Onan 5500 dedicated starter battery setup ...

[twvette]

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.

[MP_soldier]

Huh, never knew that. Good to know!
I guess OP could jump start geny with truck battery if he wants to avoid lugging abound a spare battery.

[Rambino]

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.

[Wild_Card]

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.

No...the generator does not have means of charging battery. It only makes 120volts...no alternator.

[MP_soldier]

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.

[twvette]

Specularius wrote:

Y-Guy wrote:
...

Another option would be the Trik-L-Start

This is what I installed to have a dedicated generator battery. Been working for two years now. I definately recommend it.

Thanks for posting this. Somehow I overlooked this in Y-Guy's post. The Trik-L is exactly what I was initially looking for but since I have to redo a bit of wiring anyways as don't already have a dedicated starter battery will likely still go with the NOCO battery tender so can have it for dual purposes to charge the toys also if ever needed.

[Specularius]

Y-Guy wrote:
...

Another option would be the Trik-L-Start

This is what I installed to have a dedicated generator battery. Been working for two years now. I definately recommend it.

[BigDogF250]

I have a Blue Sea Systems Automatic Charging Relay on my boat: On Amazon

Keeps the radio battery charged, but won't drain the starting battery. That way I don't have to worry about leaving the radio on at a dock/beach since there are no pull starters for a 5.7l V8. I wanted something that was automatic and didn't require anything from me to work.

[Rambino]

We have a 12v gen starter battery and 2 6v house batteries. they are connected via a battery separator. The starter and house circuits are separate unless one battery system becomes weak then will get power from the other. Gen or shore power will charge each system as needed. the Separator switches charging to battery(s)based on requirements.

We have had no problems with this setup. We also have had no issues with a solar panel charging the batteries.

[Strabo]

Those big new refers are nice, cept they run on juice and not propane, taxing even the best battery setup. A stand alone starter battery is easy enough, but I'm surprised the fridge will exhaust a battery bank.

A small tractor battery would work fine with a small charger for it. Still propane seems better to me as a fridge.

[dedmiston]

tinner12002 wrote:
I also think I would look at an auto start that would start the gen when voltage drops to low.

One of the problems with an auto-start is that the low voltage is usually in the middle of the night, and who wants their 5500 to fire up at 2:30 in the morning and wake up the whole camp?

[nayther]

There's a marine battery switch you could use, it has on/off, 1/2/both selections. or an auto relay that isolates the gennie battery from the battery bank, once the generator starts it closes and the two are in parallel.

Look at marine applications, not unusual to do what you want to do. Will take a bit of large wire and some ingenuity but it can be done right.

[tinner12002]

I also think I would look at an auto start that would start the gen when voltage drops to low.

[Bedlam]

You could keep a dedicated 12V starting battery charged via the 7-pin to the vehicle and the 6V house batteries isolated to solar charging. If you needed extra power on either circuit, you could add a bridge switch that would temporarily combine all the batteries.

[twvette]

The_real_wild1 wrote:
I would use a battery tender like you mentioned. I bought a NOCO 7 amp tender that works better then the battery tender brand tenders I have also. I think it would be big enough that you could get it to fully charge your battery in a couple hours.

Thanks for tip on NOCO as looked at them a while back for another purpose but had kinda forgot about them. It is more permanent and simple plus as thought about more I can mount it close to exterior so if ever need it to charge one of the toys can just buy the extension cable and temporarily disconnect form my starter battery to charge another battery, so is has two purposes in one and can get rid of my portable charger taking up a little space in the basementc storage.