's going to depend on the components in your rig. Some chargers are good 4 stage chargers, so no issue, some are 3 stage, not as ideal as a 4 stage but still shouldn't kill your battery right away. If it's a single stage charger (like the one I use to recharge the lawnmower's battery in the spring) yeah, you don't want to leave that on all the time.

If you're really worried about it though you can either switch off the converter (from the breaker panel) or hit the battery disconnect switch (again, depending on what components your rig has in it). In my old Flagstaff, as long as it was plugged in, I could run most of my 12v system directly off the convertor, even with the battery disconnected, except the slide which was too much of a draw. In my Surveyor I know the lights will still work, but I haven't tried any of the other systems yet to validate how much can run sans battery.

 

If you have a good quality converter you should be OK. But, I highly recommend you check the battery level once a week for the first month, then once a month after that. My new converter nearly dried all the cells in my batteries when I had the trailer plugged into shore power for a month. I know the cells were in good shape one month prior to plugging in.

If you have a battery tender, I would probably use that instead of relying on the on-board converter.

 

IMO you will wreck your batteries unless you have sophisticated electronics in your converter that prevent overcharging; like a battery minder. My bet is that you will not have those electronics. With most converters, the low stage is a trickle charger which is different that what a battery minder provides. IMO, you will overcook your batteries; even on trickle charge. I learned this the hard way; with a 3 stage converter.

Over winter, I just hook my shore power up ever couple of months for a couple of days and then unhook it. Try to keep you voltage between 12.6 and 12.1.

 

I disagree. As full-timers, our rig stays plugged in to shore power all the time (except when rolling, of course). The multi-stage charger in the converter does a great job of charging and maintaining the battery. I have to add a few drops of distilled water to a cell or two a couple of times a year.

Rob

 

Arctic Fox came with a multi-stage converter....I have always left it plugged in whenever it's in the driveway..... that's where it is stored when not in use. Must be bad on the battery...it had to be replaced this fall. It was the original battery. (2007).

 

Not all converters are created equal. My original 2006 converter wasn't likely a four stage. It also wasn't very strong. It couldn't boil my batteries if it tried. The new converter is from IOTA Engineering and it's the DLS-45/IQ-4. It outputs more amps to the battery than did the prior converter. I did that because I wanted to minimize the amount of time that it would take the generator to recharge the batteries. The old converter seemed to take F-O-R-E-V-E-R to charge to 90% and then took even longer to get to 100%. I thought 45 amps was a lot, but my hunting partner has a converter/inverter that charges a similar set of Trojan dual 6V batteries at 75 amps!

One complaint I have about the converter is that there is no way to tell what it's doing. It's installed behind a cabinet so there's no way to see the LED lights. Even if I could see them, they don't really provide much info. A remote display panel that said which charging stage it was at and how many amps were being used would be handy. Sure I could get one of the fancy inline monitoring tools, but it still wouldn't say which stage the converter was operating in.

 

Mine has been plugged in since 2014 unless it is rolling. I have a Progressive Dynamics converter.

 

Totally different situation. You are in there using power all of the time as full timers.

 

Mine is plugged into shore power all the time except for when towing. Makes for a cooler office space down at the farm with the AC going, cold drinks and bathroom facilities with running water.

I do have a battery disconnect, but keep them on a Battery Tender, checking about once a month. I usually only have to add a very small amount of distilled water once a year.

 

Four 6v Trojan batteries plugged into a 3 stage converter 24/7 when parked at home. No issues or concerns after years of doing this.

I check the batteries water level once a month.

 

I replaced the original battery late last year and have had the trailer plugged in either at home or a camp site, except for traveling, ever since. I am going to check the water levels and voltage tomorrow morning. Hoping the battery isn't "cooked" but will find out then.
If the battery is ok then I'll turn on the battery disconnect until two or three days before a trip. Will that be sufficient even if I leave it plugged in to work on the inside (AC, lights, slides??)..right?
Or should I just turn on the disconnect and get a battery tender? We use the trailer regularly but it can be a few months between uses.

 

You are overthinking this...

If you disconnect the batteries and plug in shoe power your converter should supply 12v and shore power will provide 120v.

If you leave the batteries connected, your converter will keep the batteries charged while they provide 12v and shore power provides 120v.

Connecting a battery tender to disconnected batteries is nearly the same thing as leaving them connected and letting the converter do its job. Unless you have an old single stage converter, which you probably don't, but this should be verified.

Checking the water level of LA and regular battery maintenance needs to happen whether they are connected or not.

 

I'm going to have to test that on my trailer. Not because I think you're wrong, but because I question the wiring in my trailer. Tracing a wire in my trailer is like trying to find a specific noodle in a bowl full of spaghetti.

 

You can buy a wire tracer kit, sometimes called fox and hound or toner. There will be bleed over on the ground side, but only that circuit will have tone on the positive side.

Although, often times circuits are daisy chained and have several stops. It works a lot better than visually tracing the wires.

You can remove the ground side from the bus bar at the panel to make tracing easier. Then when you short the positive and ground wires together (not energized), the tone will cancel itself out and verify you have ID'd the correct circuit.

As for the converter providing 12v power to the board without batteries, it should work just fine that way. I have had to do this in the past when we were in the middle of replacing batteries or when I had the batteries out for maintenance/installation.