charging house batteries

Do

Every

Month

Original equipment disconnect switches do not work, period. They are a joke. A lights shutoff switch IS NOT A BATTERY DISCONNECT SWITCH

Pull the negative battery cables from the posts and reconnect every month when you go to use the machine. Not a difficult procedure.

I call 5 watts per battery minimum. But honestly if spending money get 100 watts for the effort.

A 1.5W solar charger will barely send current to a typical motorhome's chassis battery. I'm not saying it's entirely useless, but it likely is not be sufficient to even keep up with the inherent self-discharge of the chassis battery in warm weather.

Whether it could in theory help charge the house batteries depends on the specific design of the isolator system, but generally it would not. Most are triggered either by the actual ignition circuit (often the simplest system) or by sensing the voltage on the chassis battery and engaging when it's high enough to indicate charging, say 13V or so. A tiny solar panel will not increase the voltage sufficiently.

njtony wrote:
Want to add a question to this topic. I have a 1.5 watt dolor charger plugged into dash 12 recptical, will this also send current to house battries ?

Why not start a new topic rather than hijacking this one?

Want to add a question to this topic. I have a 1.5 watt dolor charger plugged into dash 12 recptical, will this also send current to house battries ?

Herdingdog wrote:
We have a 2012 Coachman Mirada. Do the house batteries charge while driving or do they only charge when plugged into shore power or with the generator running? A week ago I went to check the RV like I do every month and I could't get the generator to turn on from the switch or from the dash. I always use the battery disconnect when I turn off the electricity to the coach when it sits. The generator started when I brought the RV home. I'm hoping that I don't have to buy new batteries. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Are you sure the house battery was dead? Generators often use the chassis battery to start. Did you use the boost button to start the RV? Were you plugged in?

Yes normally the alternator will charge both house and chassis battery. Generator will power the converter to charge the house and on some RVs also charge the chassis battery. Plugged in will again power the converter to charge the house and on some RVs will also charge the chassis battery.

Easy to add equipment to charge either/both in all conditions if your RV was not build to charge as you expect.

On most if not all motor homes the batteries are SUPPOSED to charge with driving, however there are a few conditions that must be met for this to happen.

1: Engine alternator must be working
2: Isolator device must be working
Optional 3: Disconnect must be in CONNECTED (On/USE) condition.. Note that this may or may not be required depending on the RV in question and the battery control system.

Of course #2 sometimes is a major issue.

Batteries are also charged BY THE CONVERTER (or inverter/charger) if it is operating properly and you are either plugged into shore power or running the Generator and the breakers are NOT tripped on same (Yes, tnat can be a problem).

better close the post in Class A too.

Yes normally house batteries also charge while driving
And the converter charges them whenever there is 120v power available
Shore or genset

Some things do not go thru the disconnect and are always connected
LP alarm, inverter is hard wired, etc..
Batteries also self discharge even when sitting disconnected with no load
Your batteries needed a full recharge before being used
Plug into shore power at home for a few days
If you want complete disconnect, install a manual switch in the house battery negative to ground

Why are there duplicate posts?
Why are there duplicate posts?