Alternator charging house batts.

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Rich488

Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2016
Posts
9
Location
Vallejo, CA.
I have an 05 Suncruiser and I put on a Trik L Start thing the other day which is a good idea and then I thought why don?t I make a jumper from chassis to house batts to charge house batts when I?m driving?
After reading up on some other stuff it dawned on me that that should be happening without any mods.
Further reading talked about a device called a Bourbet or something like that that is supposed to be doing it already.
So where is it located on my rig? There were some ways of testing it mentioned as well but I can?t remember where I saw it.
Another question while I?m here:  how much solar do I need if I just watch a little TV at night and maybe run the furnace a bit?  I?m getting estimates from $750 to $2300 for 200 watts. 
Your wise advice greatly appreciated.
 
Hi Rich488, and welcome to the RVForum. Your house batteries should charge via the engine alternator. If they're not, it could be a few things. A good way to see if they're charging is to use a VOM (volt meter) and see what kind of voltage you're getting at the battery terminals while the engine is idling. Winnebago used different kinds of charging circuits over the years... for example, ours won't charge via the alternator until the house battery voltage drops to 80%, but not all Winnies are like that.

If you're seeing over 13 volts while the engine is idling, it's charging. A fully charged 12 volt battery will indicate 12.6 to 12.7 volts, so if you're seeing that or less, they're not charging.

Solar is just an alternate means of recharging your batteries, and the electricity generated by solar panels doesn't actually power anything in an RV. To determine how much power you'll need to power things in your RV, you'll need to know how much power your appliances consume, and how long you want to run them.

People often discover that they can meet their power requirements by simply installing another house battery, but solar can be a big help if you plan on boondocking a lot. There's more to solar than just throwing some solar panels on an RVs roof, so if you think you want to go that route, let us know and we'll be happy to help.

Kev
 
As Kevin says, your coach should have alternate charging of the house batteries as standard.  If it's not happening, you probably have a bad solenoid (relay) that fails to close when the engine is started.
 
With the engine running (or the battery boost switch on the dash operated), a solenoid is energized which bridges the house and chassis battery banks together. As Kev said, the house and chassis battery banks should read above 13 volts with the engine running. If not, you likely have a bad solenoid, most of that vintage are made by Trombetta. You might have a voltmeter in your OnePlace center - if you do, start the engine and switch the meter back and forth between the battery banks.

Here's a writeup when I replaced my Trombetta solenoid with a much better product: http://janeandjohn.org/pages/TrombettaReplacement.html

That might help you locate yours.
 
Not sure which model Suncruiser you have, but I expect that this should be the same on all of them.  Here's the Chassis Electrical Box Assembly diagram for the 05 38J which shows the battery disconnect relay and the Battery Boost or Connect solenoid (on the left).  The Chassis Wiring Installation diagram shows where that Electrical Box is location (looks like under/behind the entry steps).
 
The cost of materials for adding 200 watts of solar would be about $500. You would need the panels, a charge controller and the cables. It would take at least 4 hrs to install if there was a plan.

The charge controller should be located near the batteries. Don't skimp on the size of the cables as you may want to add more panels later.

200 watts would more or less be the minimum for what you want. There are days without sun and time of year to take into consideration. 400 watts should easily cover your requirements.
 
Thanks guys. I?m not the best mechanic in history so I?ve got a half a mind to just make a jumper from chassis to house batts and remove when I arrive at my destination.  Lot easier than swapping out ?trombetta?  and I already tried it successfully.  But I?ll take a look.
On the solar topic I was near Camping World today so got an estimate for solar. In an estimate in J7ne i5 was$1,000 for 165 watts and today for a lousy 100 watts it was $1600!  This difference was because the panels in second estimate ?are better.?
I want  at least 200 and don?t plan to do it myself so what are we thinking abou5 cost?  In June an outfit estimated only $700 for 200 but that sounds too cheap.
Thanks again.
Richard
 
I?ve got a half a mind to just make a jumper from chassis to house batts and remove when I arrive at my destination.
Click to expand...
The only problem with that is that you WILL forget to remove it sometimes. Despite your best intentions.  You get busy with the set up at the site, family needs, and what not.  Plus when you leave, maybe you forget to re-install.

That said, I've done exactly that when the circuit board on my Battery Control Center failed and wasn't engaging the solenoid. I used the jumper for a couple months until it was convenient to swap in a new board.  You only need a jumper for the battery plus terminals - the two systems already share a common [chassis] ground.  I just made up a short (about 30") 10 gauge jumper wire with an alligator clip on each end. At that short length it will handle 30A continuous and 40-50A for shorter periods.

Note that if your solenoid is in fact not working, you don't have the Aux (Emergency) Start function either, so it's probably worth fixing.
 
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