Over-charging when plugged into power?

[AussieCanadian]

Hi all,

We are relatively new to RV'ing and bought our first travel trailer last year, a 2014 Hideout 24BHWE. Great trailer so far - we got in 6 weekends before the snow hit here in Calgary and have already started to plan our spring and summer ahead

A question on battery charging when plugged into power... do newer trailers (such as the 2014 Hideout) have a 3-stage converter so that there is no risk of the batteries over-charging when plugged into power? In other words, when our trailer is plugged in at home (sometimes for 2 weeks at a time) is it safe to leave the batteries hooked up or should I perhaps remove them from the trailer?

I searched and found plenty of information on this site about battery maintenance but nothing specific to the Hideout which talks about 3-stage charging... and the manual doesn't tell me what kind of converter is installed. Anyone know?

Thanks!

AussieCanadian

[Festus2]

AussieCanadian -

Your Hideout should have a 3 stage converter and if it is functioning as it should, there would be no issues of batteries being overcharged while plugged in to shore power. As part of your routine maintenance, the water level in the batteries should be checked on a regular basis and topped up if necessary.
If your batteries are kept fully charged, they won't freeze so I don't see any need to disconnect them and bring them inside.

I would bet that the converter is a WFCO Power Center but you would have to check the Model number as there are several types available. It could be a WFCO 8900 series (WF-8900) but have a look at the converter itself for details. Might be a good idea to turn off the power (at the source) if you are going to be poking around the converter!

Google WFCO Power Center for website. I would imagine that they have manuals for you to download.

[AussieCanadian]

Festus 2 - thanks for your response. That's helpful, I will google that and see if I can download a manual, but good to know that it should be OK keeping the trailer plugged in.