I seek the wisdom of the collective here. May be a rookie question, but I would appreciate your comments. If you're going to be parked (as in under the garage) for an extended period of time (more than a couple of weeks), do you connect a battery charger to trickle the 12V system,or do you plug her up and let the big old hot'N'heavy AC-to-DC converter do the work? Do you periodically run the AC units (either with the Gen or shore power) to de-humidify the interior? I know the frequency of such operations would be affected by your local climate.

It is easier to keep the shore power plugged in but that conversion unit sure pumps out some heat. I do try to operate the gen set for the recommended 15-min to 30 min under load every couple of weeks and take the coach for a spin peridocally. When I cannot take her out, I'll run the engine AC, and cycle the tranny through the gear slots for a few minutes once a week. Am I missing anything here (other than the obvious "get-out-and-drive")? Am I doing more harm than good with my mini-exercises?

Thanks,

Ron in hot and humid Alabama

Right or wrong, my coach has been plugged in for 3 years when not traveling. Cold Minnesota and winter and hot and humid summers have had no effect. I have though about switch to one of the new digital converters. Suppose to be cooler and quieter but haven't thus far. I have had no problems and the "Barthmobile" has always started right up...

Ron, your exercise is a really good thing. Just be sure that everything is up to operating temperature for at least half an hour. Cold starts can do a lot of harm if the oil is not warmed up long enough to burn off contaminants.

As for the coach batteries, the only thing I would suggest is using a hydrometer or digital voltmeter to monitor the battery's state of charge. I have cigar lighter sockets here and there to make it easy to hook up blenders, radios, etc. My multimeter has a lighter plug for it. As long as your battery is at 13.2 to 13.6 volts, it is happy. I prefer right at 13.2. If your converter does this, fine. If not, get a float charger (best) or use a timer to operate a regular charger for a short period daily. A hydrometer will help you fine tune the charge rate and time. Depending on the charger and your batteries, a trickle charger could also operate as a float charger. Again, a hydrometer or voltmeter will tell.

Dave, the converter on a lot of Barths does not charge the coach or chassis batteries. It does carry the load of 12 volt usage on the coach batteries, but is not intended to charge them. The manual that came with my (original) converter says this. And it does nothing at all for the chassis battery. Your observation that " the "Barthmobile" has always started right up..." seems to indicate that you may be thinking that there is some connection between the converter and the chassis battery. Every Barth is different, but I would be surprised if yours has a connection.

I have installed a paralleling switch to allow the solar to maintain the chassis battery only because I use the dash radio/CD when working inside. But is also serves to keep the chassis battery up should he not get his weekly drive.

[This message has been edited by bill h (edited July 07, 2003).]

Bill, you may be right however, I have alway kept it plugged in and I have the CO2 detector on and my batteries have never ran down. I just assumed that there must be something keeping them charged through the winter. What else could it be? It just sits there for cold months on end.

I would guess that your Barth has a better converter than mine came with.

Hmmmm, I just "assumed" that the on-board converter was charging the coach batteries. Good call on the cold-starts too. I try to get her up-to-temp everytime.

Dave, you ain't even seen humidity till ya come to AlaDamBammer, MS or LA in July! :-)

Ron, I just heard the same thing from my son who is in the Air Force in Biloxi, MS

On our 92 30'Breakaway, I hooked up my multimeter to the coach batteries. Battery voltage sat steady reading approx. 12.8 volts. As soon as I plugged in to shore power the voltage slowly climbed to 13.something..unplug it and the voltage drops slightly. Same result with the engine batteries. So wouldn't you agree tht my model does charge the batteries while plugged in to AC?

Hi Guys
I have a 1976 27 Barth, it has a PROGRESSIVE DYNAMICS PD-712 50 AMP POWER CONVERTER. It states in the information manual that you can operate from 115v and at the same time you can be using 12 volts dc and the converter will recharge the batterys automatically, as long as you have 115v from shore power or gen.
This is probabily an out dated converter but it really does a great job and doesn't seem to put off much heat.
Ralph Glover