chassis battery charge ?

[Brownleaf]

I drive my motorhome a few miles every 9-10 days. It occurred to me that the chassis battery is not getting charged enough. Thus the above question does plugging it in to charge house batteries affect the chassis battery? I don't have devices to check charge, I guess an auto parts store could check it. Gas was low yesterday but there was gas in there and once yesterday and once today it would not turn over and catch till the second try ( where I pumped the gas pedal to the floor before the second try where it did start. thanks Doug

[Sandia_Man]

You can use something like this plug in voltmeter to keep track of battery voltage, plus it can come in handy if you need to charge devices via USB. Adding something like this battery maintainer will keep battery charged, trickle charges preventing overcharging chassis battery. Many motorhomes do come with the capability to charge both house and chassis batteries when plugged into shorepower, trickle chargers are a good alternative if a motorhome does not have this capability or if charging solenoid is faulty which can be an expensive repair.

We use our motorhome throughout the year but on occasion it will sit unused for a few weeks, prior owners hardly used it last few years they owned it as they were in their 80s and dealing with health issues. We purchased it and other than changing tranny and engine oil along with a fresh set of tires as they were aged out, we put 25K miles over 3 years without any issues. No problem taking your rig out for a spin as you wish but motorhomes along with every type of RV class tend to sit unused for months although keeping batteries charged can be an issue.

[Grit_dog]

TCBear wrote:
Motorhomes are designed to sit longer if needed without driving. If it was mine I might drive it once or twice a month, and of course the alternator will charge the engine battery even while parked and idling. But a more efficient means to charge the battery would be a plug-in trickle/float charger/maintainer as others have mentioned (as little as $10 at Harbor Freight) or a small solar trickle charger you can leave attached, the latter even more helpful in storage lots without electricity. You shouldn't need to drive an RV to charge the battery, there's better ways to do that. You can buy a $10 voltmeter at Harbor Freight to check voltage if needed, fully charged should be roughly 12.6 to 12.7 volts. As for frequent short drives, water condensation can accumulate in the motor oil without it being evaporated out, it becomes acidic and can lead to sludge and related lube issues over time.

No they’re not “designed” to sit longer. However it don’t hurt any vehicle to sit for months.
How does maintaining a battery get this far in the weeds??
Too many “theories” and wives tales and such.

[TCBear]

There's manual and automatic battery chargers (larger) and trickle/float maintainers (smaller). The manual devices will charge whenever plugged in and can ultimately overcharge a battery if not monitored. A bit more expensive, the automatic or "smart" devices will automatically monitor battery voltage and turn on or shut off as required, so some of those you can safely leave attached to a battery 24/7. New/used car lots often have small solar chargers they'll leave on a car.

[TCBear]

Motorhomes are designed to sit longer if needed without driving. If it was mine I might drive it once or twice a month, and of course the alternator will charge the engine battery even while parked and idling. But a more efficient means to charge the battery would be a plug-in trickle/float charger/maintainer as others have mentioned (as little as $10 at Harbor Freight) or a small solar trickle charger you can leave attached, the latter even more helpful in storage lots without electricity. You shouldn't need to drive an RV to charge the battery, there's better ways to do that. You can buy a $10 voltmeter at Harbor Freight to check voltage if needed, fully charged should be roughly 12.6 to 12.7 volts. As for frequent short drives, water condensation can accumulate in the motor oil without it being evaporated out, it becomes acidic and can lead to sludge and related lube issues over time.

[Brownleaf]

Grit dog, I am sure that driving it every 9 days is better for most mechanical parts of the chassis, perhaps not the battery, and it deters varmints settling in. I think either very low in gas or very low battery charge could cause it not to catch on first try but second try being successful. Doug

[Brownleaf]

Will check it out. Doug

[Grit_dog]

Your description of how/why you think the start battery isn’t charging is a bit suspect. Because if it starts it starts. And has not sure how battery charge is related to fuel. IE it isn’t.
But is that why you drive it “a few miles every 10 days”? To charge the battery? Also an odd routine. And a few miles won’t do much ifnthe battery is already low.
Why not just throw a battery maintainer on it and not worry about it? That’s the cheapest easiest solution and requires no time nor effort for your periodic short drives you’re doing now.

[Bobbo]

When I owned a motorhome, I installed the Trik-L-Start like was mentioned above. It worked great. Highly recommended.

[rk911]

don't take my word for it...

https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/car-maintenance/how-to-maintain-a-car-that-isnt-driven-much-a64...

https://www.firestonecompleteautocare.com/blog/driving/how-short-distances-affect-your-car/#

https://www.tiresplus.com/blog/driving/driving-short-distances/#

[Brownleaf]

RK, explain the problem with short jaunts and engine not getting to proper o perating temperature. What happens- what are the consequences? Is that just a battery issue or something else? Doug

[pianotuna]

Hi,

This is a good unit.

https://www.bestconverter.com/TRIK-L-START_c_210.html

There is a higher capacity one called the Ampl-L-Start.

[rk911]

no way to know. likely would depend on the level of discharge. But, of more concern would be running the engine for short periods before engine gets to proper operating temperature. A 30-minute drive once a month should do it. Recommemd you reconsider the Trik-L-Start device. Inexpensive ans EZ to install.

Trik-L-Start

[Brownleaf]

RK thanks, I will pass on such a device for now, but wonder if I take the rv out every 9-10 days how far would I need to drive it to keep a chassis battery charge up? Doug

[rk911]

In the motorhomes we've owned plugging into shore power charged only the house batteries. But, we added a device...can't recall the name...that diverted a small amount of energy directed to the coach batteries to the chassis battery keeping it charged.