batteries and charging

[Highball]

Hi im new to a/s i bought 2 new optima blue top batterys for my 1992 35 ft excella. When i have it park on side of house with electic hooked up can i leave them hooked up or should i disconnect them,will they over charge or does camper have type charging system to shut off when fully charged and are these batterys big/ good enough to handle the loads they are 12v heard 6 volt is better,thanks for any input.

[The Colonel]

Many on site that know more than me, but I was told to disconnect them for long period of time to keep from frying. Unless someone has put in the newer converter units that prevent overcharging.

[lewster]

Originally Posted by Highball

Hi im new to a/s i bought 2 new optima blue top batterys for my 1992 35 ft excella. When i have it park on side of house with electic hooked up can i leave them hooked up or should i disconnect them,will they over charge or does camper have type charging system to shut off when fully charged and are these batterys big/ good enough to handle the loads they are 12v heard 6 volt is better,thanks for any input.

It's not really a question of 6VDC vs. 12VDC but rather one of total usable battery capacity. Optima batteries have a far lower capacity than the standard group 24 size that the replicate.

A group 24 AGM battery (Optimas are serial wound AGMs rather than flat plate AGMs) has approx. 80 amp/hours, of which 50% is readily usable. A pair connected in parallel will provide you with 80 usable amp/hours.

Optimal are rated at only 55 amp/hours for the same foot print as a group 24. With 2 Optimas in parallel, you are getting a total capacity of 110 amp/hours, of which 55 amp/hours is usable on a regular basis.

If you went to a 6VDC golf cart style AGM battery, they are again, the same footprint as the 2 above but come in different capacities that are reflected in the heights. A pair of Lifeline AGM GPL-4CT golf cart 6VDC batteries in series will give you 220 total amp/hours of which 110 amp/hours is usable. The taller GPL-6CT Lifeline AGM golf cart batteries (12.5") are rated at 300 total amp/hours so a pair will give you 150 usable amp/hours of 12VDC power at 50%.

Note, that all of the above have approx. the same footprint, yet have very different capacities.

And NO you should NOT leave the new batteries (ANY batteries) connected to your converter 100% of the time unless it has been upgraded to a new, 3-stage 'smart' converter/charger.