Permanant Hookup

[Devonlad]

I have my motorhome parked in a great secure site in Exeter, Ok straight to the point......Most of the vans have them permantly hooked up even
though they are hardly moved. I just plug mine in very occasionally when needed to do something.
It cost them £5 a week, I think is a waste of money. Whats your view?.......Is it good for Battery-ies? Just wandering.

 

[Deleted member 3011]

Might be using power to run an antifreezing heater for the whole winter.

As for keeping batteries in good condition,yes a good three-stage charger with temperature compensated charging voltage will do an excellent job of keeping batteries going- as would a reasonable solar system provided the panels were kept free of snow.

Major risk is parasitic loads running the battery dead flat and then it freezes, but depending on the type of battery you have, your method is fine and reduces the risk of a rogue battery charger cooking the batteries.

BTW Normal lead acid batteries can be charged once a month while AGMs can normally be left for at least 6 months - but in both cases that assumes zero load on the batteries between charges. Some chargers and converters have very high standby drain and will run a battery flat in a couple of weeks. Propane detectors are another easy to forget drain - usually about a tenth of an amp. 2.4Ah per day, 100Ah battery flat in less than a month