Bobbo wrote:
If you have a built in generator in your RV, you could carry a small 120v battery charger. Otherwise, you can carry a battery powered jump starter like this one:
Jump Starter
How would a jump pack or a jump start help a dead alternator?
(It won’t).
The only logical choice here is your other suggestion. Fire up a genny and fully charge the starting battery(s) and then drive to town, or drive til they’re dead and repeat the process.
Not a logical option to try to “charge” batteries from another battery. The even if it works somewhat, they will just equalize and best case you have 2 - half dead batteries. (Or 2 - 3/4 dead batteries in the truck and 1 half dead bigger battery in the camper. At that point save the camper battery so you can keep the lights on and beer cold for a while, while you’re camping on the side of the road. Or swap that big camper battery into the truck somehow and hope you get to town before the truck dies again AND the beer gets warm!)
BUT, here’s a crazy thought, ditch the (likely) cheap reman alternator you put in last year. Either find (not easy or cheap) a quality NEW alternator, or have the current one fully rebuilt at a local shop. Unless the reman was already a totally old and cooked alt, bearings, brushes and diodes and she’s good as new.
To explain further, remans are (I’ve learned) largely horrible because they are not “rebuilt”. They get whatever broke replaced and sent back out in a new box. And they virtually never get new diodes, which is likely (almost certainly) the cause of intermittent charging.
So in short, spend no time on concocting an elaborate band-aid and just fix the actual problem correctly.
