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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / RVs / February 2006Aux batteries and engine battery
We garage our RV and we connect it to an outlet and the "smart" converter keeps the auxiliary batteries charged. However the engine battery is disconnected and thus receives no charge while plugged in. I am thinking of adding a manual switch to energize the disconnect switch, or perhaps a heavy duty switch to bypass the disconnct switch, so that the engine battery is connected in parallel with the auxiliary batteries as they are while the engine is running. In this manner the engine battery gets charged by the converter. This switch could also be used to allow the auxiliary batteries to start the engine. Please comment on this idea and share any suggestions you may have about doing this or against doing this, including switch suggestions: energizing the disconnect relay or bypassing it... Al Al writes: Please comment on this idea and share any suggestions you may have about doing this or against doing this, including switch suggestions: energizing the disconnect relay or bypassing it... Al Hank writes: The newer RV's have a switch that will allow you to use the coach batteries to start the engine. It is nothing more than a puch button relay. I personally think if you hook the batteries together and the coach can run off the engine battery and Vice-versa, you are asking for problems if they both run down. If your batteries for the engine are weak, they should be replaced. Also, they shouldn't run down in a month of winter. You should start the engine every month anyway. Just my opinion. Hank > We garage our RV and we connect it to an outlet and the "smart" > converter keeps the auxiliary batteries charged. However the engine [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > about doing this or against doing this, including switch suggestions: > energizing the disconnect relay or bypassing it... Al Do it this way. http://www.bobhatch.com/mhPages/floatCharger.htm  Signature"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you did not do, than the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor and catch tradewinds in your sail." Mark Twain http://www.bobhatch.com http://www.tdsrvresort.com >>We garage our RV and we connect it to an outlet and the "smart" >>converter keeps the auxiliary batteries charged. However the engine [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > http://www.bobhatch.com/mhPages/floatCharger.htm Thats the way I do it, but I use this one from Sears: http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&vertical=AUTO&pid=0 2871220000&subcat=Battery+Chargers%2C+Boosters+%26+Cables (Sorry for the long link...) John Andrews, Knoxville, Tennessee > We garage our RV and we connect it to an outlet and the "smart" converter > keeps the auxiliary batteries charged. However the engine battery is > disconnected and thus receives no charge while plugged in. Al, take a look at this charger: http://www.lslproducts.com/TLSPage.html Thanks for this link, and all the others. Is this just like a solar power charge controller, or do you think they have done something very unique to the RV world? Al > Al, take a look at this charger: http://www.lslproducts.com/TLSPage.html >I am thinking of adding a manual switch to energize the disconnect switch, >or perhaps a heavy duty switch to bypass the disconnct switch, so that the [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >doing this or against doing this, including switch suggestions: energizing >the disconnect relay or bypassing it... Al My Class B came equipped with such a relay, and when it died I bought an exact replacement. It actually died because of a corroded ground connection, but I didn't realize that until I removed it to replace it, and the replacement has a better type of ground connection anyway. I got it at WWGrainger (their part #6c017. It's a White-Rodgers, continuous-duty 100-amp solenoid. It's mounted on the fender wall next to the chassis battery. It connects the chassis and house batteries when the ignition switch is on or in accessory position. The alternator charges the house battery when driving, and the converter/charger charges the chassis battery -- off either the genset or shore power -- when I have the ignition switch in the right position. This comes in handy when I want to use the stereo or the cab lights when plugged into shore power (or on generator), so the chassis battery doesn't run down. It also allows the house battery to boost the chassis battery if needed when starting the engine. In addition, if the house battery were too weak to start the generator, I could switch the ignition on and start it off the chassis battery. The system works extremely well, and both batteries stay charged. I like this relay so much I ended up buying two more. One serves as the master shutoff for all the house 12v power, and the other as the energizer to run the refrigerator on 12v when driving. It shuts off power to the refrigerator automatically when I turn off the ignition, such as for a refueling or rest stop. (The refrigerator is a manual three-way.) I installed all three myself, and they've been working great for several years. GB in NC |
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