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Old 07-31-2018, 01:30 PM   #1
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Battery Charging With Master Off

I have a 2017 Rockwood 2304DS. When I turn off the master electrical to the trailer by using the plastic key below the battery, will the battery still be charged when I plug into shore power? In other words, do I need to leave electric power to the trailer "on" during trailer storage when I want to keep the batter charged and are connected to shore power? Thanks.
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Old 07-31-2018, 01:41 PM   #2
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If wired correctly, no. Only sure way to know is to use a multi meter and check on shore power and turn on and off. Then you will know for sure. Hope this helps.
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Old 07-31-2018, 02:00 PM   #3
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This does help, thanks. It makes sense that I should be able to maintain a battery charge while the rest of the power is off to the trailer! If not wired correctly, I will bring it back to the dealer.
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Old 07-31-2018, 02:16 PM   #4
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What you are trying to do is not possible without a major rewire. The 120VAC powers the converter which provides 12V to the TT via various fuses and charges the battery. The only way charge the battery and not power the rest of the TT is to turn off all the AC breakers except the main one and the converter and to pull all the fuses. Not sure what your reason is for not powering the TT.
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Old 07-31-2018, 02:39 PM   #5
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I have thought about this a lot. The normal design is for the converter to run to the 12 volt fuse panel and from there to the disconnect switch and on to the battery bank. the converter is powered through a breaker on the AC side of the main panel. Now, this means that the trailer can be powered when the batteries are disconnected or without any batteries at all, but the batteries cannot be charged without the disconnect turned off (i.e. batteries connected.) This is standard.

This also means that any solar charging that might be piggybacked onto the converter cannot charge the bank without everything DC being turned on in the RV. I guess it is ok, but I would rather have charging take place without powering everything else.

Now, you could run the converter directly to the batteries, which means they would charge even if disconnected, but you would still need to have shore power connected and the AC side powered. You could pull the plug (if it has one) on the converter and plug it into an extension cord, but without a rewire, all DC circuits would need to be left on.

I am sure there is a reason for this but I have never been able to figure out a good one.
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Old 07-31-2018, 03:26 PM   #6
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If you want to charge the battery from a solar panel, you wire from the panel to the solar controller, and then directly to the battery (bypass the disconnect).

With this hookup, the "normal" would be for the camper to be unplugged, the battery disconnect "on". The solar panels would be the charging source for the battery, and the battery would power the 12V side of the camper. Most 12V loads in the camper that are "optional" have a power switch, such as lights, water pump, heater, vent fan, etc. I installed a switch on my A-frame stereo so I could completely turn that off, too. Items left on would be fridge control board, thermostat, and propane/CO alarm.

If you turn the disconnect to the "off" position, the batteries are still charging from solar, but the camper 12V should be off (Forest River factory wiring has some things that bypass the factory disconnect).

If you plug in with the solar charging on and disconnect "on", most solar controllers are "smart" enough to shut the solar off and let the converter take over the battery. If you turn the disconnect "off", the solar controller takes over the battery and the converter powers the camper.

hope this makes sense
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Old 07-31-2018, 03:43 PM   #7
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Battery Charging wiht Master Off

This has caused an interesting discussion. I think the simple answer is to turn the master power key, below the battery, to the off position (no power to the trailer) and then put the leads from a battery maintenance charger directly to one of the batteries. This should allow both batteries to stay charged as the charger will "float" between charging and not charging to keep them charged. This would also allow all items in the trailer to be unpowered. No need to respond unless there is a flaw in my logic! Thanks again.
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Old 08-01-2018, 03:24 PM   #8
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Nope. Proved it to myself on accident. Had mine off and forgot to turn back on... batteries didn't charge when plugged in to shore power and voltage meter was reading 50%... then the ah ha moment and lesson learned from that. At least it wasn't a costly mistake.
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Old 08-01-2018, 03:25 PM   #9
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I have the same TT except a 2016 model. I usually hook up the TT to the RV outlet I had installed and let battery charge for awhile and then turn off shoreline power to TT and turn on battery disconnect because if you leave it on battery will drain out due to TT sucking some power out. You can also just use a 30 to 15 amp pigtail or plug adapter and hook up to house current, but don't use it to run AC just use for charging.
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