Major Engineering FUBAR

Store it down. Less stress on the parts that keep it up. I would pull the batterys and store them inside with a " battery minder" or similar product hooked up to them. That will keep a trickle charge on them while monitoring the cndition of the battery and not over charging them. Now that you know how to work around having them out there is no reason to leave them in.

Rick

^^^What he said!^^^

However, IF you were to purchase a Battery Minder (I have three - one for each vehicle and the trailer), you could simply leave the battery(s) in the trailer and put the Minder on 24/7, which is what I do. This keeps the battery at a full state of charge (without overcharging), and, it "desulphates" the battery too, which is a cause of premature battery failure.

ALL batteries, including "deep discharge" ones, don't really handle full discharge/charge cycles well at all. It's best to keep them charged near the full state at all times. The only exception seems to be Li-Ion batteries, which seem to do best if they are kept at a 75% charge state. I find this to be nearly impossible, so I keep all the Li-Ion batteries in my tools and cellphone at near full charge all the time too. My laptop has a battery saving "feature", though that holds the charge at 75% for a prolonged period, then allows it to charge fully for a week or so.

- Jack

Well I keep forgetting about you "Southwestern Boys" out there where the sun comes up everyday (almost) all winter. Yes, I understand it gets "chilly" at altitude. Actually, the main reason I pull my batteries is my trailer is stored in a remote location with no access to shore power and my solar set up is not overly ambitious. I have a friend with an "off the grid" cabin in Northern WI and two years ago his very pricey batteries froze when his cousins forgot to go over and brush the snowfall off his panels.

So, that said, Pat, Jack' advice is good WITH the caveat that you leave it hooked up to shore power with a "Battery Minder"---which was, of course, also part of his advice. Actually, left in or out I think that is critical for maintaining expensive batteries. The converters/chargers most of have are not as sophisticated as the 'minders' . You can buy aftermarket ones (chargers/converters) that are very advanced and install them but for what I have invested in my rig and how I use it its not worth it to me given how inexpensive the Battery Minders are. If I was living out my trailer and connected to 110 like, 12 weeks out of the year or more, I might consider upgrading to a better "charger" as part of my set-up. But for now- this works. However- I'll be doubly envious of you guys when I'm lying on back in frozen snow this February re-installing my batteries so I can head to the SouthWest.

Rick

May be it just how it was worded above, but do not plug into shore power and hook on the Battery Minder at the same time. They may not like each other very much.

RichR said:

May be it just how it was worded above, but do not plug into shore power and hook on the Battery Minder at the same time. They may not like each other very much.

Click to expand...

Agreed! My Battery Minder is the thing that is plugged in. The shore power cord in the trailer is safely stowed in its storage container.

- Jack

Jack-
I sent you a pm.

Rick

I replied, Rick.

- Jack

Volts x Amps = Watts. That being said, lets say the Air Conditioner has a 10 Amp draw. It is on a 120 Volts system (AC), so 10 x 120 = 1200. Now, lets say the pump has a 50 Amp draw. That is on a 12 Volt system (DC), so 12 x 50 = 600. The pump requires half the Watts to operate, but 5 times the Amps. As Jack stated above, the Amperage coming from the converter (which converts 120 VAC to 12 VDC) is not sufficient to run the pump. I hope this clears things up a bit. I just realized you probably have your rig OUT of storage by now.

Great discussion, and learning tool