Battery Charger at campsite

[Bulldog-TNT]

I am basically off grid with my teardrop and use solar to keep charged up. I always seem to run my battery down overnight and with no sun the next day I am toast. Can I connect a 3 amp battery charger to my battery from campsite power, when available, and keep my battery fully charged while using? In other words, plug my teardrop battery in and keep using my 12v system even though I don’t have a 120v on board setup? Thanks!

 

[Tony Latham]

Can I connect a 3 amp battery charger

Yes, but you might want to consider increasing to 5 or 10 amps. 3 isn't much.

Tony

 

[Tom&Shelly]

I am basically off grid with my teardrop and use solar to keep charged up. I always seem to run my battery down overnight and with no sun the next day I am toast. Can I connect a 3 amp battery charger to my battery from campsite power, when available, and keep my battery fully charged while using? In other words, plug my teardrop battery in and keep using my 12v system even though I don’t have a 120v on board setup? Thanks!

Depending on the type of charger, I would be hesitant to charge and use the battery simultaneously. Chargers that I am aware of--for lead-acid and AGM batteries--rectify the AC signal, but don't filter it, so you are really getting half of a sine wave charging the battery. The battery itself loves that, and will help filter the voltage, but you might still have peaks that are a bit higher than the 12 volts your electrical appliances expect to see.

If you are running LED lights that claim to work on anything from 12 to 70 volts (like ours) you are probably fine. I wouldn't necessarily want to experiment with, for example, our DVD player or a 12 volt refrigerator though. On the other hand, voltage regulators and capacitors are inexpensive, and many of those devices have them built in, so you might take the chance and see what happens. But IMO there is a risk.

Chargers for lithium based batteries generally have a lot more smarts built in, but I don't know anything about them, so can't comment on that.

Tom

 

[philpom]

This is basically what I do with 100% success. I use a 15amp fully automatic high frequency LiFePO4 charger. It's hard wired to a 100 ah battery. If I have shore power I'll plug it in, that's it. If not then I either just run on battery or for more than a few days I'll put 220 watts of solar out. The solar charger connects at the same port the ac charger connects.

I also have a shunt installed between all of this so I can monitor all juice in and out of the battery. I get days out of the battery with careless use. I charge phones, flashlights, speakers, cabin lighting ( led ), and a 3 speed ceiling fan. I also have a 750 watt inverter for when I need 120v power and there is none at camp.

 

[featherliteCT1]

I use a 15amp fully automatic high frequency LiFePO4 charger.

I am curious, what is the make and model of your charger?

 

[philpom]

I am curious, what is the make and model of your charger?

I looked it up - my bad, it's 10 amp. Fading memory

NEXPEAK NC202 10-Amp Battery Charger, 12V 24V LiFePO4/Lead Acid Portable Charger 8-Stage Trickle Charger Smart Battery Maintainer w/Temp Compensation. It's generic like so many things and possibly sold under other name/model combinations. Has a nice display that provides good info in my opinion. Goes automatically to maintainer mode once fully charged. I just leave it plugged in when the camper is in storage (my driveway).

 

[featherliteCT1]

NEXPEAK NC202 10-Amp Battery Charger,

Thanks for the info.