Battery Disconnect Question

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by Viajante

I'd suggest removing the word "disconnect" from the label. It only adds confusion. Does it mean anything different than "battery on" or "battery off"?

Battery could be off, but still charging, I guess.

[Viajante]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Battery could be off, but still charging, I guess.

That is part of the continuing confusion with the disconnect label. Disconnected from what? Not solar charging that I am aware of. Shore power charging...I don't know.

[Dcboyd]

Originally Posted by Viajante

That is part of the continuing confusion with the disconnect label. Disconnected from what? Not solar charging that I am aware of. Shore power charging...I don't know.

When I turn mine to off, the lights inside turn off. Haven’t checked other 12 volt items. Mat turn them off also.

[Dcboyd]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

Preventing theft, vandalism and in some cases self inflicted damage is for me a way of thinking after having experienced many situations over the years. In the case of vandalism, which is often heavy in some public property cases, I learned to think like a vandal, prepare for the worst, and go one thickness thicker no matter what the material. Just had to figure out how to pay for it in initial construction or remodeling projects.

As park maintenance folks met at conferences, the end of day conversations as we repaired to the bar often turned to “can you top this? Smaller town guys were upstaged by small city guys. Larger cities would top small cities. But when I sat at tables with the guys from Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and the like, I was ( and you don’t have to believe this: very quiet). Those folks described whole new levels of abuse. I learned that trends in vandalism moved inward from borh coasts and from big cities to smaller ones. If you listened carefully you could learn to anticipate and shift budget money to thicker plate steel, high impact light fixtures, and less flammable materials.
Iowa Dave

Not so much in preventing any theft, but it being aware that someone messed with it. Being broken into, you would at least know to flush the system out. I would at least.

[Brian B-P]

Do a web search for "rv battery use store switch" to see how rational switches like this are labelled... yes, "USE" and "STORE", which should be clear to anyone.

[MrLynn]

Originally Posted by Viajante

That is part of the continuing confusion with the disconnect label. Disconnected from what? Not solar charging that I am aware of. Shore power charging...I don't know.

'On' and 'Off' are not relevant. The switch disconnects the battery(ies) from the trailer. So the labels should be just: 'Connect' and 'Disconnect'.

[Viajante]

Originally Posted by MrLynn

'On' and 'Off' are not relevant. The switch disconnects the battery(ies) from the trailer. So the labels should be just: 'Connect' and 'Disconnect'.

I think that is "on" and "off", but I agree with you that your idea would be an improvement.

[sofmerc]

Originally Posted by Viajante

I think that is "on" and "off", but I agree with you that your idea would be an improvement.

so if in the off/disconnect position is it still getting charged by the solar panels?

[MrLynn]

Originally Posted by sofmerc

so if in the off/disconnect position is it still getting charged by the solar panels?

I don't know anything about solar systems, but I have read (here or somewhere) that portable panels that come with their own controllers should be connected directly to the battery, so they bypass the trailer converters. Therefore, I presume the disconnect to the converter/trailer would not disconnect those, and they would continue to charge the battery unless separately disconnected.

But if I have garbled this, let the experts weigh in.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by sofmerc

so if in the off/disconnect position is it still getting charged by the solar panels?

yes, at least on both my original stock Escape configuration, and my new rewired configuration. I added a separate switch to disconnect the solar panels

with the battery disconnect switch 'open', if you have AC power, and your converter breaker is on, then you can get DC from the converter to the trailer DC systems, but the converter is not charging the battery.

[sofmerc]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

yes, at least on both my original stock Escape configuration, and my new rewired configuration. I added a separate switch to disconnect the solar panels

with the battery disconnect switch 'open', if you have AC power, and your converter breaker is on, then you can get DC from the converter to the trailer DC systems, but the converter is not charging the battery.

Thanx John

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by MrLynn

I don't know anything about solar systems, but I have read (here or somewhere) that portable panels that come with their own controllers should be connected directly to the battery, so they bypass the trailer converters.

The converter (the component located in the power centre which converts AC power to DC) has nothing to do with charging from a solar system.

Perhaps you meant that panels with their own controllers should bypass the trailer's solar charge controller (not converter) and that's true (although charge controllers built into panels are usually junk so it's even better to bypass the panel's controller and use the trailer's solar charge controller instead).

Originally Posted by MrLynn

Therefore, I presume the disconnect to the converter/trailer would not disconnect those, and they would continue to charge the battery unless separately disconnected.

But whatever the route the conclusion is right - in the typical Escape installation, the output of the solar charge controller is on the battery side of the use/store switch, so the solar system can charge the battery regardless of the switch setting. This makes sense, and allows the solar system to maintain the battery between trips (as long as the panels are exposed to enough light).