Rich&Mar
wa usa
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I want to keep my fiver hooked up to shore power this winter because I run one of those round electric dehumidifiers 24/7. Can I just take a battery cable off and try to remember to hook it up every 2-3 weeks for a few days to charge the battery? Or do you even need to do this? It doesn't seem right to keep the battery hooked up to the power all the time. What's the best way or what do you do?
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agesilaus
North Florida
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Keep a trickle charger on the battery to prevent freezing.
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jkwilson
Indiana
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FYI, a typical residential dehumidifier does very little below about 60F ambient temperature.
An amp or amp and a half battery tender will keep it charged. If cold enough, you can just leave the battery unhooked.
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Lwiddis
South of Lone Pine, California
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As said a battery tender...and some basic reading about RVs and batteries.
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cummins2014
Utah
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Rich&Mar wrote:I want to keep my fiver hooked up to shore power this winter because I run one of those round electric dehumidifiers 24/7. Can I just take a battery cable off and try to remember to hook it up every 2-3 weeks for a few days to charge the battery? Or do you even need to do this? It doesn't seem right to keep the battery hooked up to the power all the time. What's the best way or what do you do?
We just had a similar thread , why not just let the converter take care of your batteries if you are plugged in, and check the water occasionally if needed .
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MFL
Midwest
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I am thinking that SOME converters may cause issue with 12v items when there is no battery hooked up, but plugged into shore power. Yes, I know a residential dehumidifier is not 12v. Maybe things like the stereo/weather radio, or CO/propane alarm, that stay live?
Jerry
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blofgren
Surrey, B.C.
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Why not disconnect the batteries and unplug the converter? The 12V system would be dead but no worries about the batteries then.
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Michelle.S
Western NY till fall, then Sebring, FL
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Find the info on your Converter/Charger, some units have Smart Chargers that do a good job of maintaining the Battery/ies without over charging them. Or you could just turn off the breaker for the converter/charger.
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JIMNLIN
Oklahoma
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MFL wrote:I am thinking that SOME converters may cause issue with 12v items when there is no battery hooked up, but plugged into shore power. Yes, I know a residential dehumidifier is not 12v. Maybe things like the stereo/weather radio, or CO/propane alarm, that stay live?
Jerry
Yeah...I found this out the hard way. Not all converters are created equal when keeping the batts charged properly all winter (6-7 months).
I pull my RV trailer/boat/zero turn batts and move them up to the garage that gets cold but never freezes and keep a 1.5v charger on each one.
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theoldwizard1
SE MI
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agesilaus wrote:Keep a trickle charger on the battery to prevent freezing.
A lead acid that is at lest 50% state of charge will not freeze until well below 0F.
jkwilson wrote:An amp or amp and a half battery tender will keep it charged. If cold enough, you can just leave the battery unhooked.
I am of the opnion, that for long term (over a month) storage, a lead acid battery should not be left on ANY charger, 24/7. Buy a cheap mechanical lamp timer and hook the charger to that. 4-8 hours/day is plenty.
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