Battery Charge Question

[sailingsuppo46]

All,

I have a question about battery charging from the converter when on shore power. When I closed up the camper last night the meter showed a full charge. The morning it was down to 3/4 with the reefer running on Auto. I know there are some other items drawing power as well. My question, well more of an education of the newbie, is this:
1. Once the converter brings the voltage up to full charge, does it switch off or to a trickle charge?

2. Does it cut out until a certain voltage drop is reached?

3. Anyone has the voltage specs for the charging cycle on the 2604?

4. Anyone using a different battery monitor other then the stock one provided with the TT?

Thanks,

[VTX Al]

Your trailer is a 2011 model - it should have a 3-stage charger as part of the converter. You can confirm this by checking the trailer owners manual or the manual for the converter itself (I forget which one has the info but know that one of them does as I researched this myself recently). The operation characteristics of the charging system are described there.

...VTX-AL

[NWJeeper]

DO NOT ASSUME that due to the model year of your rig you have a 3 stage charger. I was given the same advice when I first joined here and found out a year latter that I did NOT have a 3 stage charger.

The subject of battery charging and monitoring has been covered ad nauseum here, please do a search for the subject.

Basically the converter will only charge at full rate until the bank is at 90% full, the final 10% of charging can in some cases take days to complete as the converter tapers off amperage to just a trickle. 2 stage chargers are not good for your batteries if you really rely on them for dry camping.

The little LED light meters that come stock on RVs are useless and will not tell you what % charge you are at.

[sailingsuppo46]

Thanks. I checked the owners manual and it references three stage charging. I am doing a validation of all my equipment and appliances tonight to very name plate data. I will check the MFG website to make sure. I had the wrong hot water heater manual in the package of reference material. Inspect what you expect is a good mind set to have with these things. Appreciate the info. Later,

[SaskCampers]

If it is a WFCO converter it is a 3 stage charger.

[sailingsuppo46]

Thanks everyone. It is a three stage, but it really helps to turn on the breaker to the converter to make it work. Lucky for me I have a new battery. Beer could have gotten hot. Breaker is shut and battery is coming back nicely. Amazing how much brighter the lights are with AC power. Cheers,

[NWJeeper]

Originally Posted by sailingsuppo46

Beer could have gotten hot.

An absolutely unacceptable situation!

Glad to hear you got it figured out and managed to keep the beer cold. Wheew, that was a close one.