Another battery charging question

[Joe & Bonnie]

We have an 09 Ambassador. I've noticed that when we're driving, the house batteries show (on the Magnum control panel) that they are being charged by the alternator. That's great. But the chassis batteries do not get charged when connected to shore power.

I my way of thinking, I always thought the house and chassis batteries were separated, like it was in my old Winnebago. Neither side charged the other. That's also the way our 08 Knight worked, even though the owner's manual said that each side charges both sides. The owner's manual for our Ambassador says the same thing but so far, I've only seen the alternator charge the house batteries, and it's not consistent.

I guess what really bugs me is the owner's manual stating one thing, and the systems operating differently. What else in the owner's manual is wrong? There's a discussion on a battery isolator but it don't seem to work that way. Would like to hear from others. Were the coaches incorrectly built or are the installed systems just plain faulty or unreliable?

Would just like to know what the real story is here.

[Drifter]

Look here Charging chassis battery upgrade BIRD

[wa8yxm]

Two products

Trick-l-start

Xantrex Echo Charge

Many rigs do not charge the chassis battery on shore power.. Mine does (Hey, Damon put in a good battery control system) The two products above which are listed lowest to highest cost, provide this service

Hook up is done at the isolator solenoid, requires 3 wires.. One to each "side" of the solenoid (The two BIG wires) and one to ground.

It's all automatic from there on.

[Pusherpilot]

Mine, 04 HR Imperial, does not charge the chassis batts when on shore power. We have a small roof mounted solar panel, a factory option, integrated into coach systems that charge the chassis batts no matter the other situations. The panel does not charge the house batts. So far no problems with depleted chassis batts.
Ron

[Mandys Man]

We had an Echo~Charge. When it gave up at the 3 year point of usage, we converted to this.

[Diplomat Don]

Joe & Bonnie......Your post is a little confusing. You say when you're driving the alternator is only charging the house batteries....how do you know this? Your system, while driving (alternator doing the charging) is designed to charge the lowest baterries. It will switch back and forth as necessary to maintain the chassis batteries and the house batteries. If you were camping and using power within the coach, it will probably show those batteries being charged because they're the lowest.

When the coach is parked, a lot of them don't charge the chassis battery, this is a different issue. The batteries are isolated form one another and you may need one of the systems recommended above to make the chassis batteries charge.