hook - up

[kerrydog]

Hi Everyone,
Have just bought my first motorhome , and the guy who sold it to me said I must keep it plugged into the electric when sitting in the driveway, can you tell me if this is right and what is the reason for it.
PS Just back from my first trip in my now greatly loved Hymer,

 

[Munchie]

I must keep it plugged into the electric

Absolute rubbish. How on earth could you do this if you did not have a drive and your m/home was in storage as mine is?

If you park in your drive then it would be a good idea to charge it up before you went off in it. (unless you were going to a hook up site)

 

[Jim]

Hi Kerrydog,

Maybe your batteries are not holding a charge and the dealer doesn't want you to discover this as he might have to replace them

I am no expert but I do not think you would do your batteries any good if you were to continually have them on charge, so an intelligent charger would be required if you chose to.

Through the winter some people keep their motorhome hooked up and run dehumidifiers to keep the damp out of them. I do not do this because we use ours. IMO if you use your motorhome regularly through summer and winter, that's the best maintenance you can do for it. So get out there and enjoy yourself, you must do this to protect your investment

 

[johnsandywhite]

Absolute rubbish. How on earth could you do this if you did not have a drive and your m/home was in storage as mine is?

If you park in your drive then it would be a good idea to charge it up before you went off in it. (unless you were going to a hook up site)

:Cool: I agree. Trickle charging a battery is a BIG no no. Having said that? I have Solar power which is charging all the time there is light.

 

[American Dream]

No good in the Arctic circle then

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[Jim]

I have Solar power which is charging all the time there is light.

Is it charging all the time though? I would have thought that even the cheapest regulator would have a cut off voltage whereby it ceased charging. Mine seems to. But like I said earlier in this thread I really have no idea about elecrics.

 

[johnsandywhite]

:Cool: My 250 Watt Solar Panels is controlled by a Solar Boost 2000E. It takes the excess voltage from the panels and gives extra amps for charging. Comes in handy for boiling kettles and soon (when coupled up to 600ah of batteries) a Microwave.

BTW. Yes it does go into tick over mode when it has reached maximum voltage. It also has an equalization setting.

 

[Wobby]

I aways use to plug in to the power when parked on our drive. As far as I know the charger on my old Hymer had a regulator that stops overchargeing. Also during the winter I left a small heater on in the MH to stop the temp dropping below freezeing and to keep the damp away.
Wobby