Recharging the Batteries

I do believe you need to have the batteries connected to the system, i.e., the converter, to get a charge on them from shore power. The battery switch essentially removes them from the electrical system by disconnecting one battery cable from the battery. You'll probably get a faster charge by disconnecting the batteries and using a battery charger on them.

The batteries "will" take a charge from the converter with the battery cut-off switch in the OFF position "if" everything is wired as follows:

1. Converter output is tied to the battery terminal (take a look for an extra set of wires on the battery coming from the RV)
2. The cut-off switch is cut into only one hot lead from the battery to the coach and you can see another hot wire coming off the battery to the coach

WRONG > When wired at the factory, Heartland wires the output of the converter to the battery - this is my understanding/recollection. < WRONG

Jim

On Edit:
I spoke with Heartland Production and was told that only the Break-Away Switch for the Electric Brakes are wired directly to the battery. So, when the battery cut-off switch is OFF, as wired by Heartland, the converter output is NOT getting to the battery(s).

Sounds like an easy mod for a DIYer though Just be sure to not alter the wiring of the Break-Away Switch as it's an RVIA safety mandate and you will want the RV to lock the brakes if it accidentally breaks away from the truck

Two Hands said:

I have a 2007 Bighorn 3055RL which has two batteries and a shut off switch for those batteries. I recharge the batteries by connecting the fifth wheel to shore power as opposed to connecting a charger directly to the batteries. Will those batteries recharge if I have the switch "off" or must the switch be "on" in order for the batteries to recharge. I ask because when the switch is "on" the batteries are being drained by appliances inside and will take longer to recharge. But, it seems that the batteries would recharge faster with the switch "off" because they are not being drained.

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If I am following you right, you are worried that when you are plugged into shore power the battery will be powering appliances and therefore not charging quickly. But the converter should be powering all 12v appliances, not the battery. The battery charge rate will remain unchaged as it is a slow and low amperage rate/charge. I don't think it makes any difference-so the question of whether the battery switch is on, is irrelevant and rewiring, unnecessary.

John

Maybe this will help. Think of the battery as an elevated bucket of water, with a hose attached to the bottom of the bucket. The water that comes out of the bottom of the bucket represents the 12 volt electrical current flow that makes all the battery operated devices work. As more devices are turned on, or draw more power, the flow out of the bucket will be greater. Above the bucket is a fill valve/float (like in a toilet tank) which represents the converter/charger. As the bucket is drained, and there is a water supply to the valve (converter/charger has AC power and is producing DC current) the bucket is constantly refilled. The hose into the valve is large and can easily fill the bucket faster than it can be drained by the electrical loads. Of course, if there are no electrical loads, the bucket can be filled quite quickly (like how the battery will charge faster if there are no other loads).
This is a simplistic view that doesn't cover exactly all of the electrochemical nuances, but gets the idea across.

newbie said:

If I am following you right, you are worried that when you are plugged into shore power the battery will be powering appliances and therefore not charging quickly. But the converter should be powering all 12v appliances, not the battery. The battery charge rate will remain unchaged as it is a slow and low amperage rate/charge. I don't think it makes any difference-so the question of whether the battery switch is on, is irrelevant and rewiring, unnecessary.

John

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It is my understanding the the converters are rated at 60 or 80 amps on our Landmark and when plugged into shore power the only thing that are really using 12 volt power are the lights, refer circuit board and furnace/fan. These few items come no where close to requiring 80 amps of power.

So to re-use the water bucket example:

the bucket is draining out of a 1/4" hose but is being filled by a fire-hose, so the time to recharge would be slightly shorter but hardly noticeable.

When our converter crashed, we used a 10 amp battery charger for a couple weeks and never had a issue with low battery power.

Our Charge wizard monitor rarely goes off of storage mode unless the furnace is running a lot.