Community Forums

gary85 · 06-24-2007, 05:11 PM

Our '99 has the standard (at the time)2-8D batteries. One for coach and the other for chassis. We have the Heart 2000 inverter. If the Heart charges the coach battery, what charges the chassis battery? Also in this system are 2 solar cells. Which battery do they charge? I ask these questions because while the coach was at Cummins for 6-7 weeks, the chassis battery became discharged to the point a jump was required to start it so I could take it home. Our coach does not have the "battery boost" option. When the coach is not being used it is hooked to shore power.

gary85 · 06-24-2007, 05:11 PM

Our '99 has the standard (at the time)2-8D batteries. One for coach and the other for chassis. We have the Heart 2000 inverter. If the Heart charges the coach battery, what charges the chassis battery? Also in this system are 2 solar cells. Which battery do they charge? I ask these questions because while the coach was at Cummins for 6-7 weeks, the chassis battery became discharged to the point a jump was required to start it so I could take it home. Our coach does not have the "battery boost" option. When the coach is not being used it is hooked to shore power.

Stretch · 06-24-2007, 07:06 PM

I had an early oo model. I think they were the same. I suspect because you normally have a shore power line charging the batteries you did not realize that the chassis battery was bad. And when the coach was allowed to sit uncharged for 6 weeks the battery just went dead. Also the solar charger cannot charge a bad battery. Just my guess. Also if I have my coach disconnected for a long time I always turn the battery disconnect switch to off. I find there are too many ways for the battery to go dead from some small load like a few LED light or something similiar.

rmmpe · 06-25-2007, 01:23 AM

My '99 is the same way. Consequently, I will be installing a battery parallel switch so the engine can be started from the fully charged 8D house batteries if necessary.
In order to keep the wiring simple, the 'hot' lead of the house battery will go to one side of the relay and the other side will go to the 'hot' lead of the chassis battery. Actuation of the solenoid will be by running a 'hot' lead from the house battery to 1 terminal and a momentarily switched ground to the other. That way I only have to run 1 wire. A 200 Amp relay can be bought for $42.00, which should be plenty for starting an easily started engine, which, fortunately, mine is. BTW, the relay is what Fleetwood and Winnebago use for their "Emergency" start purpose.

I'll also be doing a few other things to make the beast more 'Driver-friendly'.
1. A DPST switch to energize the Cruise or Pac-Brake. That way they can't both be powered at the same time (Cruise on = Pac-brake off/Pac-brake on = Cruise off).
2. Rocker switch for the heated mirrors (rather than that stupid little toggle switch).
3. Red blinking LED to indicate mirror heat is on and to remind me to turn it off.
4. Green LED to indicate "Economy" mode is active (I can't see the LED on the pad while I'm driving).
5. Yellow LED to indicate Pac-brake is active.

I guess I've been around big boats too long and like to 'Tinker'.