All the battery maintainers I find say not to use with another charger hooked up. Does anyone know of one that can just be left hooked up, so it will be there whenever you plug in, or do you just leave it hooked up?
Ray D
Ray,
Check the Archives, there are hundreds of posts on this subject.
Thanks Gus, I had already tried that. Let me ask this a little different, would it hurt a regular charger if you left it hooked up while the engine was running? If it was a smart charger, wouldn't it just think the battery was full? I just want to hook it up and forget about it.
Ray D
Hey Ray,
I have 2-12V maintainers connected in series to creat 24V for the coach batteries (2X8D) and I've never disconnected them yet -- several years with no problems. There is a 15AMP fuse in line to the batteries, but I've never had to service it. I replaced the house and coach batteries several years ago. I've had to replace the house batteries since, but that's another story. So in my opinion, it doesn't hurt, but wait unti SEAN chimes in here, he knows everything there is to know about batteries and electrics (seriously, he's the guru in that dept). ;D
Good luck, Will
Thanks PP
Are they left plugged in while not in use, I wanted to just plug them into the bus 120 v system as it is always plugged in at home?? I thought about 2 in series for 24 volts, but did'nt think it would work, you would think it would confuse the electronics.
Ray D
Your best bet would be to do like the pro converters do on million buck buses and what I followed and that is to install a 24v marine on-board battery charger. Mine stays plugged into the bus whenever it is parked for long periods of time. I un-plug it when under way or what happens is, the batteries overcharge! Mine has been plugged in now since my last trip which was Arcadia. The neat thing about using this is the battery cut-off switches that I would normally turn off, can now stay turned on, which allows for everything in the coach to work such as bay lights! That helps when retrieving tools and such from bus in the dark! No need to use flashlight! :)
I found mine on Ebay about 2 years ago and has worked flawlessly ever since and I think I paid in the neighborhood of $250.00
Ace
I have a Charles marine battery charger that I bought on eBay for 168 dollars that has a list price of over 1k! It is small and does not boil the battery's and is not effected by the alternator charging. The company I got it from is great lakes skipper. I do not know what the catch is, I would guess shipping damaged items but a hell of a bargain for a high quality charger and in addition to the terrific price My charger also had a optional feature that allows remote lights for status lights in addition to the ones on the charger and also the unit has both a voltmeter and ammeter. The unit is about the size of a cigar box. I forgot the unit is 24 volts. John L
Ray, if I were building from scratch, I would look into the 24V Marine chargers. But I am happy with the setup I have. The maintainers are plugged into an allweather outlet in the engine compartment that I also plug my block heater into. I've never unplugged the maintainers since installing new coach batteries @ 3 years ago. One caveat--I never run my generator on the road, which would cause the battery maintainers to be powered up at the same time the 24V alternator is charging. Of course, I have been plugged in almost every time I've started the coach, since I let it warm up while disconnecting the power, water, and sewer lines.
Another caveat--since I had to replace my house batteries last year, I got into the habit of checking all of my batteries weekly. With the coach batteries, I do have to add fluid (@pint/battery) every 6 months or so and it's really important that the caps be tightly secured or they will leak out. Not much, just a couple of drops or so every week, but tightening them stops that.
Hope this helps, Will
I see the maintainers on RV's and buses all the time still hooked up under travel for the price they are hard to beat fwiw a battery just drops about a volt a day doesn't take much unless you have a phantom drain for just keeping a battery topped off would be the least expensive way to go.
I am sure they have a one way diode to stop feed back most chargers do but if you want a good charger www.realgoods.com (http://www.realgoods.com) have a Iota on sale for 199 bucks in 24 volts
good luck