Chassis Battery Disconnect 04 Journey

[rogo88]

My 04' Journey was not delivered with a chassis battery disconnect, and for a couple of reasons I would like to install one. I have an extra rocker switch blank at the dash and would like to add a switch there to operate a disconnect solenoid in the same manner that the house batteries are disconnected.

Has anyone done this on their Journey of the same vintage? I would be appreciative of any information, hints, descriptions, pictures, etc. that might be available.

Thanks,
Ron

[vtbigdog]

I think a more cost effective and foolproff solution would be to visit a marine store and purchase a battery disconnect switch that is manually operated...similar to other motorhomes.

Concerning your statement of a switch to "operate a disconnect solenoid in the same manner that the house batteries are disconnected."... are you sure this method is really a disconnect switch and not just the "Salesmans switch" that shuts off the lights? That solenoid has to have power from somewhere. It can't be the house batteries. Same is true for what you are proposing for the house batteries.

Look next to your house batteries and I think you will see a manual disconnect switch. That is what you need for your chassis battery.

[FIRE UP]

rogo88,
A friend just purchased an '06 Itasca Meridian and his coach came with a chassis battery disconnect. But, it's a "rotory", manual switch, located just above the radiator, accessible from the very back of the coach. Those are way more dependable than the electric ones you might be thinking of. But, in setting one of those up, you'd need some seriously long, extra big, around 2/0 battery cable to make there and back from where you'd take it from.

If it were me, I'd get one of these;

They are rated ultra high in amps and, you can mount it in or around the battery compartment and, the very best part, depending on your existing battery cables, you can install it in line, or a very short run of new cables will be needed. Those are what we had/have in all the fire trucks we ran. Just a suggestion.
Scott

[John Hilley]

The down side of using a battery disconnect solenoid would be the current rating. It wouldn't be enough for the starting current. A manual marine battery switch is the way to go.

[Skip426]

Fire up, my F/L chassis came with one of the switches you have pictured , and then Newmar hid it . Located in the ground cable , between the batteries and the frame , refered to as a mechanic's safety switch, to prevent engine start up with oil drained or other situations where two people could be working on the coach at the same time . Down side every time chassis batteries are disconnected. All electronic control modules; motor, trans; must go through a re-learn, about 20 mins of drive time , before normal operation resumes.

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by Skip426

Fire up, my F/L chassis came with one of the switches you have pictured , and then Newmar hid it . Located in the ground cable , between the batteries and the frame , refered to as a mechanic's safety switch, to prevent engine start up with oil drained or other situations where two people could be working on the coach at the same time . Down side every time chassis batteries are disconnected. All electronic control modules; motor, trans; must go through a re-learn, about 20 mins of drive time , before normal operation resumes.

Skip426,
You know, I was thinking that, if you were to disconnect the "entire" battery voltage, that you would loose all "memories" involved, in the mechanisms/processors you mentioned. And that, might not be a good thing. So, if that's the case, then, what exactly does that red switch (shown above) disconnect? Does it only disconnect the ability to start the engine and yet, keeps 12V going to appropriate items to keep memories intact? I guess I just never thought about it that much. And, to date, I've had no reason to disconnect the main chassis batteries other than to do the work on something that required the batteries to be disconnected.
Scott

[Skip426]

Scott, the disconnect from power, is not detremental to the modules. Kind of like the difference between wakeing your computor up from sleep mode vs booting it from an overnight shut down. Just takes a while longer.
To keep the chassis batteries from draining, in 3 weeks to a month , a full disconnect is required. The module memory is the draw that drains them.
All switches would have to be wired for a full disconnect to be any use.
JMHO. If you allready have a coach battery disconnect, then wiring in the red marine dual battery switch would be overkill. The marine switch is set up to provide battery voltage for start up, from 1 battery bank ( chassis ) a second battery bank ( coach ) or both. Your coach has other relays ; emergency start; to deal with that function. So the single switch you pictured, in the chassis battery ground cable is all you need.

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by Skip426

Scott, the disconnect from power, is not detremental to the modules. Kind of like the difference between wakeing your computor up from sleep mode vs booting it from an overnight shut down. Just takes a while longer.
To keep the chassis batteries from draining, in 3 weeks to a month , a full disconnect is required. The module memory is the draw that drains them.
All switches would have to be wired for a full disconnect to be any use.
JMHO. If you allready have a coach battery disconnect, then wiring in the red marine dual battery switch would be overkill. The marine switch is set up to provide battery voltage for start up, from 1 battery bank ( chassis ) a second battery bank ( coach ) or both. Your coach has other relays ; emergency start; to deal with that function. So the single switch you pictured, in the chassis battery ground cable is all you need.

Skip426,
I surely thank you for your explanation of the switches in question. At this point in time, I really don't have a need for a coach battery disconnect. I was merely pointing one out to the OP. It's the same exact ones we used in many of our fire trucks. Thanks again, very much appreciated.
Scott