Forum Discussion

mikestock's avatar
mikestock
Explorer
Nov 26, 2015

Best method for maintaining engine batteries.

What is the best way or best trickle charger, with pritection, to leave connected to the engine batteries and not boil all of the liquid out? The coach has 120 vac connected full time but this only keeps the house batteries charged.

I bought a cheap, 1 amp trickle charger but it had a warning that there was no overcharge protection. It also warned to keep the caps off the batteries when charging. This is a DP and those caps are very hard to access.

Considering the location of these two batteries behind the four house batteries I don't want to take a chance, allowing a cheap charger to ruin the two engine batteries.

I'm sure this has come up before but my search efforts have come up short.
Class A

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  • Kayteg1's avatar
    Kayteg1
    Explorer II
    Nov 26, 2015
    Bobbo wrote:
    Ultra Trik-L-Start


    Start reading long list of features till I come to "no power cord"
    Takes salesman language to call " charger" something that is not charging anything.
    Looks like that small gizmo is doing the same what my 200 amp "Battery combiner" does.
  • Bobbo's avatar
    Bobbo
    Explorer III
    Nov 26, 2015
    Ultra Trik-L-Start

    Install it and forget it.

    I installed it on:

    1. chassis battery side of Battery Auxiliary Connect Relay
    2. house battery side of Battery Auxiliary Connect Relay
    3. mounting bolt of Battery Auxiliary Connect Relay

    This is the 5 amp version. They also have a 15 amp version called the Amp-L-Start
  • Kayteg1's avatar
    Kayteg1
    Explorer II
    Nov 26, 2015
    If you leave them for less than 6 month, I usually just disconnect the clamp.
    For longer storage battery MAINTAINER with floating circuit is the only thing that will keep the batteries healthy.
    Battery maintainers don't require removing the caps, but they fail occasionally too, so checking them once a month is advised.

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