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04-15-2018, 07:04 PM
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#1
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Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 15
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Battery powered tender?
I store my Class A in an uncovered lot that doesn’t have shore power or anything like that. I turn the house disconnect switch off when I leave the coach for an extended time and I also turn the batteries at the switch in the basement (both the house and coach batteries). If I am not going to be using the RV for an extended period of time I would like to make sure they keep a charge so I was thinking of a tender. I don’t want to go through the hassle of hooking up solar or spending any significant amount of time doing install work. The less work on this the better. Are there any tenders that are battery powered which could be used to charge a tender or is there something similar?
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04-15-2018, 07:15 PM
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#2
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: Kalamazoo
Posts: 2,139
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a battery to charge a battery? never heard of that. A very inexpensive solar panel would at least trickle charge the battery while not in use.
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04-15-2018, 07:17 PM
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#3
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Site Team
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Goodyear, Arizona
Posts: 33,802
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Yep, no such thing as a battery powered battery tender, that I know of.
Can't see how it could work.
__________________
Dan-Retired California Firefighter/EMT
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2016 PrimeTime TracerAIR 255, pushing a 2014 Ford F150 SCREW XTR 4x4 3.5 Ecoboost w/Max Tow Package
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04-15-2018, 07:23 PM
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#4
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Site Team
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 15,294
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I am not sure I understand your question. Are you looking for a battery powered battery tender to charge your batteries? I don't think you will find what you are looking for. If you disconnect ( either by removing negative wire or via a switch) fully charged batteries, they should be fine for a month or two. If you need a longer period, your best choice is a simple solar solution 50/100W panel and controller. For very long storage, you can remove them and bring them home. Easiest choice is using shore power, but you indicated that is not an option.
__________________
2015 Freedom Express 248RBS
TV 2015 Silverado HD2500 Duramax
TST Tire Monitors
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04-15-2018, 07:44 PM
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#5
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Pickin', Campin', Mason
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: South Western PA
Posts: 19,144
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cdeeter
I store my Class A in an uncovered lot that doesn’t have shore power or anything like that. I turn the house disconnect switch off when I leave the coach for an extended time and I also turn the batteries at the switch in the basement (both the house and coach batteries). If I am not going to be using the RV for an extended period of time I would like to make sure they keep a charge so I was thinking of a tender. I don’t want to go through the hassle of hooking up solar or spending any significant amount of time doing install work. The less work on this the better. Are there any tenders that are battery powered which could be used to charge a tender or is there something similar?
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What are you calling leaving for an extended time?
As mentioned, a fully charged battery will store for several months with no ill effects.
Many of us who live in the north do this every winter.
__________________
2022 Cedar Creek 345IK 5th Wheel•Solar & Inverter•2024 Ford F-Series SCREW•7.3L•4x4•Factory Puck•B&W Companion•TST Tire Monitor w/Repeater•Sinemate 3500w Gen.
F&AM Lodge 358 Somerset, PA - JAFFA Shrine - Altoona, PA
Days Camped ☼ '19=118 ☼ '20=116 ☼ '21=123 ☼ '22=134 ☼ '23=118☼ '24=90
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04-15-2018, 07:56 PM
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#6
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Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 5picker
What are you calling leaving for an extended time?
As mentioned, a fully charged battery will store for several months with no ill effects.
Many of us who live in the north do this every winter.
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To me an extended time is a couple of weeks but I’m completely new to the RV game. It sounds like I shouldn’t be concerned with a few weeks leaving them as is.
I think what I’m going to do is take a spare battery powered UPS that I have and put that in the battery bay along with a trickle charger. I have no idea if this will do me any real good but I’ve got the parts laying around so all it’s costing me is time. I’m going to guess that a trickle charger doesn’t draw too much power and given the size of my UPS I may find that it lasts a good period of time. I’ll update the group after I get it working.
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04-15-2018, 08:02 PM
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#7
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Site Team
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 15,294
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If your extended period of time a weeks just add a battery disconnect one each negative terminal to ground connection ( one for each battery bank). This will isolate the batteries and you will be fine. If you leave the batteries connected and you use the UPS with a tender, you will kill the battery in the UPS which will eventually make it useless.
__________________
2015 Freedom Express 248RBS
TV 2015 Silverado HD2500 Duramax
TST Tire Monitors
Honda 2000I + Companion
2 100W solar panels
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04-15-2018, 08:20 PM
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#8
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: California
Posts: 7,616
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Using a UPS to power a battery tender to keep your RV's batteries topped off is a losing proposition.
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04-15-2018, 08:36 PM
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#9
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 10,907
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cdeeter
To me an extended time is a couple of weeks but I’m completely new to the RV game. It sounds like I shouldn’t be concerned with a few weeks leaving them as is.
I think what I’m going to do is take a spare battery powered UPS that I have and put that in the battery bay along with a trickle charger. I have no idea if this will do me any real good but I’ve got the parts laying around so all it’s costing me is time. I’m going to guess that a trickle charger doesn’t draw too much power and given the size of my UPS I may find that it lasts a good period of time. I’ll update the group after I get it working.
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My pickup truck sits for 2-3 weeks sometimes in the winter (0-10 deg F and lower). Starts right up.
__________________
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2016 Mini Lite 2503S - tt (2015 - ???)
2011 Traverse LT, 3.6L, FWD
2009 Silverado 1500 Ext Cab, 5.3L, 4x4, 3.73
2016 Silverado 2500HD Dbl Cab, 6.0L 4x4, 4.10
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04-16-2018, 02:09 PM
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#10
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Pickin', Campin', Mason
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: South Western PA
Posts: 19,144
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cdeeter
To me an extended time is a couple of weeks but I’m completely new to the RV game. It sounds like I shouldn’t be concerned with a few weeks leaving them as is.
I think what I’m going to do is take a spare battery powered UPS that I have and put that in the battery bay along with a trickle charger. I have no idea if this will do me any real good but I’ve got the parts laying around so all it’s costing me is time. I’m going to guess that a trickle charger doesn’t draw too much power and given the size of my UPS I may find that it lasts a good period of time. I’ll update the group after I get it working.
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It won't work. Save your time.
__________________
2022 Cedar Creek 345IK 5th Wheel•Solar & Inverter•2024 Ford F-Series SCREW•7.3L•4x4•Factory Puck•B&W Companion•TST Tire Monitor w/Repeater•Sinemate 3500w Gen.
F&AM Lodge 358 Somerset, PA - JAFFA Shrine - Altoona, PA
Days Camped ☼ '19=118 ☼ '20=116 ☼ '21=123 ☼ '22=134 ☼ '23=118☼ '24=90
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04-16-2018, 02:11 PM
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#11
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Pickin', Campin', Mason
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: South Western PA
Posts: 19,144
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cdeeter
I store my Class A in an uncovered lot that doesn’t have shore power or anything like that. I turn the house disconnect switch off when I leave the coach for an extended time and I also turn the batteries at the switch in the basement (both the house and coach batteries). If I am not going to be using the RV for an extended period of time I would like to make sure they keep a charge so I was thinking of a tender. I don’t want to go through the hassle of hooking up solar or spending any significant amount of time doing install work. The less work on this the better. Are there any tenders that are battery powered which could be used to charge a tender or is there something similar?
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If you are truly disconnecting with these switches, the batteries will last months with no trickle charging.
Much ado over nothing.
__________________
2022 Cedar Creek 345IK 5th Wheel•Solar & Inverter•2024 Ford F-Series SCREW•7.3L•4x4•Factory Puck•B&W Companion•TST Tire Monitor w/Repeater•Sinemate 3500w Gen.
F&AM Lodge 358 Somerset, PA - JAFFA Shrine - Altoona, PA
Days Camped ☼ '19=118 ☼ '20=116 ☼ '21=123 ☼ '22=134 ☼ '23=118☼ '24=90
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