Keeping chassis batteries charged up

rotzla · Mar 10, 2008

Hello,

My wife and I acquired our first motorhome last summer and have been going through all of the learning processes. Most recently was the discovery that the charging unit for the house batteries does not take care of the chassis batteries. Luckily this was discovered at home vs some remote location.

I was not sure if this was a missing feature of our motorhome or another one of the 1st year errata items for the list. I first called the local dealer (in Oregon) to ask them about it but did not get a good answer. The next call was to the factory (Safari), which also did not result in a definitive answer. Finally, I called the dealer I purchased the unit from in Calif. and they informed me that my unit does not have a built in "battery maintainer" circuit and that I would need to add it.

So this long winded story leads me to my question, can anyone suggest a good battery maintainer system for keeping the chassis batteries charged up?

BTW: the unit I have in an '07 Safari Simba Toy Hauler, it's a Freightliner FRED chassis. I have four house batteries located in the middle bay and two chassis batteries up front.

Thanks,
Dave

Ned · Mar 10, 2008

Although there are devices to keep the chassis batteries charged while parked, we have never found the need for any. Our diesel has 2 large batteries for starting and the have never needed any charging while not in use. We did replace the batteries after 9 years, but not because they failed, but because we were going to Alaska and didn't want to take a chance on a failure while up there. Even after being parked for 3 or more months, the engine has always started right up. If you feel you need to add something, there are any number of float type chargers that will work.

Tom · Mar 10, 2008

A Battery Minder should work just fine.

rotzla · Mar 10, 2008

Ned, Thanks for the info. I'm wondering if I have some type of power drain going on that caused the batteries to go dead. I typically start the unit about every two weeks, this week was the first non-start experience. Luckily it does have a switch to start the unit off of the house batteries, but I didn't leave it running long enough to charge up the chassis batteries. I ended up hooking up a regular battery charger to each battery and let them charge up overnight.

I have a non-related recall notice from Freightliner, maybe I should have them check the batteries and charging system when I bring it in.

..Dave

Tom · Mar 10, 2008

Dave,

Do you have a battery shutoff switch. If I don't shut mine off, even if we're hooked up at a campground, the chassis battery will go dead within a week.

Ned · Mar 11, 2008

Dave,

I've never shut off my chassis batteries, even when parked for several months, and never had them go dead. You must have some serious parasitic drains to draw them down that quickly.

You can install a shutoff switch, but you should keep the engine and transmissions ECUs powered even when the batteries are shut off. Freightliner should be able to tell you what is powered from the chassis batteries. Ask them to supply you with a chassis schematic for your chassis, it's invaluable in tracking down problems like this.

Terry A. Brewer · Mar 11, 2008

I use this Echo Charge

Chet18013 · Mar 12, 2008

Terry A. Brewer said:
I use this Echo Charge

This Eco Charge is just what I have been looking for. I ordered one today. Thanks for the tip, Terry.

Chet18013

BernieD · Mar 12, 2008

Chet18013 said:
This Eco Charge is just what I have been looking for. I ordered one today. Thanks for the tip, Terry.

Chet

From where did you order it and how much is it? I could only find a description on the Xantrex site.

Ron · Mar 12, 2008

Our American coach has a system that when on shore power the house batteries have priority charging and when the house batteries are fully charged the Chassis batteries are charged if needed. When the engine is running the chassis batteries have priority and when fully charged the house batteries will be charged if needed. Works very well.

John From Detroit · Mar 12, 2008

I have basically the same system as Ron has (may be the same, don't know) Another competitor to the EchoCharge is the Trick-L-Start, Sorry no link handy

Chet18013 · Mar 12, 2008

Hi Bernie,

Here's where I got it.

Chet

BernieD · Mar 12, 2008

Thanks Chet

Jeff · Mar 12, 2008

I also have an Echo charge and although I have not figured out how it may have caused this last summer I equalized the coach batteries and noticed the next night that the 5 1/2 year old chassis batteries were really dragging while starting. Checked the two chassis battereis and one was dropping under a load.

The voltage of the chassis batteries are usually a couple of tenths of a volt below the coach bank so equaliization may have dried them up. (They are low maintenence lead/acid).

Anyway now when I equalize the coach I disconnect the new chassis batteries from the echo charge.

rotzla · Mar 13, 2008

Thanks to everyone for the usefull information. I have the echo-charge on order.

While browsing for the echo-charge, I also discovered that I can add a device to the inverter which automatically starts the generator when the batteries and/or inside temperature reach a certain level. Cool, of course I needed one of these too

..Dave

ArdraF · Mar 13, 2008

Dave,

When you have an automatic gen start, you may need to keep an eye on your fuel level. We have a Monaco DP and the generator will not start if the diesel falls below a certain level (a quarter of a tank, I think). This is done to prevent your fuel from running out so you can't get to a fueling station.

There are quite a few phantom loads in the newer RVs, including the various CO and smoke detectors, Motosat box, clocks, radios, etc.. You need to turn off everything you can - including underbay lights - so you know what your "normal" phantom load is. By the way, you cannot turn off some of these things like the detectors, but you can unplug some of the other things when you're not in the RV.

ArdraF

blueblood · Mar 13, 2008

BernieD said:
Chet

From where did you order it and how much is it? I could only find a description on the Xantrex site.

$130 + shipping @ http://www.rvpowersupply.com/echo_charger.htm

blueblood · Mar 13, 2008

I have a BIRD in my Newmar motor home and I know FW started using them in 1999 on all their units. The BIRD doesn't normally charge chassis batteries when on shore power. I and another DSDP owner tried to have it charge the chassis batteries as well as coach when on shore power by doing the steps below and it worked. It would be interesting some of you would experiment too to see if it works for you.

Plug In shore power - Set the shore power current level to available source e.g our storage building only has 15 amps (this is to avoid getting an excess draw fom a bulk charge rate if power goes off and then returns)

Turn Inverter OFF and Charger ON

Then turn STORE on (batteries disconnected)

NOTE - Tried reversing i.e connecting shore power last and no charging was taking place at batteries.

Strikenmike · Mar 19, 2008

I asked Ron this question privately but he insisted that I make my ignorance known to all...

You guys talk about equalizing your batteries. I looked in the glossary and can not find that term. What does it mean, how do you do it and how often?

Thanks,
Mike

Tom · Mar 19, 2008

Mike,

Here's the entry in the Glossary for Equalize/equalizing charge.

Here's an article in our library on Equalizing deep cycle batteries.

Keeping chassis batteries charged up

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