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Old 09-29-2010, 12:54 PM   #21
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Originally Posted by rogjoan View Post
The insolator was right at the place indicated where Scotts_rv said. Went out bought a new one for $22.00 replaced it and now the coach battery are being charged when the motor in running. Thanks for the help it sure was appreciated and saved me $$$$.

Glad I could help rogjoan... Gives me a warm fuzzy to help out a fellow RVer.


x2 to what wetboy5776 said above. I just can't imagine a motorhome not taking advantage of the alternators output to charge up the house batteries while rolling down the road.

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Old 09-29-2010, 01:36 PM   #22
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If a mechanic told that my motorhome was designed to let the coach batteries drain while traveling, I would not give him my business. This is a no brainer even for the not so mechanically inclined.

I suspected that my house batteries were not getting charged while traveling and infact while dry camping the other night the batteries were dead by morning. The boost switch didn't even click. Boost switch fuse was blown but after replacing it, the switch still didn't click or supply power to start generator. Turned out to be a loose connection on the solenoid that connects the house and chassis batteries. Boost switch clicks now but still did not start generator. Maybe I didn't hold it long enough I dunno. Im still working on the problem ( could be that the batteries were killed by this loose connection)
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Old 09-29-2010, 02:02 PM   #23
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WeTTBoY My My My;;; Isolater, Battery #1 to BaTT, #2 it will current flow only one way; Diode Will Let Current flow One way; A solenoid Is a manual control, It lets current flow Pos, to neg,or neg to pos; Onec again, There are some that feel bigger when they Be little others by showing there Stupidity, Yhaa wettboy.In my 70 years I have seen many coachs that Did not charge The coach battery when driving.. or charge the engine battery when pluged in; I do not see a need to argue about that subject,, In this day things are quite different.
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Old 09-29-2010, 04:12 PM   #24
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WeTTBoY My My My;;; Isolater, Battery #1 to BaTT, #2 it will current flow only one way; Diode Will Let Current flow One way; A solenoid Is a manual control, It lets current flow Pos, to neg,or neg to pos; Onec again, There are some that feel bigger when they Be little others by showing there Stupidity, Yhaa wettboy.In my 70 years I have seen many coachs that Did not charge The coach battery when driving.. or charge the engine battery when pluged in; I do not see a need to argue about that subject,, In this day things are quite different.

I'm starting to feel like I'm picking on a early dementia patient here, so I will attempt to be kind. I'm not picking on you bachler, I only respond because it's important that no else be misinformed by a curmudgeon's unintelligible ramblings. I'm not saying I'm better than you bachler, just more informed. I'm sure you are a better person, you'd almost have to be. Alas, I'm quite the bon vivant with questionable dealings and even more questionable morals...especially when it comes to drink and the ladies... ;-)

First, it is true that some coach's converters are not set up to charge the engine battery. But they rarely need to be.

However, NO modern coaches likely to be out there came from the factory unable to charge the coach battery pack, at least not by design.

The old mechanical isolator typically worked like this:

When you started up in the morning, the alternator would start charging the engine battery first. That would quickly "fill up", and when the voltage reached a preset level, the isolator solenoid would join both batteries as one and the coach battery could start using some of the alternator output to charge.

There are a couple of problems with this setup. First, most of the alternators in RV's are terribly underpowered and often did not get the first battery "filled up" enough, especially when running AC, lights, wipers, etc. Therefore, the voltage never went high enough to trip the isolator, and allow the coach battery to start charging. Even if it did, the amount of amps left over for charging purposes was often pathetic.

Add to that any coach 12V demands like lights, inverter, or fridge, and it would wipe out anything the alternator was adding. This often overloaded the Alt, and would cause further problems. The FIRST step to any 12V problem in a coach, should be to make sure the alt is putting out sufficient amps for all the engine demands AND the coach demands, including charging. Most of the time, the older designs came with a grossly underpowered Alt. A 30 or 45 amp- even a 60- is rarely enough for the smaller RV's, yet this is what they came with because they were cheaper.

I installed a 170 amp performance alternator in mine, that now runs everything including my 12v fridge while going down the road, while charging my coach pack. My 45 amp OEM wouldn't even charge my coach battery if I had a single accessory on. The voltage would never be sufficiently high to "trip" the old solenoid so that it would start charging. Even when it did, it only added a few amps. It would take 12 to 14 hours of driving to fill a single battery.

Another problem with that design is, these car alternators often have their peak voltage set too low. They are fine for passenger cars where the load is pretty constant and you don't want to "cook" the battery. But even if your Alt has enough amp capacity, 13.8 volts is insufficient to trigger the isolator to combine the batteries and start the coach pack charging. Mine is set to 14.7 volts and this gets the job done. Some alts have adjustable voltage, some you have to order at that voltage. I had to order mine. For coaches, this should be the ideal voltage setting as you are already going to have inevitable voltage losses through your wiring and the engine heating up your alt.

OK, so lets assume you have a kick-butt high performance alternator that consistently triggers the isolator to combine the batteries for charging. Here's the next problem with that design:

Unless both batteries are the same model and amp-hour rating, one battery is going to "fill" sooner than the other. This will send a signal to the alternator that "we" are full. The alt will reduce it's charge to a trickle. Since most people have a smaller STARTING battery for the chassis, this will top off first, leaving the coach battery much less charged. Leaving a battery say, 80% full, will quickly kill it, especially when you start using it and it drops regularly below 50% capacity. It's essential that lead acid batteries be completely charged whenever possible!

You could put the same model battery in the chassis that you have for the coach and this would solve that problem. I did this as simple solution for a while, until I got a new solid-state isolator. Gotta admit, it was nice being able to forget my lights on for hours and still be able to start up, but I could BARELY fit that battery in the engine space. You may not be able to at all.

If you don't want to buy a new deep-cycle battery for your chassis, then you have to electrically separate your two batteries, and that's what a solid-state isolator does. It's shortcomings are much easier to overcome, but that's for another day. Just wanted to let you know what to look for when trying to figure out why your coach pack isn't charging, as I have been there before myself.

Sorry these are such long posts, but I'm trying to stuff what should be a 4 hour RV battery seminar into as few paragraphs as possible....
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Old 09-29-2010, 04:29 PM   #25
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We had the same intermittent problem over the last couple of years. As a precaution I bought a solenoid and put it in storage cabinet. Finally a few weeks ago on our way to Oregon the original acted up and I was able to make a definate diagnosis. It took less than half an hour to replace the solenoid and now all is well.

I used a Tekonsha solenoid part #7000-s. Tekonsha refers to it as a "battery switch 3-Terminal". It cost less than $25.00 and was well worth the money. It looks identical to the old style Ford starter solenoid. The difference is this one has a 100% duty cycle meaning it can run continuously without overheating and failing.
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Old 09-29-2010, 05:00 PM   #26
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Ok Wetboy is right and Bachler is wrong. Bachler you are making incorrect statements and telling us to swallow them and shutup. Not going to happen. As Wetboy stated we need to clarify the truth so that people don't get the wrong information. I think you are confusing to things here. It is true that when plugged into electric , a lot of Rvs do not charge the chassis battery. It is untrue to suggest that the RV alternator does not charge the house battery because it does.
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Old 09-29-2010, 10:37 PM   #27
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All coachs Charge all batteries Coach and chassis Weather pluged into shore power or the running of the chassis engine or the generator .Oh the also charge if a soler panel in employed. Now everyone should be happy. I see so much missleading information.
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Old 09-29-2010, 10:40 PM   #28
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Genset, engine gen. and shore power all charge all batteries; Oh I may be WRONG; It's made me a good living. An I do pay taxes; And not insult people. Or my shop doors would have closed 50 years ago.
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Old 09-30-2010, 07:05 AM   #29
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Genset, engine gen. and shore power all charge all batteries; Oh I may be WRONG; It's made me a good living. An I do pay taxes; And not insult people. Or my shop doors would have closed 50 years ago.

The truth is never an insult, and should be greeted with a smile and a thanks. And quite likely, if the internet had been been invented 50 years ago, you'd have been out of business. And alot of people would have saved their money on confused repairs....

On the plus side, thank you for paying your taxes. It will help defray the cost Social Security is going to be billed for someone's alzheimer meds...
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Old 09-30-2010, 08:15 AM   #30
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Bewere Of all the missinformation,. I have installed Many xantrex marine battery tenders/chargers in motorhomes. They keep the battery full of charge, When the generator/shore power is used; Also we have installed many auto tranfer switchs in the power line. And more battery tenders then I can count on the engine/chassis batterys, so they will keep the batteries charged; There are some out there that do not believe the work I have done; Or they Indecate it was not nessecary, Thats OK; They are Welcome to share there opion. Whatever it may be. Or however missleading it may be. I will work with a problem tell it's solved. And not disscredit my fellow shop owner;;
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Old 09-30-2010, 08:30 AM   #31
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Since the OP has a Winnebago this WIT Service Tip is appropriate. Though from 1997 it is still applicable.
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Old 09-30-2010, 12:16 PM   #32
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John Hilley; I must thank you from the heart, The information That I have trying to post About charging . Has been falling on deaf ears.. Thanks again, My friend;. I hope that puts the subject to rest. Altho there are some that will dissagree with the facts;; Thanks again.
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Old 10-01-2010, 05:07 AM   #33
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John Hilley; I must thank you from the heart, The information That I have trying to post About charging . Has been falling on deaf ears.. Thanks again, My friend;. I hope that puts the subject to rest. Altho there are some that will dissagree with the facts;; Thanks again.
Maybe I missed it but where does it show that the house batteries are not designed to charge when the engine is running when everything is working as it should....The way to put the subject to rest is to tell us what motorhomes are not designed to do this, since you worked on rv's for a living, and I will be first in line to apologize...
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Old 10-01-2010, 06:52 PM   #34
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Maybe I missed it but where does it show that the house batteries are not designed to charge when the engine is running when everything is working as it should....The way to put the subject to rest is to tell us what motorhomes are not designed to do this, since you worked on rv's for a living, and I will be first in line to apologize...

You didn't miss anything. The isolator pictured on that page shows it connected to the coach batteries, as it is in virtually every RV. The only thing not connected is a few synapses of our favourite poster....
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Old 10-23-2010, 08:10 PM   #35
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On the last 3 motor homes the engine DID NOT charge the coach batteries
I'm curious Bachelor. What were your last 3 motor homes ( make and year)

Never heard of motor homes that don't utilize some way of charging the house batteries while rolling down the road. Were your last 3 coaches manufactured within the last 30 years?
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Old 10-25-2010, 05:34 PM   #36
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I'm curious Bachelor. What were your last 3 motor homes ( make and year)

Never heard of motor homes that don't utilize some way of charging the house batteries while rolling down the road. Were your last 3 coaches manufactured within the last 30 years?
Bachler's latest motorhome is a 2000 Winnebago Ultimate Advantage which most certainly has a solenoid along with a BIRD (based on Winnebago's drawings) to charge the house batteries while driving so I don't know why he says otherwise...unless of course it's broken! In that case he should fix it! I take offense to Bachler's claims of so much misinfomation since he seems to be spreading some himself. Obviously from previous posts others have taken offense also


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Old 10-26-2010, 02:18 PM   #37
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Just attended a charging systems seminar at Lazy Days in Seffner and the technician ( Steve Roddy) confirmed what most of us already know, which is that every motor home is designed to have its house batteries charged from the alternator. I'm thinking that Bachelor was confused and perhaps meant to say that his chassis battery was not charged by shore power as is the case with many coaches.
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Old 10-26-2010, 02:40 PM   #38
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Monacoach,
I agree, as a past owner of a 2000 Itasca Suncruiser the chassis battery was not charged by shore power and I had to get a Tric-L-start device to charge it and that's what he could have been thinking about.
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