battery charging without shore power?

[elmonsanto]

Hi everyone,

My wife and I are new owners of an A122S which has two 6-volt, 232 amp-hour batteries. I just checked the battery voltage and found the charge is about 70% (12.3 volts). We keep the trailer at a RV storage place which has no access to shore power and I don't know the most practical way to recharge the batteries without it. We'll be dry camping in a few weeks and I doubt whether driving for 5 hours will bring the battery up to 12.6 volts since it's down about 80 amp-hours. It's seems like the best solution is to buy a 2000 watt Yamaha or Honda inverter-generator and use it to directly charge the batteries with a three-stage battery charger where the bulk charging amperage is around 20 amps. I've read "Managing 12 Volts" and "The 12 Volt Side of Life" but I still don't know the most practical way to charge our batteries without access to shore power.

I would really appreciate any advice or recommendations you can give. Thanks!

[bikendan]

the first thing you should have done before storing it, was to install a battery disconnect switch.
i have one and i simply disconnect the battery and it stays charged, unplugged, for months.

your trailer's converter will recharge the battery just as well as most standalone battery chargers. you would have to drive for hours to get your tow vehicle to recharge a drained battery. more than only 5 hours.

if you don't have solar or shore power, the only way to recharge a depleted battery, is to have a generator. you just plug the shore cord into the generator and let it recharge the battery.

we dry camp almost all the time. i have two deep cycle batteries and a Honda 2000 and we can go 4-5 days without a recharge. even with the more power hungry HTT that we have.

[RPAspey]

x2. good recommendations. If you plan on storing it for a long time, think about a solar maintainer (25-30 watt minimum) AND the disconnect switch. It won't charge the battery but will keep it from draining internally while in storage. BTW, 25-30 watt minimum was recommended due to the AHr of your batteries. Please note..will not charge your battery, only maintain with a cutoff switch.