I’ve got a great solar system with 900 watts of panels on the roof charging (6) 6V batteries in the coach. During a sunny day these batteries are fully charged by the early afternoon. I have (1) chassis battery for my V-10 gas engine. After a full charge, this chassis battery will settle at 12.7 volts, but after sitting a few days, the voltage drops to 12.4 volts. I would like to put a trickle charge on the chassis battery directly from the coach batteries. The coach battery bank is separated from the chassis battery by about 10 feet. Could connecting the coach battery bank to the chassis battery with 16 or 18 gauge wires do this? Has anyone done this? I’d like to do it this way , as I have no practical way to run wires from another solar panel from the roof to the chassis battery.Thanks

Use one of theseGreat product and easy to install.

theoretically yes, but you would be going around your battery isolater that keeps them separate for a couple reasons. one reason is if your coach batteries drain down it doesn't take your chassis battery with it. there is a thing called a trickle start which would work for you

A dual bank controller will is what I use. A Morningstar Sun-saver Dou is programmable for the percentage of charge to each bank.

YC 1 wrote:Use one of theseGreat product and easy to install.X2

Several ways to rig a one way trickle chargeBuy a Trik L StartOr a diy versionFor the neophyte I recommend, the Trik L Start

Trickle Charge The Chassis Battery From Coach Batteries?

Canadian_Rainbi
Explorer
Nov 22, 2015
Thanks for posting the final answer!
Racorman
Explorer
Nov 22, 2015
Racorman wrote:
Canadian Rainbirds wrote:
Go with the Trik L Start. Or the Amp L Start (15A) perhaps increase the wire gauge for the longer than normal runs. Esp if the chassis batteries run things that you will be using a lot such as the dash sound system, steps . . .

Racoman: I'm jealous of your solar. We have a 32' Itasca DP and 420 Watts of solar. How did you find room on the roof for 900 W on a 30'? :h

I used residential solar panels and also removed my rear air conditioner to make it work. I have (3) large residential panels on the roof. They are 300 watt 36 volt panels. I needed that much solar to charge my (6) 6 volt batteries.

One air conditioner seems to work just fine for us and it gave me enough real estate to put 2 panels on the rear of the roof and one toward the front of the roof. I just installed the Trik L Start. Easy install and it works like a charm.

Thanks all
Racorman
Explorer
Nov 22, 2015
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cvbdsl
Explorer
Nov 15, 2015
Corkey05 wrote:
YC 1 wrote:
Use one of these

Great product and easy to install.
X2

X3
I use the Ampl-start. works great.

Chris
pianotuna
Nomad III
Nov 15, 2015
Add a modest solar system.

jerseyjim wrote:
I have TRIKLE-L-START. Not currently hooked up. My experience(s):
When snowbirding...hooked to to shore power, the product works great. Keeps the "start" battery charged....in my coach there are a few items hooked up to the starter battery....and after a few weeks, things start going down. So...while hooked up...great.
However, when in (long term 3-6 months) storage, here's what happens (at least to me): After some time, the drain on the coach batteries leave those (2-6V) just about dead....and the 12V gets no charge and therefore THAT ONE is dead (phantom drains)....at least not enough juice to turn the engine over. Bring out the jumper cables.
To prevent this, every 2-3 weeks I start the engine and run the genny for about 1/2 hour. Easy...and does the trick.
Bobbo
Explorer II
Nov 15, 2015
jerseyjim wrote:
However, when in (long term 3-6 months) storage, here's what happens (at least to me): After some time, the drain on the coach batteries leave those (2-6V) just about dead....and the 12V gets no charge and therefore THAT ONE is dead (phantom drains)....at least not enough juice to turn the engine over.

My solution to this: I didn't hook the Trik-L-Start to the house batteries. I hooked it to the other side of the battery disconnect switch. If the batteries are disconnected there is no power feeding the Trik-L-Start.

As a matter of fact, the way I connected my Trik-L-Start:

CHASSIS BATTERY LEAD - hooked to chassis battery side of battery boost solenoid.

HOUSE BATTERY LEAD - hooked to house battery side of same solenoid.

GROUND LEAD - hooked to bolt holding same solenoid to chassis frame.
Canadian_Rainbi
Explorer
Nov 15, 2015
jerseyjim wrote:
I have TRIKLE-L-START. Not currently hooked up. My experience(s):
When snowbirding...hooked to to shore power, the product works great. Keeps the "start" battery charged....in my coach there are a few items hooked up to the starter battery....and after a few weeks, things start going down. So...while hooked up...great.
However, when in (long term 3-6 months) storage, here's what happens (at least to me): After some time, the drain on the coach batteries leave those (2-6V) just about dead....and the 12V gets no charge and therefore THAT ONE is dead (phantom drains)....at least not enough juice to turn the engine over. Bring out the jumper cables.
To prevent this, every 2-3 weeks I start the engine and run the genny for about 1/2 hour. Easy...and does the trick.

As far as I remember, Trik L Start won't charge the chassis batteries UNLESS the coach (house) batteries are 13.0 V or better. (Going on memory here from reading their specs.) The chassis battery won't pull the house batteries below that. That is the case with the Xantrex Echo Charger, which I use. In other words, if your House batteries lose charge, the chassis batteries won't get charged.

The house battery drain from the Echo Charger (when not charging) is only 50 mA. It would take more than a week to drain one AH.
jerseyjim
Explorer
Nov 15, 2015
I have TRIKLE-L-START. Not currently hooked up. My experience(s):
When snowbirding...hooked to to shore power, the product works great. Keeps the "start" battery charged....in my coach there are a few items hooked up to the starter battery....and after a few weeks, things start going down. So...while hooked up...great.
However, when in (long term 3-6 months) storage, here's what happens (at least to me): After some time, the drain on the coach batteries leave those (2-6V) just about dead....and the 12V gets no charge and therefore THAT ONE is dead (phantom drains)....at least not enough juice to turn the engine over. Bring out the jumper cables.
To prevent this, every 2-3 weeks I start the engine and run the genny for about 1/2 hour. Easy...and does the trick.
Canadian_Rainbi
Explorer
Nov 15, 2015
Go with the Trik L Start. Or the Amp L Start (15A) perhaps increase the wire gauge for the longer than normal runs. Esp if the chassis batteries run things that you will be using a lot such as the dash sound system, steps . . .

Racoman: I'm jealous of your solar. We have a 32' Itasca DP and 420 Watts of solar. How did you find room on the roof for 900 W on a 30'? :h
jwmII
Explorer
Nov 15, 2015
YC 1 wrote:
Use one of these

Great product and easy to install.

I agree. This is what I use. It's perfect for what you want to do.