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Old 12-19-2013, 12:27 AM   #1
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Four Winds Hurricane 33T
State: Florida
Posts: 12
THOR #484
Keeping Batteries Charged on Thor Hurricane

I recently had a problem starting my 33T recently. The batteries for both the chassis, and the RV itself were dead. It appears I forgot to turn off the battery switches above the exit door when I parked it in October. The storage building where I keep it has an option for an additional $30 a month to keep it plugged in while in storage. My question is, will keeping it plugged in keep the batteries charged? Are there inverters in the RV that keep the batteries charged while the unit is not being used? Thanks for any assistance you may be able to provide.

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Old 12-19-2013, 01:35 AM   #2
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Brand: Crossroads
State: Wisconsin
Posts: 669
THOR #124
I believe every rig has a "converter" this will change the incoming AC to DC.
The converter has a battery charger built in.
So yes, it will keep the house battery charged. As far as the coach battery, I don't think it will do any thing there.
If you leave your rig sitting for long periods of time, I would recommend you check into a "Battery Minder".
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Old 12-19-2013, 02:18 AM   #3
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Brand: Redwood
Model: 38GK
State: Texas
Posts: 37
THOR #439
once recharged, a small solar panel like these might be of use:
Amazon.com: solar auto battery charger
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Old 12-29-2013, 12:52 PM   #4
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: 2011 Four Winds 28Z
State: Michigan
Posts: 1,273
THOR #531
It should work, although you may want to plug in your charger periodically - say once a month for a few hours.

My experience has come from my boat (before I bought the RV). We did not have access to electricity in our storage building - which sucked because it cost over $350/mo for inside storage.

But we found that even standard deep cycle batteries would keep some charge over the 6 month period - as long as everything is disconnected. But the building was heated so there was no chance of freezing the batteries, which can happen if they are completely discharged.

After about 3 hours on the charger in the spring time, the batteries were fully charged.

I also replaced the batteries every 4 seasons as you don't want to have battery problems out on the water.

We recently went from a boating lifestyle to a RV - we got rid of the boat last fall and bought a motorhome.

What I do now though with the RV is to put the batteries on charge for about 2 hours a month while the RV is in storage. That is enough to keep the batteries sufficiently charged without having to continuously monitor to be sure the batteries are full of water - which you should do if you maintain a constant charge on the batteries.

It also depends on the sophistication of the charger, as some chargers can still gas in overcharge (which will boil off water). I don't have enough experience yet with my particular charger to tell if it gasses in overcharge or not.
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