Charge House Batteries

[roachcoach]

Is there a way to charge your house batteries without having to disconnect any cables. I want to use a smart charger.

[wa8yxm]

Some battery info...

Different sizes and types of batteries work better than others.

For example the first three of these are usually MARINE/deep cycle, these are basically starting batteries which can stand a SLIGHTLY deeper discharge than a regular starting battery but 50 percent is too far to discharge them

Group 24 about 75 amp hours
Group 27 about 95
Group 29 about 105
Group 31, about 130

About means give or take in the area of five amp hours for the most part

This next one is usually a DEEP CYCLE and dose not mind frequently running down to half full (50% soc) provided it does not have to wait too long for a re-fill

GC-2, 220-230 amp hours (Some are as low as 210 or high as 250 but those are rare). These are six volts so you need two, once installed, in series, think of them and treat them as though they were a single 12 volt battery like the one below, in fact, exactly like the DEEP CYCLE version of the one below.

and this one can be found in all types: 4D 230 amp hours

The big advantages of the GC-2 pair.
1: These puppies are heavy, Each of them weighs about half what the 4D weighs (Makes them easier to handle one at a time).

2: Cost: they are the single most popular Lead Acid battery, this means the per-unit tooling costs are lower so the price is lower. (usually, not always).

They do, however, need occasional cleaning and watering.

[roachcoach]

Ok after putting the charger on it came back that the battery was bad so I will be buying a new battery. Now I remember that a couple of weeks ago the battery was leaking a little water so it was already going bad but I didn't know at the time how bad it was.

[wa8yxm]

roachcoach wrote:
Can the chassis batteries be charged that way also?

First: to answer the initial question: YES since it is a DC system you can just hook up the charger to the batteries and let it do it's thing. No need to disconnect anything though you might hit the salesman switch (use/store to store) or AUX battery switch to off for safety. But since you are using a smart charger, even that is not needed.. Note below

Second question has two answers.

IF your coach has a BIRD (Bidirectional Isolator Relay Device) or something like it, that lets the house converter charge the chassis battery then the answer is a resounding YES,, In fact charging the house batteries with them still CONNECTED (Aux on/or USE), WILL charge the chassis battery.

IF your coach has a one-way isolator... (Unidirectional) then yes, just hook to the chassis battery.


Finally: IF your coach has a good 3-stage converter,, (many do, Damon blessed me with a Progressive Dynamics Intella-power 9180 with the optional (on the 9100 line) Charge wizard, none better than a charge wizard controlled converter) why not just plug it in and use it?

[Tom_Barb]

roachcoach wrote:
Can the chassis batteries be charged that way also?

Yes

[roachcoach]

Can the chassis batteries be charged that way also?

[JohnInAz]

sure. if you have 12v batteries, just hook the charger up as you would normally, moving the charger to each battery when done. If you have a big enough charger you can charge more than one battery at a time. If you have 6v batteries, charge in 12v pairs.