Reasons to add Charger - Maintainer for shell models

[RC Pilot Jim]

Camper Battery Usage Observation

Update Sept 2014

After 3 months of research you need it for 3 reasons:

1. Need to fully charge your battery and don't want a solar panel on your roof.

2. Charge battery 100% before leaving for a trip..

3. Sooner or later you will want to camp in an RV park because the state parks will be full, or you want a hot shower, or soak your muscles in a spa, maybe swim a few laps in a pool.

We get a full hookup site - plug in electric , fill the water bottles (spigot right there) and pour the portable grey water bag into the sewer pipe (no walking to the bathroom or dump station).

Electric runs the "refer" and charges the battery overnight so your ready for the state park or back road the next night.



This following history section describes my process

History

When the camper was new there was no major drop in voltage for almost two days. Now it is 2 years old. Monitoring the voltage drop I have noticed it doesn't hold 12.5 - 12.9 volts overnight . Now it is maintaining 12.6 volts.

Turning on the fridge voltage drops to 12.3 or lower almost immediately!!!. Since noticing that I have been putting the camper battery on an external battery charger overnight which than runs the fridge and charges the battery before the trip.

Shell vs Full camper
We have the shell model which doesn't have the "IOTA" converter that the full camper models have. So we have NO trickle charger "topping" off the battery when plugged into shore power.

Everything runs off the 12 volt battery. In the shell the camper battery receives a flow of current from truck alternator through the truck battery connection. Only time the battery is "topped" off is when it is on the solar panel.

Problem is the volume of "current" in the container is low.


What I know about batteries is over time they discharge - quicker if battery cables remain connected. In my case the camper is mounted full time so you would think it is fully charged because it is being driven all the time. Though now that we are retired we don't drive the truck every day (gas milege) - Sometimes it sits for a week or two.

Battery is like a "bucket of water". The volume is calculated to last 4,or 5 years depending on the size of the container. Modern cars have alternators not generators. Over time the battery loses volume because on-board computers drain the "bucket". Camper batteries work the same. . The IOTA converter on the regular camper "tops" off the battery when shore power is connected and charger/maintainer is on.

My 12 volt system only deep charges the battery either by solar or plugging into an external battery charger. Truck alternator powers the compressor refer when engine is running and flows charge to the aux battery, however it has to run 3-4 hours to top it off.

What to do?

Well putting battery on an external battery charger is not a very efficient solution.

Started researching for a small charger maintainer that I could put in the camper full time.
Battery Tender (a company I'm familiar with) makes a stand-a-lone 110 volt 1.25 amp charger maintainer. Their product used to be sold by camper World.

Camper World replacement product "Battery Doc" by Wirthco Engineering Inc Minnesota. "Battery Doc(tor)" is engineered by Wirthco, has a micro-processor, designed to today's technologies, comes with a 5 year guarantee and cost about $41 dollars (If your a Good Sam member cost is about $ 36 dollars).

Feature Highlights
1. Automatic "switching technology" switches from Full charge mode to float/maintenance mode
2. Overcharge protection
3. Charges and maintains batteries 24 hours per day, 365 days per year


An easy install which required drilling one hole from the battery compartment into the bed area where turnbuckle is located. connected AC cord to a "Husky 2 foot indoor/outdoor Multi-outlet (3) " x tension cord - about $14.00 dollars Home Depot. The male end is in front hanging on a wire tie screwed into an existing screw hole. Plug an x-tension cord in = AC power to your shell. (shell-shore power).

The multi-outlet comes in handy in the winter because we can use a portable electric heater while camping places that offer electric and water sites.

Note: charger carton has an English and a Spanish language side. (I photographed the Spanish side) English translations "Protects Battery Automatically"

Took about 12 hours to "fill" to full. Battery Doc full is 13.6 volts.


Field Report - July 20-25th
We camped 5 nights running the Engle refer, fan, lights and charging the IPAD on the single battery - engine off. The 1.25 amp " Battery Doc" (shell-shore power) easily kept the battery between 12.4 volts and full..

 

[RC Pilot Jim]

Test completed.....I like it.
Conclusion - If you don't have an " IOTA" or equivalent converter ( trickle charges and runs your system on shore power) you need to add either a "Battery Tender" or a Battery Doc charger/ maintainer and run it 12 - 24 hours BEFORE leaving on a trip off the grid.

 

[Central Toast]

Another option is of course to put a solar panel on top of the camper, park it in the sun...set it and forget it! I haven't had to mess with cords and chargers at all since going solar. That leaves me plenty of time to fuss with the rest of the camper that is falling apart.

 

[RC Pilot Jim]

That is true Central, however in my case the good and the bad is....we have a carport so the truck and camper are covered so the UV is not "cooking the top and the paint (good)...The bad of course is if I had a panel on the roof there would be no sun to charge battery...which I suppose is the (good) reason to have a portable solar panel...Because we try to park the camper in the shade when camping......Always trade-offs to everything.

And yes it always seems there are things to maintain on campers.

 

[Timothy McGowen]

Maybe you could use a portable solar panel out in the sun. You could even run a cable behind a locked gate if your carport is exposed to the public.

 

[RC Pilot Jim]

Hi Timothy,
That is reason I bought the "Battery Doc". It is the easiest to connect charger/maintainer to 110 volt. Turn on the refer and top off the battery while running the fridge before leaving on the trip the next morning.

 

[RC Pilot Jim]

After more research. The easiest solution is to install a 100 watt panel on the roof. Then your camper batteries will always be over 90%. "Topped off" all the time when moving. A 90%f full battery should take care of your needs until the next day.

Even in cloudy weather the panel produces 12.9 volts. This was verified at Sugarloaf in April as the weather that weekend was overcast and rainy..

If needed you can always add a small portable .

 

[ntsqd]

I put in a battery maintainer/charger after I discovered that the unit built into our power panel was boiling the electrolyte in the batteries! Shortly afterwards I got going on the solar install and haven't needed it since. I should probably remove it and stop carrying that weight around.

What about putting a fixed solar panel on top of the carport? Wire a solar controller for both a roof mounted panel and a portable panel, only put the "portable" on the carport's roof. More investment, smaller power bill.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

I put in a battery maintainer/charger after I discovered that the unit built into our power panel was boiling the electrolyte in the batteries! Shortly afterwards I got going on the solar install and haven't needed it since. I should probably remove it and stop carrying that weight around.

What about putting a fixed solar panel on top of the carport? Wire a solar controller for both a roof mounted panel and a portable panel, only put the "portable" on the carport's roof. More investment, smaller power bill.

There you go. Always another answer to the problem. I like the solar idea. Free energy as long as the sun shines. Even on rainy and foggy days,just less watts being produced.
I watch the solar on my house during our fog days and it will produce 30% even on the foggiest day.
Solar powered camper I like it.
Frank

 

[RC Pilot Jim]

Think that is good reason for the factory to recommend to the new buyer adding the roof solar panel. If buyer doesn't want to pay $795, they can get the roof solar plug and buy a panel from a cheaper shop and have that installed.

 

[RC Pilot Jim]

After everything I said...I'm installing a bendable "Renology" 100 watt panel on my roof next week.
Will take pictures and add to the thread on "Bendable solar panels and compressor refrigerators".

 

[Smokecreek1]

One panel is great but two is better !On Monday I'm upgrading my solar from one to two Renology 100 w panels (have room for the regular one-so no roll up one) to go with my 2 deep cycle batteries and 30A PWM solar charge controller-they are on sale now-get the whole package now cheap. Now maybe my compressor 110 frig/freezer will not take all my power so now i can watch my 49ers at night on my new dc tv, dc connection for my sat dish and vcr ! I know. I know, a good pop up camper person runs to the woods to escape the tv-but sometimes i',m out of radio range and need my niner fix. Check out the prior thread on the 12 volt problem, seems like battery problems never go away! Seems like every up grade means more power from somewhere like solar-the more you do the more you find out you don't know-been thru all that recording of the the temps, power consumption, etc.,plus the books and MORE POWER IS THE ANSWER ! have fun


Smoke

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Smoke I just finished with install of the 60w Renogy panel.I had a problem with the first one sent to me. After a few e-mails to tech support it was determined the panel was bad.
A call to customer support and they had a new panel here before I could send the old one back.That's great customer service.

I don't think you can "overkill" on solar. You won't get the full wattage out of the panels as you have to consider sun conditions.
I have 105w's of panels and for me that's enough. I have today on a good sun day about 80% from the system.
Frank

 

[RC Pilot Jim]

It's a good idea to always test new panels before installation...especially when you glue it down.

Smoke you should have what you want and if that is the 9ners in the back country - do it!

 

[RC Pilot Jim]

Changed the title and summarized my research.

 

[Randonneur]

Hello-
This is an older thread but still relevant-- I hope someone is still monitoring. I am a newbie that purchased a Fleet shell (12V no shore power) and I have a 160 W portable Zamp panel with controller built in. I use it as often as possible to top off the battery when I am parked but I would like to consider having the Battery Tender as back-up as well. Does anyone know if the Battery Tender can just be plugged into the same port quick connect that I already have for the Solar panel or is there an amperage consideration that I don't know about?

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Assuming there is no solar controller between the port and battery, I don’t see why not, but that means the trickle charger is external. May or may not be an issue depending on where you store the camper.

 

[PaulT]

If your port connection just goes straight to the battery, plugging the Battery Tender into that port is the same as using the battery terminals. Be sure that you have a fuse in the line between the battery posts and the port.

Paul

 

[Old Crow]

I know a Battery Tender uses an SAE connector and I believe the Zamp 160 portable does also.

However, in trying to figure out whether the polarity standard for the connectors is the same, I ran onto this Youtube video claiming Zamp's standard for polarity is opposite the rest of the industry. If Battery Tender is part of the 'rest of the industry', polarity may be incorrect if you were to simply plug the Battery Tender in to a port set up for a Zamp input.

If that's the case, the fix is simple enough-- an SAE gender-change adapter.

In any case, you may want to verify polarity, Randonneur. I don't believe the Battery Tender would be damaged by a reverse-polarity connection but of course it wouldn't charge your battery.

-------

Also-- I'm not quite sure I'm reading your post correctly. You say you've been using your portable panel to charge the battery. Have you been doing that through the port at the rear of the camper?

 

[Randonneur]

Great information everyone.

Wandering Sagebrush- the camper sits under a carport so this should work.

Old Crow- yes, I have been using the port at the rear of the camper which is now installed standard on the FWC Fleet Shell. Based on your post my port must be Zamp since my Zamp panel charges the battery correctly but I will check the polarity as you point out.

PaulT- another good question-- I assume that the port has a fuse but I will check.