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Battery Question

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Randy Perry:
So this past weekend I was dry camping (arrived Thursday night and left Sunday morning. I ran my gen set for 3 or 4 hours on Friday & Saturday, ran my inverter in the evenings. When I went to start my coach Sunday morning, I didn't have enough juice to start her? Since my coach batteries were showing 13+ volts, I hit my battery tie switch (and could hear the solenoid engage) but had no effect on the starter. I then hooked my (tow) Jeep to my chassis batteries with jumper cables and couldn't get it to fire! I then hooked up a 2/10 amp battery charger in addition to the Jeep and after 3 or 4 trys, got it started. Now for my question, are my (2) chassis batteries wired in seires and the Cat motor requires 24 volts??? Aside from typical battery maintenence, I never paid attention to how they were wired! This thought came to me on my way home thinking that was why I was having a hard time starting a 24 volt system with 12 volts!! Is there any charging system for those batteries while you're on shore/generator power?

LEAH DRAPER:
"Is there any charging system for those batteries while you're on shore/generator power?"


There was no method for charging my chassis batteries so I bought a Battery Tender at Camping World and plugged in the a/c outlet in one of the bays.  Then so I didn't have to disconnect it from the batteries each time I moved, I had the wires run from the battery compartment to the Battery Tender via the frame.  Now when ever I am plugged into shore power my chassis batteries stay charged.  

Gerald Farris:
The chassis batteries on your coach are wired in parallel, so they are operating as a very large 12V battery. The reason that it is hard to start the coach with jumper cables is that the amperage required to operate the starter is much higher than a set of light duty cables can provide.

Your coach has an Echo Charger to maintain the charge state on the chassis batteries. If the house batteries are being charged the Echo Charger will furnish up to 15 amps to the chassis batteries to maintain their state of charge if it is operating properly.

The probable cause of your problem is probably a bad chassis battery. I would have a load test run on both chassis batteries individually and replace the bad battery, or both batteries if one of the batteries does not pass the test with flying colors.  

Apparently you also have a problem with the boost (battery tie) solenoid, because if it was working properly the coach would have started when it was held engaged at the same time the starter was engaged.

Gerald

Bruce Benson:
Just for clarity here, the bat tie switch is a hold down switch.  The switch must be held down to maintain the tie between the systems as you crank the starter.

I agree with Gerald that the battery is suspect due to the short amount of time you were parked, unless there was some drain on the chassis battery that you did not disclose.  They should be good for more than 4 nights under parasitic chassis loads.  

The Echo Charger is not my favorite item, made by Xantrex, not my favorite company.  I have had two fail and the previous owner had at least one fail.  I would check it to make sure that it is working.  Check the fuses on it as well as the connections, particularly the ground.  Mine was located on the left upper wall of the battery bay.  

I prefer the Ultra Trick-L-Start over the Echo Charger, it does about the same job, costs less, is sealed from acid fumes and lasts longer, at least for me.  

Randy Perry:
Thanks everyone! I think I'll start with (2) new chassis batteries and get a battery tender!

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