Battery Draw

[jkbriggs]

As far as setting up disconnects to hook in another charger, could the charger just be connected to the batt booster terminals in the r/hand engine compartment?

[Joe Cannarozzi]

I suppose you could but it is better hooked directly to the batteries.

If dead with no chassis charger and only a 12 volt portable charger you can remove the short jumper that connects the two sets of parallel batteries, together in series to create 24 from 12. It is 1 6 or 8 inch cable often of a different color, mine is red.

All of the shorter cables on the chassis batteries connect pos to pos posts or neg to neg posts. There is only one that connects pos to neg that is the one to disconnect.

Then you can charge two 12 volt batteries at a time, parallel, at 12 volts.

Be sure your master disconnect is off.

We have no chassis charger built in.

I went to leave a spot after our first long stay and had drained the chassis with all the bay doors open all the time and the master on. Charged one set for 1/2hr and then the other set for the same and she fired right up.

[truk4u]

Get somebody that know's what they're doing. I see a potential disaster here messing with batteries that are hooked in series/parallel if you don't fully understand the connections and how to charge both 12 and/or 24.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Take a chill pill. I'm sure anyone not comfortable with doing that will not. I was just putting that out there for those who might benifit from it.

On a complicated scale of 1 to 10 I give it a 2.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

You might be able to take two 12 volt trickle chargers or battery tenders and simultaneously hook them up, one into each set of parallelled chassis batteries without disconnecting anything.

I think a CC I worked on was set up like that. I am going to check it out and see if it works on ours.

This alternative would be much less expensive than the 24 volt charger.

[truk4u]

Easy for you to say Joe, it's not your money if someone makes a huge mistake!

I'll give you an example.. When I bought my CC, some nimrod had improperly hooked the chassis battery cables up wrong after changing out batteries. The jump lugs where both cabled for ground. Anyone hooking 24V to the Red positive lug would have his day ruined.

My post wasn't directed at you, but anyone in general. There are just some things that should be handled by experienced people. There's nothing wrong with helping out, I do it all the time, but sometimes it's clear that folks are getting in over their heads.

[Denny]

You can buy a 24 volt Battery Tender from Blue Spruce Aircraft (and other suppliers) for about $80. I recently bought one from Blue Spruce. Two 12 volt Battery Tenders will cost that much and one 24 volt is much easier to use than two 12's.
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[dale farley]

I've got a 24V 3-stage charger on my 4 engine batteries and a 12V 3-stage charger on my 6 house batteries. I paid a little less than $100 for each, and have had no problem with them. They stay in float mode most of the time since I have very little drain on the batteries.

This configuration allows me to keep my inverters off except when I really need them. I keep the bus plugged in all the time (using a Progressive Industry EMS), and the bus normally draws 3 amps from the 240V power source. Anytime I walk in the bus, I still have all my 120V circuits, even if I have my "Domestic Battery Disconnect" engaged, and if I have my 12V and 24V switches turned off in the engine compartment. My computer memory, etc. is not affected. I am not sure how many other conversions are wired this way, but it works fine with Country Coach.

I run the bus every few weeks until it reaches normal operating temperature, and during that time, I run the inverters (giving a charge to the batteris),, refrigerator, AC units, and I exercise my air system up and down. I also go through each gear in the transmission.

[Steve Bennett]

Jeff, you are correct. The 2 chassis disconnects 24V & 12V, are only for your chassis. Most converters will have a provision to run things that would typically be on the chassis side (dash radio, GPS, spot lights) off of the chassis batteries. Shutting off the 2 chassis disconnects anytime the coach will not be operated (driven) in the next 8 hours or so will go a long way towards protecting the batteries. Typically a good set of chassis batteries will stay up for at least 30 days without any external charging.