Spending the Winter on a Timer. Good Idea?

bb920 · 11-02-2013, 11:09 PM

I have a nice safe place to store my baby through the cold WI winter. The place comes with power, but we are asked not to abuse the privilege. So I'm thinking of plugging in my camper to the wall, but through a timer. I was thinking of setting it to run 2-4 hours a day. What are the feelings out there about this approach? I don't want to hurt my batteries in any way. Leaving it plugged in 24 hours a day, seems a little over kill. Ideas??

keith4216 · 11-02-2013, 11:19 PM

I'm thinking abusing it would be camping there with everything running. Haveing everything off and just keeping the batterys charged is a very low use of the electric.

Chrisbrock · 11-02-2013, 11:49 PM

What he said

Sportracker · 11-03-2013, 01:48 AM

I spent much of last winter turning the power on for a day or two then off for a couple weeks needless to say I wasn't as faithful when there was a foot or two of snow. I started to look at timers for this year. While looking, I learned the converter used in our Sunseeker is a triple stage unit which charges at different rates based on voltage, supposedly then protecting the batteries from discharging and from boiling off the liquid in the cells. So I decided to not use a timer and keep the power on, I agree that keeping the batteries up wouldn't be abusing any privilege. If you think about a 60 watt bulb burning 24 hours a day you would be using somewhere around 20 cents of electricity a day which would be less than $6/month, I think you would be hard pressed to even draw half that.

RamblerGuy · 11-03-2013, 06:45 AM

If you decide to have power on all the time, perodically check the water level in your batteries, including the chassis battery if it is not maintenance free. The convertor is supposed to go to trickle mode after the batteries are charged, but in my experience from living in our Sunseeker for months, the batteries still lose water. Hydrogen gas released when charging with low water can set off your LP/CO alarm.

If you won't be occupying the coach, you may want to remove the battery from the smoke alarm. It serves no purpose during storage, but may run down. The LP/CO alarm run off the 12 volt system, so it should be active any time you have shore power or the coach battery switch is on. (The battery switch must be on for the batteries to charge.)

bgilly · 11-03-2013, 09:37 AM

If you do go with a timer be sure to check the current rating of the timer. Some of these are rated for 5 amps.
When your timer cycles to ON, your converter charger will likely go to middle (absorption) to high (bulk) charge output just to top off the batteries before going to trickle (float) mode. The converter can draw as high as 12+ amps AC.

Just a thought.

Bobby

Eaglelover · 11-03-2013, 10:17 AM

I would disconnect the batteries, hot/+ lead from the coach and put a trickle charger on the batteries rather than using the converter/charger. It can be left on 24/7 it draws very little power and will not over charge the batteries. It would be better to bring the batteries home and that way you can keep an eye on them through the winter, Out of sight out of mind as they say lol; Frank

ATVer · 11-03-2013, 08:08 PM

I would buy a couple Battery Tender Jrs for about $25 a piece and put them full time on the disconnected batteries rather than use the on board system. Better yet bring the batteries home and keep them in your basement which is better than subjecting them to severe cold and temperature swings.

ironj · 11-03-2013, 08:16 PM

around here all the lots have the same sign/rules....reason being is not u running ur charger all winter. ..its the yahoos who put in space heaters or other high amperage devices....depending on how the lot is wired there may be several spaces sharing 30amps....and then some bafoon hooks up a cple space heaters (abusing the power) and the breaker pops for EVERYONE on that circuit.....our old lot said "plugs for charging purposes ONLY. ..please limit amperage to 5amps...

38FLCamper · 11-03-2013, 08:16 PM

I do this - bought a very good timer, have all circuits except the charger/converter off and run the timer for 3 hours every evening. Been doing this for several years The new coach has a good converter in it now, but our last rig didn't and I believe this helped to extend the battery life. (we use the timer all year unless the fridge is running or we are using power for something)

Walter

jevanb · 11-03-2013, 08:27 PM

I pull my battery and put in the basement of the house, they last forever that way. only takes a few minutes to install if I need it

DXSMac · 11-03-2013, 09:34 PM

I second all responses about plugging in. You won't use that much electricity. I once stored my RV at a place that charged $5 extra per month if you plugged in. They said if you used more than $5 of electricity, you would be charged the extra. Manager told me that the RV's generally don't use more than $3 of electricity if plugged in the entire month.

BarryD0706 · 11-03-2013, 11:10 PM

There are other threads here which indicate that WFCO Converters don't go into float mode like they should and can boil your batteries. Either change to a Progressive Dynamics converter, or don't leave your rig plugged in all the time.

bb920 · 11-09-2013, 11:56 AM

Thanks for the advice guys. I believe I'm going to go with a timer for 2 hours per day!

It is really nice to have a place to ask these questions.

Bill Brey

bb920 · 11-27-2013, 12:49 PM

I decided to go with the timer. It's on for a couple of hours a day.

Thanks for all of the reply's .

2012WhiteSolera · 11-27-2013, 01:23 PM

I'd consider a china freight battery tender ($8.95 on sale) pluged in to an extention cord fished through your outside rangehood vent. Assuming you have two coach batteries, and one chassis battery, the current output of about 14v on float with much lower amps will maintain your battery set much better. And you won't be cycling your inverter 120+ times, during the winter storage period. Worked fine for me.

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