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altblank's avatar
altblank
Explorer
Mar 14, 2022

connect coach and house batteries?

hey all. we have a 2004 coachmen freelander 3100so with the ford e-450 super duty engine.

i recently replaced both coach and house batteries (we bought the rig 1.5yrs ago and these were simply old and wouldn't hold much charge), with new interstate 12v agms. house got a group 27 and coach got (if i remember correctly) a group 24.

now the house battery is part of a solar charging system. 2 100w panels through a 30amp pwm charge controller maintain the house battery, and this has been working like a champ for the 10 or so months this has been in place.

however, the coach battery is a different story altogether. even though nothing is running, it runs down entirely within a week or so of sitting. i suspect that the alternator is bad, but don't want to dig in and see what's going on just yet (don't have the skills *yet*).

i'd like the solar panels to charge both house and coach batteries if possible, and am considering two options:
- one, add a positive wire between both batteries (assuming they're grounded to the same setup) so any overage from the house battery trickles down to the coach battery
- two, change the momentary battery boost button to an actual toggle (and leave it on), assuming that this won't screw up the larger converter or other systems

any advise is appreciated... if i'm clear to go option one (which i prefer), is there a shorter path to connect both batteries together instead of routing an 8gauge wire between house steps and engine bay?

thank you!

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