Wiring trickle charger direct to house battery?

[Baxta]

So our house battery is hooked up to various things inside the van, and the memory on the radio causes the charge to dip into the yellow if the van sits for a few weeks in the winter. I bought myself a Canadian Tire $20 1 Amp trickle charger that's on a 'float' so it won't overcharge. I use this to keep the house battery topped up over the winter months, but I got to thinking.

Can I wire this up to the battery on a permanent basis, so that when we're at a wired campsite I can use the interior accessories without having to worry about the battery?

I had to pick up a new battery for the Corrado today and asked the question to the guy at the battery shop and he thought it was a great idea. I'm just worried because I haven't heard of people doing this on here, and I don't think I'm all that smart.

What say you?


Thanks!
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Greg
'87 Syncro Westy 'Bastian'
2.2l

[DAIZEE]

I did that with my last sailboat. When I had shorepower I'd just plug it in, flip a switch (put a switch for safety) I then just used my 'house' lites etc... In this way I used my battery charger as a converter. I would like to do that with my van plus and/or a solar house battery charger.
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'09 2.5L Jetta 5 cylinder, 5 spd, super turbo, see thread in H2O Cooled Jetta, etc...
83.5 Vanagon L Riviera Model with 98 1.9L TD AAZ 4 speed Daily Driver 3 out of 4 seasons (sold)
84 Vanagon GL Wolfsburg Westy WBX 4 speed (sold)

[PDXWesty]

You can do that. Wire it into the outlet under the sink, then just plug an extension cord into the power outlet on the side of the van to connect to shore power. Either at home or camping, when the shore power is connected you'll be charging.
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89 Westy 2.1 Auto

[deprivation]

[GWTWTLW]

[hiram6]

[Timwhy]

I have a 2amp battery maintainer wired to my aux fuse panel at the terminal posts, in addition to a 5watt solar panel for the house battery.

Problem is that these do not keep my house battery fully charged during the winter months. I don't drive my Westy regularly during the winter and only start it up so often, so the house battery doesn't get a good charge off the alternator.

So how long would it take a 2amp trickle charger to full charge a 44amp house battery in less than warm (more like frigid conditions)? I don't think that it can, in these conditions.

During the summer months while my Westy was hooked up to the house, the charger worked as planed.
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'15 Audi A3 Quattro
'09 VW Tiguan (dead)
'87 VW Westy
'91 Tin Top
'90 Cabby
What the Westy wants the Westy GETS


http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php?search_author=Timwhy&show_results=summary

http://www.youtube.com/user/TIMWHY2?feature=mhee

[climberjohn]

Volks,

Any specific makes or models of trickle chargers you like for this application?
Any that fit well in small spaces? Links and pics are great, as usual.

-CJ
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'86 Westy, 2.5 Subaru power
Know your limits. Exceed them often.

[Perales]

I have done this but hooked up to my main battery. (don't have a second battery) . It is wired to the alternator and lives in the engine compartment. The cord comes out of the license plate when I need it (along with the plug for the block heater. I use it as well in campgrounds to keep topped up when I have shore power. No pics possible for a while, until the snow melts.
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-- 1987 Westfalia automatic (Captain Vino)

[scobax]

I just picked up one of these Schumacher units off of Amazon two months ago. It lives inside the galley cabinet under the sink. Works quite well.

http://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SE-1-12S-Automati...amp;sr=8-1

Schumacher is a time tested name in the charger biz, they make good stuff. You can find these at your local FLAPS, but the Amazon price is about ten bucks better, at least around here. that is if you can wait for it.

Scott
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87 Syncro Westy w/ Suby 2.5
RIP: 2.1 WBX. You were a good dog 'ol feller

“The word adventure has gotten overused. For me, when everything goes wrong, that's when adventure starts” -Yvon Chouinard

"It's not expensive, its priceless" -Unknown

[Bruce Wayne]

I think my trickle charger is 1.5 amps,picked it up at HF for $9.99. works great. just plug in the extension cord every now and then to help the solar panel top off the battery.

[Terry Kay]

<<I just picked up one of these Schumacher units off of Amazon two months ago. It lives inside the galley cabinet under the sink. Works quite well.

http://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SE-1-12S-Automati...amp;sr=8-1

Schumacher is a time tested name in the charger biz, they make good stuff. You can find these at your local FLAPS, but the Amazon price is about ten bucks better, at least around here. that is if you can wait for it.

Ditto on the Schumacher.

Bolted it to the inner wall under the sink--ran the wires to the auxillary battery.

It's keeps the house battery topped off just ducky when your plugged in when camping.

Best bang for the bucks---
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T.K.

[MarkWard]

I am using one of these http://batterytender.com/rv.html It has a molded plug that is hard wired to my auxilary fuse panel. That way I can use it for maintaining my generator and other things that sit. Combined with the Yandina, both batteries are always fully charged when the van is sitting for some time. In use, I found the 1.2 amps a little slow to keep up batteries that had been run down low. I have since ordered the Xantrex inverter/charger to supplement my setup when camped. This can charge at 20 amps when on shore power, which should bring the batteries up much quicker than the trickle charge of 1.2 amps.

[singler3360]

I found my old Battery Tender 750mA trickle charger on the self I used to use with the motorcycle. It's plugged into the 110v socket under the sink and bolted to the aux. battery. If the Werker 44Ah battery was run down half way this charger would take ~30 hours to recharge it. But from the other posts here, can this even keep up?

[DAIZEE]

I think one has to take a look at how much draw lights/appliances draw when deciding what size to get. an example would be playing a radio burns up a lot less power than running cassettes. Sorry don't know how much CD's draw. House lights are probably the least depending on their type. A toaster draws more than say an electric plate (I think).

When I have shore power I don't worry about anything but when I'm just using house power then I have to make decisions on what I use. I know this sounds simple. You need to know what an object draws.
_________________
'09 2.5L Jetta 5 cylinder, 5 spd, super turbo, see thread in H2O Cooled Jetta, etc...
83.5 Vanagon L Riviera Model with 98 1.9L TD AAZ 4 speed Daily Driver 3 out of 4 seasons (sold)
84 Vanagon GL Wolfsburg Westy WBX 4 speed (sold)

[singler3360]

Realistically all I think I need is a trickle charger large enough to top off the aux. battery while we're sleeping at that odd campsite with shorepower. I now realize from Simba's post that my wimpy 750mA unit isn't going to cut the mustard, but works ok in my driveway since our van isn't a DD and can sit there for days without use. I should get a larger one though.