Trickle Charging Chassis battery

suprz wrote:
What about just getting a set of ring terminals......

No, NO.....WAY too easy.
If you can't make it complicated and confusing, it's no fun.

Or so some here seem to think !! :B

What about just getting a set of ring terminals and putting a battery tender on whatever battery bank you want to charge? You already have power to the rig you said, plug the tender into an outside outlet right from the RV.. sounds easier. I have a set of ring terminals on the chassis battery, and on the coach battery, I just put the tender on one or the other for a few days each month and it keeps the batteries topped off. I don't leave my RV plugged in during storage

Grit dog wrote:
^ Ah, I getcha now.
You're say IF the OP's rig has a solenoid that links the hose batteries to the start batteries he can wire the charger up to charge/maintain both at the same time.
That sounds simple and clever.

Almost. The Trik-L-Start only charges the chassis battery. It takes current from the house battery, which is being charged full time by the converter/charger. Essentially, it just forwards a little current from the converter/charger to the chassis battery.

Grid dog wrote:
I'm not familiar with big RVs like this but would ASSume that the house batteries are already linked to charge from the alternator when the engine is running?

Yes

Grit dog wrote:
If they are then there may be a simple way to reverse that so the existing charger can power both sets of batteries.
If not, an automatic charging relay can be added where it links the batteries as soon as 1 side or the other see's charging power (>13.5 V or something) and then disconnects the link when it senses power below 12V to prevent discharge of both sides.

Blue Seas ACR is what i used in the boat for this.

The Trik-L-Start kind of does that, but only allows current to flow one way. The alternator charging the house batteries takes care of current flow the other way. Except for not being bi-directional, it does exactly what you are suggesting.

Typically there is a continuous duty solenoid/isolator connecting the 2 banks. It's used for emergency starting and charging the house battery from the alternator - ie the alternator always charges the chassis battery.

Very common for the solenoid to be activated from the ignition. And electronics like the BIRD units can activate the solenoid to provide bye directional charging and disconnect as appropriate to prevent discharge from one bank to the other, so think 12.7V+.

Older units often had a diode based isolator with a different set of issues.

^ Ah, I getcha now.
You're say IF the OP's rig has a solenoid that links the hose batteries to the start batteries he can wire the charger up to charge/maintain both at the same time.
That sounds simple and clever.

I'm not familiar with big RVs like this but would ASSume that the house batteries are already linked to charge from the alternator when the engine is running?
If they are then there may be a simple way to reverse that so the existing charger can power both sets of batteries.
If not, an automatic charging relay can be added where it links the batteries as soon as 1 side or the other see's charging power (>13.5 V or something) and then disconnects the link when it senses power below 12V to prevent discharge of both sides.

Blue Seas ACR is what i used in the boat for this.

Grit dog wrote:
Battery solenoid?

I'm the one who hooked up a Trik-L-Start to the battery solenoid. The Class C I had at the time had a button on the dash that would connect the house batteries to the chassis battery as long as I held the button. That was in case the chassis battery was dead, I could start the engine from the house batteries. That button activated a solenoid. The solenoid had the house battery hooked to one big lug, and the chassis battery hooked to the other. As long as I held that button down, the batteries were connected. I put the Trik-L-Start from one big lug to the other. That way, as long as the RV was plugged in, the Trik-L-Start put some charging current to the chassis battery.

ON EDIT: Here is the schematic of the battery solenoid with the Trik-L-Start drawn in. Red line is hot wire in on the Trik-L-Start from the house batteries. Blue line is hot wire out to the chassis battery. Black line is ground. It literally went from one big lug to the other on that solenoid.

Guessing you don't have a separate isolator elsewhere, as the big red knob is the chassis battery isolator from what you've described.

^ Ok then, confirms in your pic you attached.
12V supply on the right side of the cutoff switch, loads on the left.
Hook up the maintainer either to the battery terminals directly, at the bottom of the pic, or the original lugs you were mentioning on the right side of the pic. Easy peasy.

Apologies, I meant isolator, not solonoid. To answer questions, yes, it is a chassis battery shut off, 12 volt, and difficult to pass wire through from separate compartments on either side of coach.

Love the idea of listening for click when activated. Great idea.

Bobbo wrote:

garym114 wrote:
Just make yourself a ring jumper, one wire, connect + of house to + of chassis battery.

VERY bad idea. If you drain the house battery, you also drain the chassis battery and won't be able to start the MH to drive anywhere. The Trik-L-Start is a one way power transfer. It allows power to flow from the house battery (converter/charger) to the chassis battery, but does not allow current to flow the other direction. That prevents the house from running down the chassis battery. (It also doesn't let power flow from the house battery to the chassis battery if the house battery charge is lower than the chassis battery charge.)

In our community, it is called a 1$ combiner. As the place it gets used is under one of the front hoods that should be checked before start up, we just don't worry about it. We also use alligator clips so it is easily installed on either the Isolator or the Boost contactor. One owner even bothered to put a long red "Remove Before Takeoff" ribbon on his.

Matt