recharge from engine storm stayed in Grand Forks

I too would recommend a generator.. Two major reasons.
1; Though Click and Clank the Tappit brothers, before they retired, (Car Talk, PBS RADIO) told me things have changed now and you can safely idle gasoline engines for long periods of time... I DO NOT BELIEVE it.. I was taught that was not a good idea in part due to the same reason they said you should not idle DIESEL engines for longer periods.. The engine never gets up to proper operating temperature and fouls up.... I still see that for non-computer controlled engines by the way.. Like small generators.. "Run for 1/2 hour under 1/2 load or better every month).

So long term idling of your engine, may not be good for the very expensive engine.

Second: Fuel consumption,, what it takes to idle that big engine for an hour can run a small portable generator all day.

So I recommend a small portable generator... Now if cost is a factor....

A Genrac 1000, (Traditional generator fully enclosed) burns fuel at about the same rate as a Honda EU-2000i, it also is about as loud.. Puts out a true 1,000 watts and can run a Progressive Dynamics 9180 with wizard.. The Honda EU-1000i can not run this device with hungry batteries.

If you have the funds. Then Get a good inverter generator. 1,000 watt inverter generators are good for converters up to 60 amp.. (Nothing else on AC) a 2,000 will run the 80 amp plus the fridge, and perhaps some other small stuff.

The savings in fuel alone will pay for the generator over time

Let's say, A 1,000 generator is currently about 300 gallons of Gasoline

If a gallon runs the portable for 8 hours you save 7 hours every 8. so 342 hours, if you run the genny 8 hours a day (reasonable) that is just 43 days to recover the cost of the generator... Less if fuel costs go up as I expect they will.

How are you connecting the truck electrical system to the RV battery? If it's through the 7-pin trailer connector, it's not in the least bit surprising you're seeing very little charge current as there is sufficient voltage drop between the two to quite effectively limit the charge current.

If you connect the two as directly as possible with as heavy wire as practical, you should see somewhat better performance. The voltage regulator system in the truck may need to see the "low" RV battery (i.e. have the system voltage pulled down some) to kick up to a higher charging voltage; modern regulators are not the simple-minded fixed voltage output systems of earlier times.

Good, heavy-duty jumper cables might work reasonably well. Many jumper cable sets sold today are not good, heavy-duty ones, with smallish aluminum ("CCA," copper clad aluminum) wires in unnecessarily thick rubber insulation so they look more impressive at first glance.

Hi CA Traveler,

Generator was stolen last fall. I have to have a proper rack made for it before I can travel with it.

CA Traveler wrote:
It sounds like your alternator is not working if I understand you post. Perhaps that should be resolved. Or buy a gen?

Since the trucks generator will be charging two batteries at the same time, it is usually recommended that the batteries be the same and the same age. I'm sure there are folks on here that can shed some more light on this aspect.

The second battery is use on diesels, I have two batteries in my 2008 2500HD, Duramax.

@the OP, Just off the cuff, I'd think the Chassis Battery is reaching its design state of charge and since the RV battery's piggybacked off of it, the Chassis' voltage regulator is backing the charging off.

Well I have a 2011 Silverado, with the same engine bay. I was told that all Silverado's 1500 2500 3500 have the same engine bay! But only the 2500 3500 have the wiring to accmodate a 2nd battery and the option to add that battery!

I added a second battery and all the wiring. I'll post a schematic when I get to my desk top computer.

SoundGuy wrote:
Hmmmm, I'm not sure I understand why this truck would need a spare battery

I think the second battery is for trucks equipped with the plow package.

pianotuna wrote:
I thought I'd post about recharging from the engine.

Your post on this subject couldn't be more timely! I'm in the process of negotiating to replace our aging 2005 Avalanche with a 2012 Silverado and one of the things I noticed in the Silvy's engine compartment is an empty space with a metal platform at the front driver's side, on the bottom right as shown in this pic of a similar 2012 Silvy. The truck battery is located on the opposite side, at the upper left in this pic.



When I asked what this was for the answer was a spare battery. :@ Hmmmm, I'm not sure I understand why this truck would need a spare battery but it's occurred to me I could park a spare deep cycle battery in there for the trailer and simply connect to it with heavy gauge booster cables as may be needed when the trailer's primary battery depletes to 50%. We'd not use this often as we normally camp on electric sites but this sure seems like an ideal way to carry a spare battery for the trailer without having to lift it out of the truck's cargo compartment all the time. All this said, I'm kinda musing if it also wouldn't be possible to connect this battery through a disconnect switch to the truck's electrical system for some degree of recharge while we're driving around. This particular truck I'm considering is equipped with a 145 amp alternator.

Thoughts?

It sounds like your alternator is not working if I understand you post. Perhaps that should be resolved. Or buy a gen?