newbie question: charging battery at home

[mamadrum]

Hi-

I just bought a PopUp and was told by the seller that I can charge the battery at home.  However, the power connector is a 30A utility-type connector and I don't have a jack like that in the garage.  Is this a simple matter of buying an adapter to fit normal house outlets?

Thanks in advance,

--aaron

[tlhdoc]

Hi Aaron,

Yes you can buy an adapter so that you can plug your PU in at home.  You can get them at an RV store or at Wal-Mart.  You shouldn't run an air conditioner when using on of the adapters, as it needs more power.  For charging the batter you might want to consider using a battery charger and not the PU.  The power inverter in the PU isn't the best battery charger.

[Tim5055]

As tracy pointed out the converters installed in most pop ups are not the best for charging/maintaining your battery.  Most of them don't have a low power "storage" setting.

First, when you get back from camping you want to disconnect your battery so the LP gas detector does not continue to run down the battery.  On the "A" frame of your Santa Fe there should be a black and white wire coming out of the frame.  This wire leads to a white connector then on to the battery.  This little white connector snaps apart and doing so will shut off all power going to the trailer.  But, in doing this you have already disconnected the converter from the battery so you will need to use an external charger.

You want to use a quality 3 stage charger to both charge and maintain your battery (ies).  I have a Guest 6 amp 3 stage  portable charger (model 2606A) which is designed for charging, maintenance and storage.
   
As I seldom run the batteries too far down, I only needed the 6 amp charger but a 10 amp is available as model 2612A. Some of the nice features of this charger are:

• It is totally waterproof, so no worries if you need to charge in the driveway and a sudden rainstorm comes up.
• It is reverse polarity protected in case you hook it up backwards

You can check out this charger and other products at the Marinco/Guest Webpage

Now, if you do plan on using an adapter I talk about the three types on my Camping Site Power Web page.  Now, if you get to the point of camping in the driveway and need to use the A/C or a heater you may need to add an RV Plug at Home

[mamadrum]

Now, if you do plan on using an adapter I talk about the three types on my Camping Site Power Web page.

Many thanks, Tim.  After I posted my question last night I found your site and stayed up late getting educated.  A very well-structured, informational site and a terrific asset for a PU-newbie like me!  Please keep it up.

[Tim5055]

Many thanks, Tim.  After I posted my question last night I found your site and stayed up late getting educated.  A very well-structured, informational site and a terrific asset for a PU-newbie like me!  Please keep it up.

Thanks, your kind words are appreciated.

I am glad you found the information useful, and as always I am looking for suggestions for new pages, additions to current pages and even corrections.

But to be totally honest most of the information I have on my site I have stolen from this board (as well as others) through the years.

I think this is the forth (or is it fifth) Pop Up Times board.  

Good luck with your camping.