theresa
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from Northern Maine ~ Proud new owner of Lola, a 1960 Shasta Airflyte and Pearl, a 1962 Mobile Scout
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Post by theresa on Jun 6, 2020 14:06:34 GMT -8
I purchased this battery maintainer. www.amazon.com/dp/B07894CFCR/ref=psdc_15707061_t1_B0000AXTUYBy all accounts it's an adequate and affordable unit, especially given that my camper will get little to no boon docking, so the battery is really just there as an emergency backup. I'm mounting my battery in a box on the tongue, and planned to put this maintainer under the dinette plugged into an outlet as close to the front as possible. The problem is... the leads from this that hook to the battery don't look nearly long enough to go down through the floor, then to the battery. Is this maintainer only for instances where the battery is mounted inside?
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nccamper
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1962 Forester- 1956 Shasta
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Post by nccamper on Jun 6, 2020 15:24:31 GMT -8
The easiest thing is to extend the cables. But you can have the positive meet the incoming battery positive at the safety fuse block and the negative meet the ground at the frame. You can hook up the battery cable from the 7 prong connected to the car to charge (trickle) while driving. From my experience, this driving charge is very low and takes a few hundred miles to make a substantive difference.
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PT
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1964 Aloha & 1962 Holiday House
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Post by PT on Jun 6, 2020 15:40:17 GMT -8
It is not rated for exposure to the elements from what I read. Your best bet may be to return this one and get one that better suits your needs. Another option would be to lengthen the leads that go to the battery by a few feet but I would let others chime in. I use one that is very similar but have my battery in a box under the dinette.
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Post by danrhodes on Jun 6, 2020 16:21:33 GMT -8
I have that one. It's under my dinette and I just ran it to my 12v terminal block where my battery also ties in. It doesn't supply enough current to worry about a direct connect as long as your terminal block is rated for 5a or so. I think it's rated for under hood install, but I wanted it inside.
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nccamper
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1962 Forester- 1956 Shasta
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Post by nccamper on Jun 6, 2020 17:35:39 GMT -8
Any battery maintainer should be able to handle hot and cold but (to PT’s point) I wouldn’t expose it to the elements near the battery box. Theresa, I know you don’t plan to do that but it’s worth mentioning.
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Post by vikx on Jun 6, 2020 21:35:40 GMT -8
The maintainer itself does not connect directly to the battery. It is mounted inside the dinette or close to your 12 volt fuse block.
Run the heavy battery hot cable to the self resetting breaker and attach it to the "batt" side of the breaker. From the "aux" side, run a heavy hot wire into the trailer 12 volt fuse block hot stud. The wire should be no smaller than 10 gauge.
The heavy battery ground should be connected to the frame. The same ground bolt can be used to run a ground to the J box and/or into the trailer ground bracket.
Maintainer wiring: connect the charge/hot/red wire to the fuse block hot stud. Connect the ground to the ground bracket. Plug into the dinette inside outlet.
NOTE: If you will be using a PD converter, you will need heavier wire for the ground and battery hot connection. The connections are similar to the maintainer but much heavier, with an extra chassis ground.
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