Does the aternator charge the house batteries?

Regarding the two ACs and 30 amp service.
On mine both compressors will run at the same time but will not start at the same time.
As stated in other posts, the EMS will temporarily prevent the rear AC from starting while the front air is starting.
If other heavy loads such as the microwave or an electric heater try to start while the two AC compressors are running, my EMS will first shed the rear AC compressor, then the rear AC fan, then the refrigerator.

I haven't seen any reference to the Trik-L-Charge in my manuals yet, but I'm still browsing. I suspect it does not have this feature as the chassis battery has already died once and required the booster to get started even though it has spent many months plugged-in in an indoor showroom. After we picked it up, we stopped for lunch and I left the headlights on (rainy day). (And why doesn't it have a reminder buzzer for the headlights?) In the time it took to eat a fast-food lunch, the chassis battery was too low to crank the engine. I'm debating whether to ask the dealer for a new chassis battery. I'm going to charge it a bit and see what it does.

Another thing the dealer had wrong was operation of the slides. The salesman and the walk-through technician both ran the slides with the engine off. From what I've read elsewhere and in the manuals, the slides should not be run without the engine running. I'm not sure whether the slides are powered off the chassis or house batteries, but if the chassis, then that might explain why it was so low to start with.

Energy management systems seem to have gotten started in the middle 1990s. My '96 Bounder had one. I also broke into the wiring on that one and rigged it to run a second shore power connection to run my rear air. That worked quite well, though I know tinkering with the wiring like that sets off a lot of people, so no flames please.

I think I eventually want to rig a second line on my new Sightseer, but I need to learn some more details about its wiring. The Sightseer has a switch in the cabinet under the refrigerator to select the power source for the rear air. The choices are generator and shore line. I suspect that I can set the switch to generator and locate 20-amp circuit off of the generator and break in there as I did on my Bounder. I didn't even start into this with the technician on our walk-through, but he did say that you can be connected to shore power, set the switch to generator, and then run the front and rear air together that way.

I think the air conditioners on the '09 model (and the last several years too) are high-efficiency, so I expect they can be run together as long as nothing else is drawing much power. They are both 13,500 BTU units, which concerns me a little... my Bounder had a 15,000 BTU unit up front and it didn't keep us especially cool, but it was also old and probably had a slow leak as someone had previously installed a valve to add refrigerant (originally sealed systems). We'll see how it does this summer.

I appreciate the input. I can't get out and camp in it just yet, so I'm getting my fill by chatting about it.  

John Mo -

If it's like ours, your slide(s) operate off the chassis battery.  It's in the owner's manual, but not prominently displayed to my way of thinking.  Our owner's manual also advises us to operate the slide only when the engine is running.

Also on our chassis battery:  the electric steps and the courtesy light for them.  That light will be on whenever the door is open.  (The light is easy to disconnect, BTW.)

davemittan said:

Also on our chassis battery:  the electric steps and the courtesy light for them.  That light will be on whenever the door is open.  (The light is easy to disconnect, BTW.)

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I like that little light. It's a nice touch. I also noted that it continued working even after I hit the battery disconnects.

John Mo said:

Another thing the dealer had wrong was operation of the slides. The salesman and the walk-through technician both ran the slides with the engine off. From what I've read elsewhere and in the manuals, the slides should not be run without the engine running. I'm not sure whether the slides are powered off the chassis or house batteries, but if the chassis, then that might explain why it was so low to start with.

Click to expand...

The running of the engine will keep the battery boosted and the slide motor "happy" as you run your slides in and out.  You can run your slides in and out without the engine of course, but will slow the slide motor as you will use more "battery power" instead of the alternator. 

John Mo said:

I haven't seen any reference to the Trik-L-Charge in my manuals yet, but I'm still browsing. I suspect it does not have this feature as the chassis battery has already die

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John - Mark (Voyage1) indicated the Trik-L-Charge is only on diesel Class A units.  (Thanks for the clarification Mark!)

If you don't have one, they are only about 60-70 bucks and easily added.

Dave, if I might add bit of re your statement:

That light will be on whenever the door is open.  (The light is easy to disconnect, BTW.)

Click to expand...

  2 pix below....  Notice the step switch in my Rig. You can turn it on and the steps are "live" all the time. When you open the door, the steps extend, as expected. The light will turn on.

  If you leave the door open, the light will stay on.

Now, when you flip the Step switch to 'off', it locks the step in that position no matter what the door does. At this point the light will turn 'off'.  I don't think it is necessary to disable the lamp to save power, in that case.

  Now, if one forgets to put the switch back to 'on', it'll automatically retract when the engine is started.

  At least that is how my old rig is wired. I believe that is the norm; my manual says so.

carson FL

Thanks Carson -

The step switch is kept OFF when the rig is parked out back for the winter.  Even so, the light would come on when the door was open.  We had a dead chassis battery in late January - that's when I went looking for possible drains.  We hadn't operated the slide - or anything else for that matter.  We had, however, kept the coach's entrance door open for extended periods a month or two earlier.

One wire went to that step light - it had a sheathed spade-type connector about 9" away from the light.  I taped both ends to keep out dirt, so I could reconnect it later.

Later on I found the Sprinter's battery "isolator" (a chassis battery disconnect) just above and to the right the accelerator pedal.  If I used it, leaving the step light disconnected would be redundant - I might reconnect it later.

Dave, I guess that is another anomaly between rigs. I believe that is not the way it is supposed to work. I am glad mine works as designed.

carson FL

I thought I clicked on the "Does the alternator charge the house batteries" post?

Maybe the "step" questions could be asked elsewhere? 

davemittan said:

John Mo -

If it's like ours, your slide(s) operate off the chassis battery.  It's in the owner's manual, but not prominently displayed to my way of thinking.  Our owner's manual also advises us to operate the slide only when the engine is running.

Also on our chassis battery:  the electric steps and the courtesy light for them.  That light will be on whenever the door is open.  (The light is easy to disconnect, BTW.)

Click to expand...

John Mo-

I have the exact 2009 35J that you do, and the slides do operate off the chassis, not coach, batteries (I measured to confirm).  They will work fine on a fully charged battery, but will quickly drain it if you run 'em in and out a lot without running the engine to charge the chassis battery.  Also, my unit does NOT have a trickle charger for the chassis battery, although I have let the battery sit for up to 5 weeks in the cold with no apparent loss of starting power...I just make sure it is charged before I hit the disconnect relay.

As for the AC's, Winnebago has two 13,500 Btu options for 2009.  The RVP (Coleman) Mach 3 Plus, and the Mach 3 P.S.  The Plus is a 14.5 amp unit, the  P.S. is a 10.2 amp high-efficiency unit.  If you have the upgraded heating and cooling option, you got the latter; if not, you have the former.  I have the high-effiiciency P.S. units and can (and have) easily run both AC's off a single 30 amp hook-up.  The compressor surge is usually less than 20 amps, so it will not trigger a breaker when one AC is on and the other kicks on.

These units are also heat pumps and offer about 4,500Btu of heating capacity each, which will keep you warm down to about 40-45.  Any colder, and you'll want an electric space heater or to run the propane furnace.

I haven't seen extreme heat in my rig yet, but a 90 degree day on the interstate last year was easily dealt with by running one of two units and no dash AC.  Keep in mind that with the heating/cooling option, I also have double paned low-e tinted windows which lowers the heat gain significantly.

Mc2guy said:

As for the AC's, Winnebago has two 13,500 Btu options for 2009.  The RVP (Coleman) Mach 3 Plus, and the Mach 3 P.S.  The Plus is a 14.5 amp unit, the  P.S. is a 10.2 amp high-efficiency unit.  If you have the upgraded heating and cooling option, you got the latter; if not, you have the former.  I have the high-effiiciency P.S. units and can (and have) easily run both AC's off a single 30 amp hook-up.  The compressor surge is usually less than 20 amps, so it will not trigger a breaker when one AC is on and the other kicks on.

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The P.S. in the Mach3 unit is short for Power Saver. And when they quote 10.2 amps, that's pretty obviously absolutely worst case, 120F in the sun!! On an 80F day, I can run both of my Power Saver units on a mere 15 amp circuit. The current draw only runs around 7 to 8 amps per A/C at 80 to 90F. The thermostat circuitry is interconnected to ensure that both units don't try to start at the same time.

As for coach batteries being charged by the alternator; that would be the routine setup on a Winnebago. The coach and chassis batteries are connected in parallel via a continuous-duty solenoid whenever the ignition key is placed in 'run' position. With all of the arching and sparking the solenoid endures, the solenoid contacts get pretty burned and charred, leading to a useless high resistance connection. Such solenoids generally don't have a life expectancy beyond about 5 years. But they are cheap . . . like about $20; and available at just about any automotive parts store. While they look like a starter relay, you must be sure to obtain a continuous duty relay. Winnebago generally locates them at the left front of the motorhome in the big metal box labelled "relays". 

 

Stan Birch said:

The coach and chassis batteries are connected in parallel via a continuous-duty solenoid .................................. Winnebago generally locates them at the left front of the motorhome in the big metal box labelled "relays". 

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True for a gas coach.  Rear engine coaches, they can be anywhere aft.

Voyage1 said:

I thought I clicked on the "Does the alternator charge the house batteries" post?

Maybe the "step" questions could be asked elsewhere?   

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Mark - we wobble around once in a while  :

^^

I thought I'd been mystery hotlinked back to the "other" forum for a minute.

our 06 tour seems to charge the house batteries will running. But I have found another issue though, I haven't seen anything about a trickle charger system on board, yet if my chasis batteries are dead, and I plug it in it seems to charge the chasis batteries? so I guess it must be there somewhere right? kevin

kevin said:

our 06 tour seems to charge the house batteries will running. But I have found another issue though, I haven't seen anything about a trickle charger system on board, yet if my chasis batteries are dead, and I plug it in it seems to charge the chasis batteries? so I guess it must be there somewhere right? kevin

Click to expand...

Maybe. But most likely not. Get a couple of these thingies and plug one into you vehicle cigarette lighter and see if it goes up a volt or so when you think you're charging. Then compare with the voltage of a house 12 volt accessory outlet. They are very handy to see when you're charging and when you're not.

[size=10pt]-Don- San Francisco, CA[/size]

Stan Birch said:

Winnebago generally locates them at the left front of the motorhome in the big metal box labelled "relays".

Click to expand...

Front compartment on the right in the 35J. I'm familiar with the solenoid. Mine was bad on my Bounder.

DonTom said:

Get a couple of these thingies and plug one into you vehicle cigarette lighter and see if it goes up a volt or so when you think you're charging. Then compare with the voltage of a house 12 volt accessory outlet. They are very handy to see when you're charging and when you're not.

Click to expand...

Thanks Don - I just ordered a couple.

DonTom said:

Get a couple of these thingies

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I use one of those one cheaper jobbie. I've got one more somewhere too.. I like that one best