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Old 03-02-2020, 03:51 PM   #1
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Starting generator with chassis battery

Hi All,

Has anyone changed their mh to use the chassis battery for starting the generator instead of the house batteries? I'm interested in doing this as our lithium battery doesn't have enough CCAs to start the genny, I have to crank the engine first.

thanks
tim
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Old 03-05-2020, 11:38 AM   #2
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Updating my post... This is for a 2017 Navion. I haven't tried using the battery boost button but I assume that would work. It seems that using the chassis battery just makes more sense in general for starting the genny.
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Old 03-05-2020, 12:54 PM   #3
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I believe the reason to use the house battery is in the event the chassis battery has run down you can still start your generator. Otherwise neither will start.
Yes, the boost button will do the trick - assuming it's operating correctly. "It" really being the solenoid that connects the two batteries as opposed to the button itself.
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Old 03-05-2020, 03:44 PM   #4
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Your Navion has a heavy duty solenoid switch that can connect the chassis battery to the coach battery, mounted under a front seat. Read your operator's manual to see how and when the OEM Battery Isolation Manager (BIM) operate this solenoid switch.

The LiFe04 standing battery voltage may be too high for the OEM BIM to think the coach batteries need charging and automatically tie the batteries together like they did when you had Lead Acid coach batteries.

If so, then your options would be:

$ 100 plus labor: to replace the BIM with one that is designed for LiFe04 coach batteries

or,

$ 10 plus labor: add a non-momentary switch in parallel across the momentary battery boost switch so you can manually turn on and leave on a battery boost switch while you get out of the driver's seat to push the generator start button. Then remember to manually turn it back off once the generator is running.

or,

$ 0: Find a way to wedge something into the momentary battery boost switch that holds it down while you start the generator. Maybe a toothpick ???
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Old 03-05-2020, 03:45 PM   #5
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I've just been running through getting the genset started and it really can be a bit more confusing than it might seem. One point that I've always gone with was giving things the best shot at working. So for the genset, I know that it may take a bit for it to start if it has not been run recently, so starting the engine is just one way to really give it the best shot at starting without running any battery down as it not only ties both coach and chassis batteries together through the solenoid but it also has the added output of the alternator.
If I were a long term dry camper and I had my coach batteries pretty well down, I would not want to run the risk of also putting my chassis start battery down while cranking the genset as that would mean I might be totally out of luck for starting.
Just pressing the odds too far for me to save the small amount of trouble of starting the engine to best assure I get things going.
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Old 03-05-2020, 04:02 PM   #6
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Thanks for the input guys. I think the easiest solution is to go ahead and drop another 100ah battery in place. I'm only using one at the moment as I was hoping to sell my current one and then buy 2 LifeBlue batteries that support low temps. With 2 in place there should be no trouble starting the genny.
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Old 03-05-2020, 04:51 PM   #7
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Just a thought but have you tried starting the generator with your MH's engine running?
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Old 03-05-2020, 05:40 PM   #8
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Quote:
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Just a thought but have you tried starting the generator with your MH's engine running?
Yes, that works fine.
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Old 03-06-2020, 07:14 AM   #9
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Yes, that works fine.
Personally, I'd just do that rather than re-wire. Of course, if you're starting your generator umpteen times a day, it could get tiresome.
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Old 03-06-2020, 07:43 AM   #10
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I,m a bit sensitive to starting problems with anything at the moment and have just gone through getting a genset problem solved. Batteries and starting are still something that amazes me with the wide variety of symptomes they can give. My reason for going full blown on giving things the best shot at starting is that it can get so difficult to sort out when it doesn't work as expected.
My set is smaller than most and therefore takes less power but suddenly it had totally new sounds that threw me off for a while. Rather than the expected grunt or click and not turn over fast enough to start, I got a very rapid clicking almost like 60 cycle sound, leading me to say it was something in controls, solenoid, etc. WRONG!
Just the batteries were gone and would not get it done even with the engine running and tying coach, start and alternator together!
So I cleaned terminals, verified the solenoid and put a charger on and nothing worked!
But a new set of batteries fired it right off! Testing shows one battery to be totally gone and it appears to have been enough to let the controls pull the solenoid but once it engaged the starter, it drew power down to a level which let the solenoid drop off and then repeat to make the continuous clicking! Not the sort of thing I want to sort through when on the road and moving!
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Old 03-06-2020, 08:03 AM   #11
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Morich, did you have to replace your chassis and house batteries? I would think they would wire the genny to start from the chassis by default. The reason is the chassis has a battery much more suited for starting engines (e.g. I think the chassis battery has something like 900 CCA) as opposed to deep cycle batteries that have much lower CCAs.
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Old 03-06-2020, 11:18 AM   #12
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No, I did not replace the chassis battery as it is only about a year old. The gensets, I have looked at have all been wired to start on coach battery. I suspect this is done to avoid a situation where both coach and start are run down. Knowing that many people do use the coach batteries while camping and then want to start the generator to recharge those batteries, using the chassis start batteries could easily run into a situation where both were near dead if the genset failed to start easily.
Never a perfect situation but I would suspect that much of it is based on what they have seen people do.
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Old 03-06-2020, 03:29 PM   #13
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Originally Posted by tbrady View Post
Thanks for the input guys. I think the easiest solution is to go ahead and drop another 100ah battery in place. I'm only using one at the moment as I was hoping to sell my current one and then buy 2 LifeBlue batteries that support low temps. With 2 in place there should be no trouble starting the genny.
Why do you feel your 100AH lithium battery won't start your generator? A lithium battery should be able to supply 150-200 amps for the short amount of time it takes to start a generator. Additionally I wouldn't expect that the starter motor for the generator would take more than 50-70 amps to crank the generator.
If you had a 7500 to 10,000 watt generator that would be different.

About lithium battery & low temps. Note that it is temp of the battery when charging that is the problem. Just because the outside air temp drops to 25 degrees for a few hours, doesn't mean the battery temp is below freezing. Also if the battery is in any kind of enclosure it is going to take some really cold outside temps to get the battery below freezing.
The battery can be discharged down to about zero.
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