Charging the batteries (andersen plug)

G'day Adam,

If you just want to keep it simple then your suggestion is reasonable - after a week or so of use you accept that the batteries are going to be discharged a fair bit (depending on use), but then if the drive home is too short for your car to charge them, charge them from the mains when you get the chance.

A simple solution would be to buy a decent multi-stage charger (I like Ctek, but there are plenty of others) and use the crocodile clips to connect to your battery and away you go. If you're set on using the Anderson, then cut the crocodile clips off and install an Anderson so the charger will plug straight into the trailer Anderson. (You could then put another Anderson onto the remaining leads on the crocodile clips so you can re-connect the crocodile clips if you want. That retains the versatility of the charger).

The size of the charger (in amps) will depend on the total capacity of your batteries, but I would think that a 7 to 10 amp charger would cover the average camper setup.

There are many other considerations for power and charging camper batteries, but you only asked about the one aspect, so I've confined myself to that.

Cheers

Hi Adam F, sounds like you may need a solar panel to charge the batteries while camped and not have 240v available. There is plenty of info on here about charging batteries!

Thanks Frank, for your advice. I'll look into those. Tony, love the idea of solar, but as most of our camping is done down here in Victoria... ;)

Hi Adam,

Suggest that you may find Electricity for Camping a useful read.

I think Frank's suggestion is probably the easiest way to go. There are many options though and I wouldn't rule out solar - depends on your usage and travel patterns.

Cheers

John

Hi Adam,

You have already received some good advice, but I would like to add a little for your consideration.

Some vehicles do not have high capacity alternator outputs and voltage drop over long cable runs can add to the problem, resulting in lower than optimum voltage at the remote end.

The addition of a dc-dc charger wll overcome this and provide a multi-stage charging regime for optimum battery capacity in the shortest time.
If the charger also has solar panel input you will have the best form of dual charging capability for your camper batteries.

My camper already had an AC charger, but as I rarely go near caravan parks and powered sites, I added a Ctek D250S Dual dc-dc charger.
It has input ports for both alternator and solar panels and will choose the best input if both are active at the same time.

I use an 80 watt folding panel which is adequate, but a 100 or 120 watt folding panel can be obtained for a reasonable price.
I made up an additional lead to bypass the panel's on-board controller so I can use the better technology provided by the Ctek D250S dual charger.

Very happy with the result.