I have removed my house batteries to install new ones and notice that I do not have 12v in the coach. The manuals say the covnerter supplies 12v and will also charGe the batteries. Do the batteries have to be connected in order to have DC volatge inside the coach? I ask because my coach books say Barth connected the house batteries tEo txhe cold side of the disconnect relay to prevent boiling out the batteries. I suspect they were boiled out and now want to be sure I can isolate the batteries when plugged in and living in the coach. I have the Inteli-Power system with a connection to prevent overcharging.

With the contemporary single-output converters, 12 V worth of batteries need to be installed. The battery powers the coach and the converter keeps it charged.

The older dual-output converters had a section to power the house and another to charge the battery. A relay cut over to switch 12 VDC to the battery when shore power is disconnected.

The "owner's manual" that we have says that the main switch (located near the front entrance), should be turned off when attached to shore power for extended periods. When turned off the voltage at the battery terminals is different than the voltage to the house system (on ours). Would'nt this allow the house to run without batteries installed?
Maybe , as the saying goes, the only thing similar with Barths is that they're all different.

That,s the same message in my book, but without the batteries installed I have no 12v anywhere inside the coach. Sounds like we have the same system, and I left the coach on "Run" because I leave the systems powered up while parked and plugged in. I fried the old batteries and don't want to repeat the problem.

I have assumed the reason for turning the switch to "off" was to prevent damage to the batteries. I also recently "cooked" a set of batteries which I put down to two things
1/ maybe the switch had been left on too much
2/ the charger/converter has two settings, one for a low voltage setting and another higher setting-- I had run the system on the lower (didn't know there was another setting until after the batteries failed ), so the batteries never got a proper charge when using shore power to charge -- result, sulphated/cooked batteries.

However, am now the proud owner of new batteries and get to see if we can do better this time.

I asked my neighborhood RV center and they think the reason for the "turn off the switch" was the original Todd converter was a single stage "dumb" device that would charge at all times. With the new Inteli-Power they advise to move the battery from the cold to the hot side of the relay and then let the charger/converter do the monitoring. Then the disconnect will be to turn of the power inside the coach while assuring the batteries will be maintained in the float and desulfate modes. I am also replacing the cables with welding cable (many more strands, higher capacity, much more flexible, and lower resistance). New converters have made the boiling problem a thing of the past. I certainly hope so! BTW mine has four Trojan batteries, how many do you have?

The Intelli-Tec monitors battery condition as charges as necessary. It also has a desulfating cycle.

Our Breakaway has two batteries each on the chassis and house circuits.
All four are located in the rear starboard corner
I think the charger is original-- as such it has but two settings that are changed by standing on ones head in the bedroom and installing or removing a plastic plug in the front of the charger
Had considered changing the charger but decided to "play" with this system (at least through another set of batteries).

I must have the "right converter" as I know nothing about where switches are for it.
Ever since I have owned my 1985 Regency I have kept it plugged into the garage(via a long 30 amp cord-with an adapter). I have the selector on "shore" setting. For over the last two years it has kept my two 12 volt house batteries (sealed gel type) in excellent condition without frying them. The only problem I do have is I must keep a small seperate 1 amp battery charger hooked to the engine battery to keep it charged.
I would think that the converter should keep the engine battery charged.
A friend of mine once told me "if you keep your coach plugged in at all times, you should leave a light on or something with a small amp draw."
I did that for awhile until I burned out a 12volt florecent light. I got thinking that isn't such a good idea and may cause a fire.

Jim

1985 Barth Regency
MCC chassis 8.2 Detroit 225hp