Forum Discussion
kohldad
Feb 13, 2020Explorer III
Our small motorhome on the Ford E450 chassis has the V10 in it. When drycamping and the coach batteries get low, I bring them up a bit by idling the V10 for awhile. It's fed off the main 55 gallon tank and it idles very quiet. It's 130 amp alternator dumps way more current into the batteries initially, when they're quite low, than the motorhome's built-in charger can. Doing this shortens overall charge time quite a bit for when using the motorhome's generator or a portable generator to finish up the charging. While doing this V10 idling, we can also use the main cab heating and air conditioning systems to also heat/cool the entire coach area.
You would do better by adding in a battery-to-battery charger. This way the coach battery will see a higher charge rate during the entire idling time. I'm adding one not for while idling, but to maximize the charge rate during my short move days where normal running wouldn't have a chance at a full charge.
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