Chassis battery charging when parked

Another vote for a Trik-L-Start

ferndaleflyer wrote:
Guess my past and present DPs are flawed as they charge and stay charged for weeks on end plugged into shore power. I really never gave it a thought but twice in all these years after sitting for 5-6 days with the generator running constantly the chassis battery would not crank the motor. Has done it twice.

Probably need Trik-L-Start to get some power from the house to keep the chassis up.

Sadly if the chassis battery has been run down a few times it could be near end of life. Give this a try with the assurance that even if it can't save the current battery the replacement should fair much better.

Guess my past and present DPs are flawed as they charge and stay charged for weeks on end plugged into shore power. I really never gave it a thought but twice in all these years after sitting for 5-6 days with the generator running constantly the chassis battery would not crank the motor. Has done it twice.

Most due but some do not. When you plug into shore power or generator due you have the 14 volts on all the battery then. If not check voltage on the inverter/converter output. Could have trip or gone bad.

If good then maybe a bad battery. Put a regular charge on the battery and see if it charges up then voltage drops. Also if wet cell you can check cell voltgage and use a battery hydrometer tester to check each cell. If you have not been using the battery or not keeping them charge they could be sulfated. I de-dulfate my wet cell battery once a year. Newer smart charge, most have that re-new or de-dulfate cycle on them. Takes about 4 hours per battery. You need to take them out of the system to do it. Remove the caps, and put a wet rag over the open cells.

in most RVs the starting battery is not charged while plugged into shore power. we've used this for the last 10+years to keep the chassis battery charged while parked.

beyond that you need to be sure your chassis battery is capable of holding a charge.

if the battery is a typical lead-acid 'wet' type i suggest disconnecting the battery from the RV, putting it on a battery charger for 24-hrs and then disconnect the charger and allow the battery to rest for about 30-minutes. using a hydometer check each cell. if the battery tests good but is not holding a charge when connected to the MH the MH charging circuit may be faulty.

you can also take the battery to just about any auto parts store to have it tested.