B+ motorhomes
I just bought a Trail Lite B+ 211s with 8.1 Chevy engine. This is my fifth motorhome (others range from an old 20' Vagabond, and three Winnegagos, from 19 to 32'. This vehicle is fantastic. I am...
Forum Discussion
I plan to memorize this info. I’ve inserted a few questions/comments if you get time to field them…
Snowman9000 wrote:
The ES is to jump start the engine from the house battery. And also to jump start the genset from the chassis battery.
*****I never thought it could work in reverse…doesn’t the house batt activate the solenoid?*****
If you have a dead chassis battery, starting the genset to charge it is going to take the next few hours to get a decent charge. Same with hooking up to shore power. The ES will get you started right away.
***** Yes, this is why I asked for correction. So its all about a lot of amps, and the higher voltage of the genset charger is of little help in a dead chassis batt?*****
One mistaken belief that I've notice a lot of people have is that an RV converter charger will charge a low battery pretty quickly. Typically it does not because despite the high amps rating, it doesn't put out many amps for charging, for various reasons. Cheaping out on the charger, which requires an overly conservative charge programming, and cabling that is too small and/or too long (dumb/cheap RV builders) being the two biggest reasons. Our TLs have all of those.
However, if you carried a six-pack-cooler-sized automotive charger with boost start function, you could use genset or shore power to get the engine started pretty quickly, without the ES. Or even simpler, jumper cables long enough to reach from the house to chassis batteries, which is not that far on mine. Maybe ten feet.
***** I have one of these chargers for the boat, and I know it has a high (50 amp, maybe) jump start setting*****
That's what the ES is: built in jumper cables.
