How to Charge RV Batteries

There are a couple of ways to charge an RV battery. Campground shore power, home outlets, generators, and solar panels will all charge your batteries at different rates. I'll break down the different charging methods and help you figure out what will work best for your situation.
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00:00 - Intro
00:34 - How to read your battery display
01:25 - Shore power
01:57 - Home outlets
02:31 - Vehicle 7-way
02:59 - Generators
03:18 - Solar panels

[montanadan]

I am an electronics engineer with a background in battery usage. This young lady is very knowledgeable and did a fine job. I would elaborate a bit on several points. 1) Yes, in most cases a voltage reading in the upper 12.X vdc range is a sign of a charged battery. 2) I would caution calling a battery measuring at 12.0 vdc at 50% capacity. I would consider a battery at this voltage to required a complete charge for battery longetivity. 3) Putting a battery charger on a battery in storage can be a very bad idea if the wrong charger is used. Trickle charges and hooking to a small unregulated solar panel can also cause problems. If the batteries are to be idle for a typical storage season upto six months, just fully charge them and then disconnect them - no charger needed. Should the storage period be unknown or longer, seek out a battery maintainer that keeps the battery topped off but protects against overcharge. These devices are not chargers so the battery should be fully charged before hooking up a maintainer.

[Grandmasrockin]

Thank you so much. I’m still learning about my rv

[darryljohnston]

Excellent help thank you Darryl from Australia

[dlw]

Thanks, I was wondering if I could find an adapter for 120 to the 240 and you actually showed one and I took a picture of it for when they say there is no such thing I will show them there is>

[grahambull]

Thanks for that. Very helpful. Just wondered though, after listening to some other people, when charging a Motorhome with an electrical lead do you need a battery isolator to isolated engine battery? If so, where would that be?

[ChrisBrown-xkkv]

I was trying to on to find the video on the electrical system on a Camper/RV. Would it be possible to link it?

[madhatter]

This was the first time my RV was in storage all winter I forgot to unhook the batteries can I recharge the batteries by giving it a boost with my pickup my RV has two batteries and solar power but don't want to mess anything up will my RV batts charge while I'm driving?

[tdata]

So you can't charge it by putting a charger on the terminals. I guess it's actively draining faster than a battery charger can charge it. I totally forgot about shore power. Thank you.

[setecastronomy]

can I plug the converter into a house receptacle using an extension cord and keep the batteries charged that way?