Dead Batteries - Storage

I saw the sorry excuse for TrippLites explanation for the switch positions. There was a short paragraph dedicated T o switch positions where the charge function was described as "⊙☆●□♤£€\~~¡◇♡€£¥".
Obviously, an error it was meaningless and neither usable as a hyperlink or text.

Although I appreciate your response,  your answer begs the question: charge position for shore power only?  Or, is to be used in conjunction with the truck generator?

I see you found Ron's post.   Yes, as I said, you can only charge your chassis (HOUSE) batteries when you have a source of power (shore power or GENERATOR or engine alternator).   Since when you have power from generator or plugged in, you don't need the inverter... you already have 110v for the TV outlets and so forth.   Thus the charge only position.   For me, that would be the normal switch position.

However, if I wasn't plugged in (or running generator) and I wanted to use a 110v appliance, like a coffee maker or TV.. Then put the switch in the inverter position and the TripLite will then use your HOUSE batteries and convert the 12v DC into 110v AC.   Obviously drawing power from the chassis (HOUSE) batteries.   As Ron mentioned, even if you are not using a 110v appliance, the inverter itself, draws some power from the HOUSE batteries if the switch is in the inverter position, so why waste that power, turn the switch to charge only.

Make sense?

Don

Quote from: Taildragger on March 25, 2021, 06:59:12 pm

I saw the sorry excuse for TrippLites explanation for the switch positions. There was a short paragraph dedicated T o switch positions where the charge function was described as "⊙☆●□♤£€\~~¡◇♡€£¥".
Obviously, an error it was meaningless and neither usable as a hyperlink or text.

Although I appreciate your response,  your answer begs the question: charge position for shore power only?  Or, is to be used in conjunction with the truck generator?

I see you found Ron's post.   Yes, as I said, you can only charge your chassis batteries when you have a source of power (shore power or generator).   Since when you have power from generator or plugged in, you don't need the inverter... you already have 110v for the TV outlets and so forth.   Thus the charge only position.   For me, that would be the normal switch position.

However, if I wasn't plugged in (or running generator) and I wanted to use a 110v appliance, like a coffee maker or TV.. Then put the switch in the inverter position and the TripLite will then use your batteries and convert the 12v DC into 110v AC.   Obviously drawing power from the chassis batteries.   As Ron mentioned, even if you are not using a 110v appliance, the inverter itself, draws some power from the batteries if the switch is in the inverter position, so why waste that power, turn the switch to charge only.

Make sense?

Don

Now I am confused!  You wrote: "you can only charge your chassis batteries when you have a source of power (shore power or generator)."  I did not think that on my 2007 2350 the chassis battery received a charge when plugged into shore power or from the generator; I thought only the house batteries did. My understanding was that the chassis battery only gets charged by the alternator when the coach engine is running (or if you open the switch by the driver's left knee to transfer power from the house batteries, or of course if you have some other form of charger attached to the chassis battery (solar, trickle, etc.). Maybe I am confused about which battery is called what?  I've always heard the battery in the engine compartment used to start the engine called the "coach" or "chassis" battery, and the ones used to power lights, appliances, pump, etc., called the "house" batteries. Please set me straight!       

Flei,

My bad... I used the wrong term, I generally call them the engine and house batteries, but occasionally use the term "chassis battery" to refer to the house battery.

You are correct, shore power (other than that white switch or a Trik-l-Start) only charges the house batteries, not the engine battery.  The engine battery is typically charged by the alternator on the engine.

I will go edit my post to correct that.

 

Flei,

My bad... I used the wrong term, I generally call them the engine and house batteries, but occasionally use the term "chassis battery" to refer to the house battery.

You are correct, shore power (other than that white switch or a Trik-l-Start) only charges the house batteries, not the engine battery.  The engine battery is typically charged by the alternator on the engine.

I will go edit my post to correct that.

I appreciate the responses.  Without the information volunteered by forum members, I would be at a complete loss.  The unit is new to me and I am a first time RV'r. 

I purchased the PC in January of 2020 and traveled to Oregon to take possession just in time to meet with government restrictions causing me to put the rig into storage and postpone using it for a year.  Now, the preliminary precautions for travel and familiarization have me mystified.  PC Forum has been helpful.

Thanks to the guides, I now know the complicated (?) steps necessary to perform the most basic operations.  And, even in my case, when asking about subjects that are now fifteen years past maturity, members are quick to respond. 

There is a wealth of information archived.  Although subject lines are sometimes obscured, I find replies are sometimes tangent to the topic 

Hi Taildragger,

I seemed to have missed your questions.

Like yourself, we have the original Tripp-Lite 2000 watt inverter/converter in our 2007 model 2350.

Because we almost exclusively boondock (rarely have 110V shore power available) on our trips, to avoid unnecessary drain on the house batteries, we keep the inverter in the "off" mode until we want it to serve us.  That is primarily supplying 110V from the house batteries to watch TV.  Then we put it on "auto/remote" mode.  When "off" while driving, the batteries still get directly charged from the alternator on the Ford V10 engine.

When staying at a campsite without 110V shore power available for extended periods, we charge our house batteries about one hour per day from the generator.  I could utilize the Tripp-Lite in "charge only" mode, but I have a more effective external charger that I prefer to use.  It provides twice the charging energy (40 amps versus 20 amps) and also has a nice read-out of the charging process.  I used the Tripp-Lite the first few years, but was never sure of the charging state of the batteries.  One thing certain, the green/yellow/red LED readout on battery health is very misleading.  When the light turns yellow, it is already too late to regain a full recharge via the generator without running it for roughly 3 to 4 hours.  Though our secondary charger helps reduce the generator run time, the Tripp-Lite still works well.  But the read-out on the secondary charger helps me determine when to stop charging much better than the 3 color LED readout.

Read my write-up here for some extra tips.
https://forum.phoenixusarv.com/index.php/topic,73.0.html

This link is of a list of links on various topics, a few about house batteries.
https://forum.phoenixusarv.com/index.php?topic=3022.0