Community Forums

KJMac69 · 03-19-2016, 08:50 AM

Hello Folks,

I had an issue when I went to retrieve the coach from storage and it wouldn't start (no ability to keep her plugged in at storage place). So I purchased a Noco Genius G26000 trickle charger to use while I have it parked at the house.

Do I have to disconnect the batteries from the coach while charging. To charge the two batteries (I forget if its considered in parallel or in series) do I place positive connector on one battery and Negative on the other?

Thanks in advance for helping out a newbie!

Regards,

Ken

vsheetz · 03-19-2016, 09:14 AM

No need to disconnect from the RV.

Assuming you have two 12 volt batteries in parallel. Just connect to either battery as you would if just one battery. Or the positive of one and the negative of the other.

FIRE UP · 03-19-2016, 11:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KJMac69

Hello Folks,

I had an issue when I went to retrieve the coach from storage and it wouldn't start (no ability to keep her plugged in at storage place). So I purchased a Noco Genius G26000 trickle charger to use while I have it parked at the house.

Do I have to disconnect the batteries from the coach while charging. To charge the two batteries (I forget if its considered in parallel or in series) do I place positive connector on one battery and Negative on the other?

Thanks in advance for helping out a newbie!

Regards,

Ken

Well Ken,
First off, it would be nice to know year/make/model/engine/chassis of the coach in question. By knowing if it's a gas or a diesel, there's different systems involved in charging the batteries, house or chassis. If a gas coach, most of them were outfitted with a "Converter" that normally provides 12VDC and, handles charging the house batteries. There are some that also send a charge to the chassis batteries.

If a diesel, depending on the chassis/year/model, many have an "Inverter/Charger" in the coach. And those, before a certain model year, (around early '06) would normally just charge the house batteries while on shore power. After '06, Winnebago and Itasca both started installing what's called the "Trik-L-Start" charging system for the chassis batteries. The Trik-L-Start is NOT a battery charger. It simply is a little black box that, when connected correctly, it links the chassis batteries into the house battery charging system.

So, before some good help can be applied here, we need more info as to what you have.
Scott

KJMac69 · 03-20-2016, 07:29 PM

Scott,

Thanks for your response. I have a 2015 Winnebago Journey 36m diesel pusher, it has a 360HP cummins and I believe its a Freightliner chassis

FIRE UP · 03-20-2016, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KJMac69

Scott,

Thanks for your response. I have a 2015 Winnebago Journey 36m diesel pusher, it has a 360HP cummins and I believe its a Freightliner chassis

Ken,
You're most certainly welcome Sir. Now that I know we're dealing with a Diesel coach, we can analyze some things here. Long story short. Winne and Itasca, on Freightliner chassis's, all the way up to around, late '05 or early '06, did nothing to supply any form of CHASSIS battery charging, while on shore power or, generator power. They did supply many of their diesel coaches with large size "Inverter/chargers". And, the charging side of those Inverters, did a pretty fair job of taking care of the HOUSE batteries. Most of those Inverter/Chargers had step-down charging systems built into them so that, if the house batteries were low, the charger kicked into high gear and really put a heavy charge on them to get them back up.

Then, as the batteries leveled off, the charger stepped down at a progressive level, to the point it was only trickle charging.

But, as stated, nothing was providing any charging for the chassis batteries. Well, what that meant was, LOTS of Winnes and Itascas were found with dead chassis batteries when owners went to retrieve them from winter storage or, a long period of non-use AND, even with the coach plugged into shore power. Hmmmmm.

So, after some bad mouthing from owners of these "dead" coaches, Winne and Itasca started installing the "Trik-L-Start" component into new models. Those units are not chargers. They simply siphon off, SOME of the charging that's intended for the house batteries, and sends it to the chassis batteries. The maximum it will allow is 5 amps. But, 5 Amps is enough to counter just about all parasitic draws on your chassis batteries, while the coach sits idle in storage, and is plugged in.

So, that was then, and this is now. I have no idea if Winne and Itasca are still installing this Trik-L-Start or, have developed a different or better system to keep chassis batteries charged while on shore power.

So, in explaining all this, I'm wondering if your coach does, in fact, have any form of chassis battery charging, while shore power or, is it broken or, malfunctioning in some manner?

You can dig into your wiring diagrams and or, call Winne and find out if your coach is built with this type of charging system. If it's not, adding a Trik-L-Start or, it's larger, newer brother, the Amp-L-Start, is really a good way to go. The Amp-L-start allows 15 amps to be diverted to the chassis batteries, if and when needed. That's what I installed. I used to have a trickle charger dedicated to my chassis batteries. It work fine for about 3.5 years and gave up the ghost.

So, I did what about 95% of the other Winne and Itasca drivers have done and that was to install the Amp-L-Start. So, this is something to look at if you don't have one.
Scott

John Hilley · 03-20-2016, 08:23 PM

The 2015 Winnebago Journey sales brochure states that it has an "automatic dual battery charging system", plugging in to shore power should charge and maintain both batteries. There is no need to use the trickle charger.

2015 Winnebago Journey Brochure