Engine battery and house battery questions.
My coach sat for about 8 weeks. Went to move it and the engine battery was dead, drained, kaput. House batteries were fine, they were replaced recently with new deep cells. Anyway I used the bypas...
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Paul, you are correct about the generator and alternator charging the house batteries. Using shore power is the same as using the generator, both feed through the Converter which converts the 120VAC to 12 VDC.
You can use a DMM or an analog VOM to check for current flow, you do have to place the meter in series with the load to check for amperage. Some of the Better DMMs can read when in parallel but not all will.
Normally when your chassis battery is good, it will be charged by the engine alternator and when it reaches a SOC somewhere around 12.6 to 13 vdc, it will then switch and charge the house batteries.
You can check the BIC(battery isolator controller) and see when the two potteries are charging in parallel. The voltage going to the house battery will jump up to about 13.5 volts. It's really cool.
I might add you can put a center off switch in place of the switch that allows you to use either the chassis or house batteries. That would eliminate the vampire draw of the clock and such.
You can use a DMM or an analog VOM to check for current flow, you do have to place the meter in series with the load to check for amperage. Some of the Better DMMs can read when in parallel but not all will.
Normally when your chassis battery is good, it will be charged by the engine alternator and when it reaches a SOC somewhere around 12.6 to 13 vdc, it will then switch and charge the house batteries.
You can check the BIC(battery isolator controller) and see when the two potteries are charging in parallel. The voltage going to the house battery will jump up to about 13.5 volts. It's really cool.
I might add you can put a center off switch in place of the switch that allows you to use either the chassis or house batteries. That would eliminate the vampire draw of the clock and such.
