to plug in or to not plug in...that is the questions

[4hartungs]

We are "weekend warriors at this point and wondering if it is best to plug-in to power when we are home and not planning another adventure for a couple of weeks or a month? Or would it be better to let everything defrost and then restart while we are not using it? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[redwoodguy]

We don't plug in until the night before leaving. Even that is probably not necessary. The fridge gets cold enough pretty fast. (We drive with it on). Haven't had any spoiled food yet.

[TG Twinkie]

Our trailer is plugged in 24/7 when we are home. I remove the battery and use it for other things. The refer is turned off. All other devices have power if needed.

[techiej]

We keep the AS plugged in but if it's going to be a week or more between uses we turn off the fridge.

[Phoenix]

If you have the OEM converter, leaving your Airstream connected to shore power 24/7 may eventually overcharge and ruin your batteries. If you decide to do this, you may wish to consider upgrading to a multi-stage converter, which will prevent overcharging; or you can install a marine battery isolator switch, which will allow you to turn your batteries OFF during long storage periods. Use SEARCH to find more info on these topics.

[idroba]

If you leave the refrigerator on, it will average 200 to 250 watts of draw, or about twice to 3 times what your modern home refrigerator will take. At 250 watts, you will be paying for about 6 kwh a day, or at the average national energy rate of 12 cents a kwh, close to 75 cents a day. So, a two week cost of it being on would be about $10.50. I would rather spend that money on something else.

Also, as mentioned in other posts, if you do not have a modern 3 stage converter/charger the batteries are subject to overcharge when plugged in but not in use.

[wahoonc]

When it was being used we would plug in 24 hours prior to leaving. In reality it was turn the breaker on 24 hours prior to leaving. We would plug it up when we came in. At the time it was also being used as a guest cottage, the breaker is in the panel at the house, the Airstream is parked 75 feet away.

Aaron

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by Phoenix

If you have the OEM converter, leaving your Airstream connected to shore power 24/7 may eventually overcharge and ruin your batteries. If you decide to do this, you may wish to consider upgrading to a multi-stage converter, which will prevent overcharging; or you can install a marine battery isolator switch, which will allow you to turn your batteries OFF during long storage periods. Use SEARCH to find more info on these topics.

^
X2

Original converter?....I would not leave it plugged in without checking the batteries every couple daze. Not very convenient.


Our Classic was plugged in 24/7 on the dealer lot and the batt's lasted a
month when we got it home.

Bob

[TBRich]

We leave our Bambi plugged in between trips and we leave the frig on to use for extra storage, etc (other than those times when we are not camping for a month or longer). We also have the AC set to run if it gets too hot inside. It's sheltered from the sun, but in our summers it still gets very warm inside without AC.

[Phoenix]

Not sure if I mentioned before, but you can leave your Airstream plugged into shore power 24/7 and run all 120-volt AC and 12-volt DC appliances with your batteries disconnected, using a marine battery isolator switch set to OFF position. This allows converter power to supply 12-volts DC while your batteries are completely disconnected from your Airstream, thus protecting them from overcharging.

[Joe Palmieri]

We leave ours unplugged with the batteries disconnected and a small maintenance charger hooked up to the batteries. We only plug it in when we are prepping for a trip or doing some (make believe) camping on one of those rainy weekends.

[LFC]

Originally Posted by Phoenix

If you have the OEM converter, leaving your Airstream connected to shore power 24/7 may eventually overcharge and ruin your batteries. If you decide to do this, you may wish to consider upgrading to a multi-stage converter, which will prevent overcharging; or you can install a marine battery isolator switch, which will allow you to turn your batteries OFF during long storage periods. Use SEARCH to find more info on these topics.

I just got off the phone with Airstream Technical support and was told that the convertor that came in my 2000 Safari would not over charge or hurt my Omni battery.

He informed me that the only time they have saw the convertor they use damage a battery was with a dual battery system that had one bad battery causing the good battery to over charge.

[DKB_SATX]

Originally Posted by LFC

I just got off the phone with Airstream Technical support and was told that the convertor that came in my 2000 Safari would not over charge or hurt my Omni battery.

He informed me that the only time they have saw the convertor they use damage a battery was with a dual battery system that had one bad battery causing the good battery to over charge.

They tell you that because they're using the same sort of converter today to save $25 per trailer, so toeing the party line means they need to say those converters are just fine. If you just travel on weekends with the occasional longer trip AND don't leave the trailer plugged in when you're not using it, you'd likely never know that the one-stage converters overcharge, but that's just because they don't have enough time to ruin the battery before the battery is old enough that you'll just chalk a failure up to the age of the battery.

[ZoominC6]

We leave ours plugged in 24/7 and have yet to ruin our Optima batteries. We do defrost the frig and clean it between trips with a couple of "Hold Open" devices holding the doors open slightly to keep the frig aired out.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by LFC

I just got off the phone with Airstream Technical support and was told that the convertor that came in my 2000 Safari would not over charge or hurt my Omni battery.

He informed me that the only time they have saw the convertor they use damage a battery was with a dual battery system that had one bad battery causing the good battery to over charge.

Omni=Lithium?

If it's a P-Lax it's junk, our 7455 fried the Factory batteries while on the dealer lot, and the second pair 18mos later.
Two sets of bad batteries, I don't think so.

IOTA DLS 55a IQ4 and two Lifelines, 5 Seasons and counting.

Bob

[jdalrymple]

We leave our's plugged in at home 24/7. Refer is on and has ice stored in the freezer to balance the run times.

As suggested above, I do use the stock battery disconnect switch to disconnect the batteries from the converter so as not to overcharge them.

Regards,

JD

[A W Warn]

Originally Posted by LFC

I just got off the phone with Airstream Technical support and was told that the convertor that came in my 2000 Safari would not over charge or hurt my Omni battery.

He informed me that the only time they have saw the convertor they use damage a battery was with a dual battery system that had one bad battery causing the good battery to over charge.

My 2000 Safari has it's original converter, but it is not the old Univolt. (Randy at Best told me what I have, but I can not remember) I do not know what year they stopped using the Univolt, but no longer.

I use a single wet cell deep cycle battery (cheap). I have had it connected continuously to 120v shore power, except for travel time and a few days of camping without hookups, for more than a year. I have not had any problems with the electrolyte evaporating excessively. I checked it last week and the battery did not need any water, though I did add water once last winter. I have checked the voltage output of the converter when the battery is fully charged, and find that it drops to an appropriate low charge level, 12.5v by my meter.

[jcanavera]

I found that leaving the power connected will accelerate the evaporation of the battery fluid. As long as you monitor that fluid level and keep it above the plates, you should be okay. I learned the hard way and did not and prematurely shortened the life of the first set of batteries.

Typically if the trailer is going to sit a week in the drive, I disconnect the power and do not plug it back into power until 48 hours prior to departure. At that point I'll turn on the fridge and get it cooled down.

Jack

[BAB]

One of the reasons I ditched the stock charger/converter from my brand new trailer was to avail myself of the advantages of a more modern set-up (Iota DLS-55) that doesn't just recharge, but moves to "float" the battery. So, my trailer is always plugged into a 30 amp outlet.

[johnmh]

The cheap converter / charger in our 2007 International CCD did not work properly from day one. I installed a Zantrex 30 amp inverter / charger with full size battery cables in the front road side storage under the dinette seat. This is a proper multi-stage float charger and allows full 30 amp 120 volt AC power off the batteries. I can run all the AC stuff, but the big loads - air conditioner, microwave, coffee maker won't go for long on just the two deep cycle batteries. We pretty much always have a Yamaha 30 amp 120 volt generator with us as we're usually boondocking. Agree the stock converter / chargers seem to be quite minimal and cheap.