EHU at home (1 Viewer)

[Dave and Mand]

Hi All, if you park your MoHo at home do you leave your EHU connected all the time??

 

[hilldweller]

Yes.

 

[The Dotties]

In the summer, not always, but late autumn to early spring yes

 

[Dave and Mand]

Thanks for your replies, the reason for the question was the battery charger seems to be warm (not hot) all the time.

 

[gus-lopez]

normally ,yes

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[mitzimad]

whilst modern chargers will not damage the battery being left on leaving the charger running must shorten its life (everything must have a life span).i would only charge as and when enough to keep the batteries topped upcouple of hours a week should surfice unless theres a heavey drain on your van

 

[Dorset Diver]

Mostly, but if the solar panel is working well I leave that to do the charging.

 

[WynandJean]

Yes. Maybe leaving it off now and again.

Wyn

 

[Don Quixote]

Yep......

 

[scotjimland]

Not all chargers are suitable to be left on 24/7 ..

Your user manual will advise on this..

Generally speaking I would only leave mine on for 24 hrs or until the battery(s) are fully charged . do this every three or four weeks.

I asked Udo Lang , the Schaudt guru , about leaving the EBL99 on all the time he gave me this advise :

I would charge with a timer once a month for 24 hours or each couple of weeks for 24 hours to keep the battery on level over 12V.

To stay longer than 3 weeks on the mains when the camper is not in usage, may create a kind of memory effect on the leisure battery.



With Best Regards,

i. o. Udo Lang.

Chargers are like all electrical kit.. they have a finite lifespan..and even following Udo's advice my EBL charger developed a fault and it stopped charging. The repair cost £200 ..

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[Lenny HB]

Nope I let the solar do the job.

 

[DavidG58]

leave mine on all the time at home, gives us an extra fridge / freezer for overflow when we have a lot to cook or people round

also winter leave Alde heating set to 8C as well to avoid freezing issues

 

[vwalan]

i do it the other way round ,i hook my house fridge and freezer to the inverter in the trailer and let the sun power them. run a good lead from the trailer into the house and save a shilling on leccy.
come september then i have to get back to paying . never mind .
i do like the lovely weather we are having at the moment.

 

[irnbru]

We leave ours plugged in during winter but not summer.

We don’t have it parked up for months on end though.

 

[gus-lopez]

normally ,yes

+ the solar is charging it as well

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[tonyidle]

Always both caravans and motorhomes. No PSU failures so far - after 45 years.

 

[autorouter]

leaving the charger running must shorten its life (everything must have a life span)

Not necessarily. Devices like voltage regulators have their life span determined by the number of on/off cycles, because the thermal stress of heating up and cooling down has more effect than continuous running.

Chargers with 3 or more stages (sometimes labelled as 'IUoU profile') are usually fine, but I've been surprised by the number of 'modern' chargers that are two-stage or even constant voltage, so it's worth checking.

Also even some 3-stage chargers can overcharge when power is being taken from the batteries intermittently.

 

[Jamwitt]

As Lenny hb let the solar do its job

 

[Robin McHood]

Yes, summer and winter, in summer the Schaudt will use the solar input as preference anyway and in winter like @DavidG58 set the thermostat to 8C though we are not parked up for long periods normally.

 

[rrusty]

No never and no problems in 10 years.

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[Hymer 1961]

I used to let the solar panel take care of recharging during the summer months and rely on a drive up the A12 every couple of weeks during the winter.

Now since moving to a covered storage with EHU I have been leaving it plugged in during the winter months for a couple of weeks at a time between visits with no problems.

During the summer and when we are not away I leave it plugged in and hooked up to a digital timer, which just gives it a few hours top up twice a week and seems to do the job. I shall continue with the timer all year round now and just increase the time period during the winter.

 

[JeanLuc]

No, solar keeps the batteries topped up and I plug in to 230v the day before we go away to chill the fridge.

 

[Jonno1103]

Put an EHU on the garage wall, simple enough if you can wire a plug and are happy using a drill. Van is plugged in 24/7.