Battery Charging Problem ***UPDATE***
While dry camping in freezing weather, the charging system died for the dual type 24 house batteries (2002 Winnebago Mini). It appears to be a solenoid system. It failed two years ago and the RV s...
Forum Discussion
theoldwizard1 wrote:
If you want to charge your house batteries while driving, you need a DC-DC battery charger.
This technology is all new to me. I didn't realize that I could add a DC to DC charger to the BIM. I thought the BIM was doing that job.
Am I understanding things correctly ? What I have in my Smart system is a BIM, which is what I replaced because my coach batteries were not charging at all. It was a Precision Circuits Battery Isolation Manager 200amps.
I do have an emergency start switch on the drivers seat, when I hit that switch, I hear the solenoid click on, raising my coach battery volts. As soon as I release that switch, the volts drop back down to whatever it was .
This tells me the solenoid is working ok, or could it not be ?
While I'm driving, the coach batteries will accept a charge from the alternator when voltage drops low enough or if I'm driving with the furnace on, creating a draw on the coach batts.
By adding a DC to DC charger to the system I have will be a benefit because it will always put the coach batts in a charge mode to fully charge them. Using the BIM alone will only offer a part time charge and not fully charge the coach only to 80% .
#1- Am I understanding how this BIM system works and how adding the DC/DC will help ?
#2- Could I have NOT replaced the bad BIM and bypassed it to charge both battery banks to old way ? Or would I have damaged the system ?
