After having been plugged in for a few days the house batts both read 13.38 yesterday. I unplugged and checked 28 hours later and they are at 12.75. The converter is original and I know ziltch about it. The batts are only a few months old and I don't want to trash them by over charging or boiling them dry. My question is what can I have installed to maintain the deep cycles properly and how can I check what's draining the house batts, or is this acceptable?

Your battery functions as you described are perfectly normal. Batteries that have been fully charged at or above 13.75, will sag to 12.6-12.7 after a few hours. even with no load applied. Batteries will self discharge but at a very slow rate

For maxium battery life a good 3 stage charger or 3 stage charger/inverter should be used. Generally 3 stage chargers have a float mode that will top up the batteries periodically and will not dry them out or damage the batteries.

If it is the original charger, then you can use it but make sure you never leave it charging for long periods of time.

quote:

deep cycles

DONT DO THAT

Dan,

I bought a Genius Battery charger model G3500 and highly recommend it.

Go to their site: www.GeniusChargers.com

You can leave this one plugged in for months and it will never overcharge. Good for a lot of different batteries including gel.

Jim

Contemporary converters have a "float" function; some take this farther and desulfate periodically.

I have the Progressive Dynamics Inteli-Power 60A, which has all the features needed, plus the "Charge Wizard", which shows what is going on. It eliminates the need for a separate float charger. Mine is the 9200 Series, which has the hardwired Charge Wizard

Note that upgrading requires some basic rewiring, as it is single-output, where yours is probably dual-output.

Rusty, which amp would I need for 2 deepcycle house batts? And how much of the re-wiring will I have to know myself, as wiring is not my forte?
MD, I meant maintain the deepcyle batteries, not maintain deep cycles.

I have the Progressive Dynamics 45 amp model 9200 series. The coach batteries are left plugged in and I never have to add water. Good product.

If your former charger was a single output like mine, it will drop right in and charge coach batts only. Some coaches had dual outputs to charge both coach and crank batts, these would require minor rewiring if you want to keep both sets connected.

That reminds me, we never got around to working on your lights!

I just got two 6 volt Absorbed Glass Mat Deep cycle batteries hooked up in series to replace my two 12 volt house batteries and I am now looking at what inverter to get for the system. The inverters I'm considering to replace the original MagneTek, Series 900 converter are Outback FX 2012, Samlex SA-3000K, Magnum MS2812 or Victron Multiplus. I am leaning toward the Outback.

quote:

Originally posted by Danny Z:
Rusty, which amp would I need for 2 deepcycle house batts? And how much of the re-wiring will I have to know myself, as wiring is not my forte?
MD, I meant maintain the deepcyle batteries, not maintain deep cycles.

The extra wiring consists simply of jumpers between the two coach inputs (need to be adequate size for the converter output). Older converters, on shore power, have an output for charging the battery and a second to power the house 12VDC.

60A is plenty.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve VW:
I have the Progressive Dynamics 45 amp model 9200 series. The coach batteries are left plugged in and I never have to add water. Good product.

The PD 60A w "Charge Wizard" is the way to go. Good product, good support. solved the battery cooking problem (from prolonged shore power) in my Class B.

The PD 60 sounds like the solution to me. I'll check with Fredrick at our local RV shop. He owns a Barth and likes mine.