bar425
Oxford, MI
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Joined: 05/08/2003
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I boiled all the water out of my battery this summer. My fault somewhat, I had it plugged into shore power at my home and did not check the water level. I thought the charging system would auto switch to a trickle voltage after the bat was charged. Not true. Apparently to set up properly you need a three stage "float" charger. Does anyone run this type of setup? What charger did you go with? Did you hardwire into the electrical system? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
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Jarhead 1
Weymouth Ma USA
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Joined: 11/09/2002
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Try this
Bill
2004 KSDP 3702
2007 Vue
Semper Fi
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Rbrunson
Tangent, Or.
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Joined: 04/07/2004
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Here is the unit that I have in my rig. Covers everything you would ever need pertaining to your batteries. Not cheap, but good stuff never is.
http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/176/p/1/pt/7/product.asp
Dodge Quad Cab Cummins turbo diesel 3500 4x4 5-speed. U.S. Gear exhaust brake, 1500w inverter, 115v onboard air compressor.
'07 Mobile Suites 36 SB3 #3424
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racquet9
Mountain Iron, MN
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Joined: 02/17/2008
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Rbrunson wrote:Here is the unit that I have in my rig. Covers everything you would ever need pertaining to your batteries. Not cheap, but good stuff never is.
http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/176/p/1/pt/7/product.asp
At over two grand I'll say it isn't cheep!
2006 Chevy 3500 LT3 D/A LBZ CC LB Dually. Xtreme floor mats, Luverne Side Steps with Dually Box Extendtions, Banks 4" Monster Exhaust (no muffler), Banks Ottomind 6 Tuner, Cameo F36FWS, full timing with our 3 Shelties
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smkettner
Southern California
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Joined: 03/21/2005
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Best is to have it built into your converter.
Typical conversion to XADC
It shows a 60 amp but you would be fine with a 40.
Xantrex XADC
My OEM converter is a WFCO with a lower float charge voltage and it works fine but if I was spending money I would get the Xantrex.
Oh and you still need to check the water no matter what the charger. Although adding about once a year is common with a good converter.
* This post was
edited 10/09/08 02:21pm by smkettner *
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Frank's voltage booster, Prosine 1800 powered by 4 GC2 batteries
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moparmaga2
Lubbock, Tx
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Joined: 07/18/2006
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I think for two grand I will keep going through batteries at the rate of one per year. Good Grief.
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jauguston
Bellingham, WA
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Joined: 07/03/2005
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Call Randy at bestconverters. He will take care of you. Honest great guy. He will give you all your options.
Jim
Jim, Sharon and Buddy the Yorkie
1999 Gulfstream Sun Voyager 31' ISB Cummins 210 uprated to 275
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Chuck&Gail
In the Colorado Mountains
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Joined: 06/16/2004
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Look at using a BatteryMINDer for storage. Works great for me!
Chuck
Wonderful Wife
Lovely German Shepherd.
1999 Mercedes ML320 TV
2003 Wanderer 187TB Toybox (3620# UVW, 4800# loaded)
Not yet camped in Hawaii, 2 Canada Provinces, & 2 Territories.
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Tundra2084
Kitchener Ontario Canada
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Joined: 09/06/2005
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How do you know if your battery is ok if its a closed system? The battery that came with our unit has no way to fill the water in it or check the level sooooooo how do you know its ok?
Dawn
Frank & Dawn
2005 Ford Super Duty F250 Diesel 6.0L Fx4 Short Box supercab
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Tucker and Sadie our 4 legged kids
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scotty63
British Columbia Canada
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Joined: 09/20/2008
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I had the same thing as Tundra2084. It was worth the expense to replace the battery with one that you can check the water and add to it if required. I have never had much luck with sealed batteries. I have found that some so called maintenance free batteries do have caps that can be removed to add water. It is a little more work but it isn't impossible.
I take my battery out every 3 months and check the water and clean the terminals. At times that I am sitting hooked to shorepower and not using the rig I will turn off the convertor and use a deep cycle charger to keep the battery charged. This unit will just put in what the battery needs and will not boil it dry. the cost of this charger was about $40.00 at walmart. Al lot cheaper than 2
grand and you won"t have to replace batteries every year. I replaced my battery this year and it has been in my rig since 2000.
Ron & Jean
Pierre & Kia
British Columbia
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