Battery Charging

See my post here on page 2 for why you should disconnect the negative terminal:
http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7546&PN=2&title=battery-disconnect

Thanks for all of the input.  Great forum!  I purchased the Genius 3500 charger but not sure I am getting a full charge, even after multiple days of charging.  Instructions say fully charged is indicated by green light being solid (not blinking) and other three buttons (25%, 50% and 75%) are off.  Beast I can get is blinking green light and other three lights lit.  I guess I will see how charged batteries are when I head out to camp.

Originally posted by johnmaci 1. Shore power will keep the battery from discharging (trickle charge), but is not meant to recharge a low or dead battery. You need to fully charge them with a proper charger, then they should stay topped off when on 120v. This is wrong. The pod has a pretty darn good 3 stage charger that is specifically designed to charge and maintain the battery(ies) just fine. 2. I would either contact the dealer and have them check/replace or simply take them to a battery shop and have them test. These may be bad batteries from the dealer and you would need to work this out with them. 3. Batteries have a point (usually 50%) where if you drain them below that minimum charge, you dramatically lower the lifespan (and will eventually need to replace them if continued). 4. Depending on how discharged they are, it may take 24hrs (or more) to fully charge your batteries.  I would charge the batteries individually (not as connected to the trailer). Again, this is using a proper battery charger.  I use a NOCO Genius: http://www.amazon.com/NOCO-G750-UltraSafe-Battery-Charger/dp/B004LX3AS6/ref=sr_1_12?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1456341536&sr=1-12&keywords=battery+tender (but you can use pretty much any brand you like). 5. If your batteries are connected to your trailer, there will always be a "phantom" drain from the CO2 detector etc. but should not drain your "fully" charged batteries in a couple of days if all other things are off. Also, one bad or low battery may drain the other when connected in series or parallel. Im sure others will chime in and correct anything I have misrepresented...... Happy Camping!

Not much to add to the great comments above.  I have 5 year old batteries that are still in decent shape and since we normally camp where no electricity is available (national parks, national and or state forest campgrounds) the batteries get used a lot.  I use a trickle charger for my batteries.  Set at 2 amps it may take 2 - 2.5 days to bring to fully charge/ battery.  Maybe I put more faith in the light display than I ought but when it shows I am discharged 2/3 I change over to the other battery. They receive a trickle charge before 'hibernation' in late October and then again in mid-March I will give them another trickle charge before getting ready for the camping season.

Do not rely on the little 4 light panel for battery charge. It is notoriously inaccurate on all it's functions. The fourth light indicates the battery is being charged. It will drop back to three lights after a time when you disconnect the charging source. The best indicator is specific gravity. The next best method is a digital volt meter after the batteries have been resting for a few hours.