Onan 5500 dedicated starter battery setup ...

MP soldier wrote:
The generator will charge the dedicated generator battery when it is running, no???

The house batteries will charge from the converter while the geny is running.

twvette wrote:
Long story short my electric fridge, heater, etc. still drains my bank of 6V overnight to point not enough juice to turn generator over in mornings and not much I can really do about this (out of battery room) so no real need to discuss this aspect.

Battery bank is not low enough that the fridge turns off or inverter cries, etc. so just need something to get me going in the morning before solar system takes over. Have been using an external generator for this currently but want another solution. I have my new lonely 12V battery that came with my new Fuzion so thinking of utilizing it as a dedicated starter battery and have room for this one battery. I assume just track down the generator wires currently connected to batteries and move to this battery.

But how to charge this starter battery? My solar charge controller actually has a two battery mode but not sure how often it would get a charge in reality since most will go to the primary battery bank. I am not using my auxilary solar connection so that might be an option but dont really care to install or setup a solar panel for this so would be a minor hassle. Maybe just easiest to use a battery tender or similar plugged into AC as I still will be running the generator each day several hours. Are there more dedicated/permanent install based yet simple chargers for this? Or, maybe there is a simple DC to DC charger to just connect to my main bank to isolate the starter battery yet charge it? Maybe I am overthinking all this LOL ... any recommendations appreciated.

The generator will charge the dedicated generator battery when it is running, no???

Yes. If the dedicated battery is connected to the converter. It will not charge if connected only to generator. This battery starts the generator only.


The house batteries will charge from the converter while the geny is running.

True.

MOST towable RVs with generators use house batteries to start the generator. When a dedicated starting battery is needed, separate charging circuits are required.