Chassis Battery Maintainer

[jimshoen]

Can anyone recommend a battery charger to help maintain the chassis batteries while the coach is stored?

[dalej]

Jim, what I have gathered from the dead chassis batteries from past posts, if you have other wiring coming off your chassis batteries, this will drain your batteries. If you look at your batteries and see only the large size battery cables, you will be able to shut off the main disconnect and won't need a battery tender.

If you can get by with less....do it!

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Jim,

The culprits are the circuits directly connected to the batteries and your bus is the vintage that Prevost took three circuits directly from the chassis batteries.

The reason was they are the circuits relating to the DDEC.

If you disconnect them by tripping rear circuit breakers 19, 20 and 21 along with the main 24V and 12V chassis battery disconnect switches there should be no need to use a maintenance charger. Verify the battery voltage for a few days with everything shut off or tripped to verify this.

The only downside is if you have any active DDEC codes they will be lost, however if you have not had any warning lights go off it is probable you have no codes to lose.

[jimshoen]

Dale and Jon,
Thanks for the wisdom.
I will do that.
Jim

[MangoMike]

Jim,

If storage is not going to be long and you don't want to deal with shutting off circuit breakers and the like, this 3 stage charger, which is in use by a number of us, will do the job.

Trukman will even tell you how to hook it up.


2056

At amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Guest-2611A-Ba.../dp/B000NHZV1S

Mike

[Darl-Wilson]

FYI>>>No big deal but I just ordered this Guest charger (http://www.hodgesmarine.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=guest&Search.x=0&Search.y=0) from Hodges Marine for a few dollars less. They charge $6.95 for shipping but no sales tax. Since I am in Nevada and the Amazon.com warehouse is in "Flooded Fernley" I have to pay sales tax. Saves a few bucks and since I am in the mortgage business I need them all!!:(

[dreamchasers]

Jim,

I installed the recommended Guest battery charger on my coach a few weeks ago. The unit's construction is robust, sealed and it is easy to install. I bought it from Amazon. I used the engine heater circuit to power the charger, just as many others have.

I agree with the comments of isolating the circuits, but it made more sense in my case to to install the battery tender.

Clean install, simple and easy. I like it.

Hector

[JamesJ]

I am going to order a charger / maintainer here very soon. What makes this one a good one? It says that it has a 12V output, do you not need to have a 24V one since it is a 24V system? How do you go about wiring this up?

[truk4u]

James,

Here is my previous post on the wiring for the Guest Charger..

http://forum.prevostownersgroup.com/showpost.php?p=21394&postcount=55

[Darl-Wilson]

James, I hooked up my Guest charger exactly the way Tom has it diagrammed and it works perfectly. I tied into the block heater junction box and connected that line into a box that has a 110V switch and a 110V receptacle. This gives me a rear switch for my block heater and two plug-ins, one which is used for my charger. The charger is always on when I am parked and unplugged when I do my pre-flight. I can also turn it off with the "Block Heater" switch in the drivers compartment. To use my block heater I need to have the rear and the front switch in the 'on' position.

The block heater wire seems to be the preferred 110V line for most POGers when there isn't another 110V line available near the batteries. This is really a very simple install and the Guest charger is perfect, well sealed, and maintenance-free. It does not present any danger of over-charing the batteries either. If you have any more questions I am sure Tom would accept your phone call (he did mine) or I will be happy to help. My phones are all listed below the "Dale" map.

Good Luck (A Nevada Thing):cool:

Darl

[truk4u]

Darl,

Thanks for reminding about the phone number..;)

James, I'm on the map, call anytime if you need help.