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RV Charging Options

Originally Published in Trailer Life Magazine

Q I have a 2004 Keystone Cougar with a MagneTek series 6300A converter. When dry camping I have an Onan 3600 generator in my pickup bed that I connect to the trailer. Is it safe to also connect my battery charger at the same time to charge the batteries quicker? I don’t have a 15-amp receptacle on the generator and would have to plug the charger into the trailer. I’m just not sure if that would help or if it might harm the converter or the batteries.

-Bill Campbell, Via email

A You can plug your car battery charger into the RV and use it to charge your RV battery while the battery is connected to the RV. When two chargers are connected to a battery, in this case the RV’s onboard converter/charger plus your car battery charger, the system automatically defaults to the more powerful of the two charging sources. It doesn’t combine the two into a higher-voltage source. And you’re right; the car battery charger will recharge your batteries faster than the converter can.

– Jeff Johnston


Side by side images of two men, Ken Freund and Jeff Johnston, posing next to vehicles To send your questions to RV Clinic, write to 2575 Vista Del Mar, Ventura, Calif., 93001; or email [email protected]. Also, check out TrailerLife.TV for our expert RV how-to videos.

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