Trickle Charge Question - 2021 View 24V

Kimfamily11 · 10-06-2020, 08:02 PM

I have a new 2021 View 24V. It is in covered storage. I can trickle charge with 15 amps.
1. Should I trcickle charge?
2. Do I have the inverter disconnected or connected by the door?
3. Do I have the battery by the door disconnected or connected?

I am a little confused because I have been told to trickle charge but have also been told about over charging. Looking for advice.

powercat_ras · 10-06-2020, 08:12 PM

If your 24V does not have a bi-directional BIM (Battery Isolation Manager) then yes you should buy and use a trickle charger across your chassis battery. Or, you can disconnect the negative chassis battery lead.

Winnebago used the Precision Circuits Bi-directional Battery Isolation Manager, 00-10021-000, on my 2015 Vista 27N and it automatically ties the chassis battery positive to the coach battery positive whenver either needs a charge and charging voltage is present on the other, this keeps the chassis battery charged when the coach is on AC power.

You may be able to tell if your 24V has a Bi-directional BIM from your owner's manual. It seems that Winnebago stopped putting them on their cheaper models a few years ago.

Kimfamily11 · 10-06-2020, 08:39 PM

Will I ruin the battery if I don’t have a Trik L charge or BIM and have it plugged into a 110V outlet in storage?

rprochnow · 10-06-2020, 08:45 PM

We have a 2021 View 24D, purchased in June, with lithium batteries (250 Ah) and an AMP-L-START (trickle charger).

When we store our RV, we have a 110 outlet that is intended only for trickle charging.

The 110 outlet will keep the lithium batteries charged and (via the AMP-L-START) keep the engine battery charged.

Without trickle charging, over time the batteries will lose charge - and if kept in storage long enough, will be depleted.

We do not turn off the inverter or the battery disconnects. We will turn off the refrigerator, and wedge a small tower into the top and bottom doors to provide circulation inside.

If the RV is going to be in long term storage, without trickle charging, then you will wan to shut off the inverter, disconnect the batteries using the controls by the door, and probably also disconnect the engine battery (plus remove the engine battery fuse, as per Sprinter instructions). This will help the batteries retain charge for longer, but not indefinitely - eventually you'll need to recharge them...

Winterbagoal · 10-06-2020, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kimfamily11

Will I ruin the battery if I don’t have a Trik L charge or BIM and have it plugged into a 110V outlet in storage?

Not likely, your unit is too new to have anything but a "smart" inverter/charger. Your coach batteries should be fine if left plugged in to shore power.
However, the 2020 View manual (yours is a 2021, so maybe not applicable) does not recommend leaving the unit plugged in.
I have no idea how, or whether, the chassis battery is maintained somehow off the coach batteries. I would send Winnebago a note asking the question about whether the chassis battery is also maintained by the factory electrical system.
[email protected]
Include your year/make/model, and Winnebago serial number, and the chassis VIN.

imnprsd · 10-06-2020, 10:18 PM

You need a 24V charger if you have a 24V system; and/or a 12 volt charger if you have a 12V system. Make sure this is so!

Anytime you connect a charger to your battery bank you are connecting it in parallel with any other charging device. That might be your inverter/charger, trickle charger, solar charge-controller, etc. ...So there is NO need to worry about hurting your battery bank no matter how many of these charging devices you use. And when you are driving, only your alternator or solar cells will provide charging current to your batteries, but again this is a parallel connection.

What I can't tell you if you SUM two parallel charging circuits together or not? I seem to remember an engineer at Progressive Industries explaining that the battery will seek only to accept the larger-dominate charging device, and it will ignore the weaker, but I'm not sure if this is accurate. Maybe a sharper tool in the shed can clarify: How much current will enter a house battery bank if 20A is coming from my alternator -- and I have 10A being sent to the same house battery bank from the solar panels on the roof?

Also, if you want to know how much current each battery is receiving, just divide your charging current by the number of batteries. I.e., if you have a 30A charger and 2 house batteries, then each battery is going to receive 15A.

You might then ask, how much current can a house battery take safely? ...And the accepted rule of thumb is 25% of the total AH. So a 120AH house battery can accept a 30A charge.

Should you rapid charge your battery bank? Only if you have to. I.e., it's better to slow charge a battery vs. fast charging it. (Trickle chargers excluded.)

Note: If your house batteries do not charge off the alternator while you are driving, then you can add a Battery Isolator, aka Battery Combiner, aka Battery VSR. They all do the same thing and are easy to install. (Just search on Amazon for a Blue Sea or KeyLine VSR in the $85 range.)

* Also, AGM batteries are sealed-lead-acid batteries, but if your charger has an AGM charging position, then use it.

rprochnow · 10-07-2020, 05:45 AM

When planning our purchase of a 2020 or 2021 View with Lichtsinn, we discussed wanting to keep the engine battery charged while in storage.

In a 2020/2021 View/Navion, it will take something like a TRIK-L-START (standard batteries) or AMP-L-START (lithium batteries) to charge the engine batteries from the coach (and shore power). These devices should stop charging the engine battery if the charge on the coach batteries gets too low or when the engine battery is fully charged.

Winterbagoal · 10-07-2020, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by imnprsd

You need a 24V charger if you have a 24V system; and/or a 12 volt charger if you have a 12V system. Make sure this is so!

Anytime you connect a charger to your battery bank you are connecting it in parallel with any other charging device. That might be your inverter/charger, trickle charger, solar charge-controller, etc. ...So there is NO need to worry about hurting your battery bank no matter how many of these charging devices you use. And when you are driving, only your alternator or solar cells will provide charging current to your batteries, but again this is a parallel connection.

What I can't tell you if you SUM two parallel charging circuits together or not? I seem to remember an engineer at Progressive Industries explaining that the battery will seek only to accept the larger-dominate charging device, and it will ignore the weaker, but I'm not sure if this is accurate. Maybe a sharper tool in the shed can clarify: How much current will enter a house battery bank if 20A is coming from my alternator -- and I have 10A being sent to the same house battery bank from the solar panels on the roof?

Also, if you want to know how much current each battery is receiving, just divide your charging current by the number of batteries. I.e., if you have a 30A charger and 2 house batteries, then each battery is going to receive 15A.

You might then ask, how much current can a house battery take safely? ...And the accepted rule of thumb is 25% of the total AH. So a 120AH house battery can accept a 30A charge.

Should you rapid charge your battery bank? Only if you have to. I.e., it's better to slow charge a battery vs. fast charging it. (Trickle chargers excluded.)

Note: If your house batteries do not charge off the alternator while you are driving, then you can add a Battery Isolator, aka Battery Combiner, aka Battery VSR. They all do the same thing and are easy to install. (Just search on Amazon for a Blue Sea or KeyLine VSR in the $85 range.)

* Also, AGM batteries are sealed-lead-acid batteries, but if your charger has an AGM charging position, then use it.

I think the "24V" reference is the View or Navion model, as in "2021 View 24V". It's the Winnebago designation for the model with the split twin beds in back, unless they've changed that.

rprochnow · 10-07-2020, 09:50 AM

In theory, you could get 24 Volts by connecting two lithium batteries in series, and not in parallel - but of course, that wouldn't work because the coach is designed to operate off 12 Volts...

jcurtisis · 10-12-2020, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kimfamily11

I have a new 2021 24V. It is in covered storage. I can trickle charge with 15 amps.
1. Should I trcickle charge?
2. Do I have the inverter disconnected or connected by the door?
3. Do I have the battery by the door disconnected or connected?

I am a little confused because I have been told to trickle charge but have also been told about over charging. Looking for advice.

I didn't see what type batteries you have.

1. Read your manual for the chassis and coach first. My 18ND 24D chassis manual states (as was mentioned before) to disconnect the battery if in long term storage as one option. The other is to have a trickle charge. I opt for the trickle charge as there are other things you have to do if you disconnect the chassis battery and then reconnect. In all cases be sure the battery is fully charged before you go into storage. I chose to use the Mercedes-Benz 5A trickle charger and I connect it to the "jump start" terminals in the engine compartment. Other options exist like the permanently installed "Trik-l-charge" units. The trickle charger from M-B is specifically designed to keep the batteries topped up without harming them. I can't speak for the other types, but that is a key issue you need to verify before closing an option.

2. If you are using a trickle charger powered from shore you don't need to use an inverter. Your model is different than mine, so again, check the manual. I suspect that you MAY only need the inverter if you are trying to run the trickle charger from the coach batteries .... which is not good unless you keep those charged as well...and as noted earlier some models suggest not keeping the coach plugged in for long periods of storage time.

3. The battery by the door is the coach battery, and there is a "house disconnect" switch by the door. As long as the batteries are fully charged before you go into storage, just turn off the disconnect and those batteries should be fine (but again, check your manual).

NormD · 10-12-2020, 11:30 AM

I have used the cheap two-piece trickle chargers from Harbour Freight for about 15 years to keep my RV engine and my boat batteries charged. The device plugs into an AC outlet and the cigar lighter. The RV was put to bed in October 2019 and the engine battery lost less than a quarter inch of water by September 2020. The voltage is about 13.3 volts, so the battery is not held at full charge. A caution if buying the HF device – some of the newer ones are less than 13 volts.