House battery charging issue
We can normally run 4-5 days on the house batteries (two six-volt "golf cart" batteries in series, for 12 volts) on our 2006 Itasca Navion. We're just back from a week and a half trip (total mileage ...
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No, once the starter battery is full charging rates go down to more or less a trickle charge. That is just what the 'brains' of the charging system do. That is, unless the starter battery is in bad shape.
In my class C the solar panels send current to the engine.
If I turn on a large load, such as the electric water heater, I can see up to 70 amps from the alternator. But that doesn't charge up the house batteries as they are providing about the same amount of power to the load.
In my class C the solar panels send current to the engine.
If I turn on a large load, such as the electric water heater, I can see up to 70 amps from the alternator. But that doesn't charge up the house batteries as they are providing about the same amount of power to the load.
DrewE wrote:
Whether it's a trickle charge or not depends on the way the motorhome is wired up, and how well done it is. On mine, it's far more than just a trickle charge, and I think it's probably typical of not a few class C's. There is a heavy (2 gauge or so, I think) wire between the chassis battery and the hose batteries, and a continuous-duty solenoid to connect the two together when the engine is running or the emergency start switch on the dash is pressed. I've happened to see 20+ A charge even when the house battery isn't extremely low, and would not be the least surprised if it's higher at times as the ammeter isn't really visible from the driver's seat.
