ScottG
Bothell Wa.
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Disconnect the battery and see if it's still 12.9. I'm thinking possibly your battery is shorted internally and without it, your voltage will rise to normal levels.
I too, suggest you don't get your advice from a NAPA counter guy and yes, it's fine to run your particular rig on shore power without a battery.
* This post was
edited 11/09/23 08:30pm by ScottG *
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Nv Guy
Reno NV
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My guess is your battery is internally shorted. I would put a new battery in the coach. The battery acts as a "shock absorber" for the converter, stabilizing the output & giving the converter a stable voltage reference.
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144Grayling
Lopez Island, WA
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The 12.9 was with the battery disconnected. (In fact the battery was at the NAPA shop miles away??) Looks like one vote for “it’s ok to run without a battery” and one vote for “you should put in a battery” Anyone else wanna break the tie?
And if I really do need a battery to protect the system should it be a deep cycle RV battery or a plain old car battery, knowing it will never be without shore power.
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ktmrfs
Portland, Oregon
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144Grayling wrote:The 12.9 was with the battery disconnected. (In fact the battery was at the NAPA shop miles away??) Looks like one vote for “it’s ok to run without a battery” and one vote for “you should put in a battery” Anyone else wanna break the tie?
And if I really do need a battery to protect the system should it be a deep cycle RV battery or a plain old car battery, knowing it will never be without shore power.
high quality working converter likely no problem running w/o battery.
low quality converter or not regulating voltage no battery likely issue. The battery acts like a 12V load and filter.
my opinion, just install a 12 marine or car battery since you run with shore power.
will give protection for other more valuable stuff in the trailer, fridge, wh, furnace, lights etc.
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ScottG
Bothell Wa.
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Nv Guy wrote:My guess is your battery is internally shorted. I would put a new battery in the coach. The battery acts as a "shock absorber" for the converter, stabilizing the output & giving the converter a stable voltage reference.
They haven't been built like that since the old Magtek 63XX days, prior to somewhere around 2000. Anything (even a WFCO) will have no problem making clean DC without a battery.
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valhalla360
No paticular place.
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144Grayling wrote:Also the NAPA guy said that a deep cycle RV battery is not really appropriate for my set up (basically kept at full charge by the smart converter) since it never discharges. Opinions on that?
Lead acid batteries are happiest at 100% charge. All types of lead acid. But if the charger keeps charging after full, it will boil off the water causing damage.
Lithium are not happy staying for long periods at 100%. Better for storage at 20 to 80%.
Unless you are running 6v batteries, 99% chance the internals of your battery are a starting battery just with a different label slapped on.
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pbeverly
South Carolina
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With my TT if I do not have a good battery while hooked up to shore power 12v things are not 100%. Last week went on trip, night before we left my slide-out came in no problem. Camper stayed plugged in overnight before trip. Got to a destination and hitchjack had trouble getting hitch off of truck, but it managed. Went to put slide-out out. Moved maybe two inches. Plugged into shore, still nothing. Went to Walmart, sadly, and got a new battery. Slide-out worked fine now that a new battery was in place.
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JoeH
Apollo Beach,FL
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Why not just get a battery-- you didn't state size-- but something like a Group 24 that will run under $150 and install it. In the event of power outage, you will still have lights and if, by chance, your converter needs a battery, it will be happy too.
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BruceMc
Oregon - Willamette Valley
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The more experienced amongst us might poo-poo this idea, but for your situation, perhaps a small sealed lead-acid (SLA) battery could act as that buffer.
Small SLAs are used for telecommunication & security equipment, and are readily available at your local stores for around $20-$30.
Search for "12V 7.2AH Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) rechargeable maintenance free battery".
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144Grayling
Lopez Island, WA
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Thanks for all the information. The battery is a 12 volt lead acid RV deep cycle battery from Les Schwab. No reason to think it’s not what it says it is. As far as I know the only 12v functions in the trailer are lights, bathroom exhaust fan, radio and propane alarm. All those are fine on what’s coming out of the converter now: 12.9v No slide out, no hitch jack. Checking the panel it also has a few other 12v circuits that we don’t use ( dont need the water pump since we’re hooked up permanently, and the furnace, since we use electric heat instead of propane.) And it says the hood fan is 12v which I didn’t know. So everything we need is working fine off the converter and shore power. I don’t know why the converter was overcharging the battery to the point of boiling, but if it can go without a battery I really don’t need to care about it. I suspect that I killed the battery by leaving it outside uncharged over a couple of winters and that’s my bad. But, again, if I don’t need a battery in the system I’m ok. Still getting mixed opinions on that.
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