Charging House Batteries

[itdave]

I think I have a problem but want some ideas. I have a 2006 Endeavor and have not added the BIRD or Echo Charger. After I drive all day my house batteries have gone down below 12 volts. So when I park even in Walmart for the night I have to run the generator and it show bulk charge. I though that the Alternator would keep the house batteries charged. I know that without some devices my chassis batteries will not charge while on shore power, but I though the opposite was true the house batteries will charge from the alternator. I know this is supposed to happen through the boost solenoid. I know the solenoid does pick up when I hit the battery boost switch on the dash.

So here is the question does anyone know of a way to test if the solenoid is picking up via the circuit in the front run bay.

[OLYLEN]

What gets me more than the non charging is the power used during the drive. After driving all day without the cross charger on I still have all but full power. Do you have the inverter on while driving and the refer on auto which would use up the batteries. If you have the bird installed then it should keep the batteries up.

LEN

[The Texan]

Monaco took the cheap way in many circumstances and this is one. Your house batteries will not charge from the alternator and your chassis batteries will not charge from the shore power. the best option IMHO, is to replace the OEM ckt board with the MT960DC from Megatech, which is what I did and now I have fully charged batteries, no matter what is happening. It takes 10 minutes to replace the ckt board in your front electrical run bay and then you too will be up and running.
Dual Battery Charger Upgrade for Monaco Coaches Dual battery charger upgrade for monaco coach. 16624716 [MT960DC] - $49.95 : Mega RV Parts, The #1 Source for RV, Motorhome, and Travel Trailer Parts.

[Diplomat Don]

The Texan.....I bought the Trik-L-Start charger that jumps the batteries in the battery bay. It's working fine, but I wanted to replace it with the circuit board from MegaTech so the system is more integrated into the original design. I ordered the circuit board from MegaTech and the solenoid that you recommended in a previous post from Murcal. Just so I would have a spare. Before I could install the MegaTech circuit board I received some information that the circuit board may be causing an early death to the battery solenoid. I'm guessing because this solenoid is now doing something it didn't do before and running a charge through it.

So here is the dumb question...is it the solenoid in the front driver's bay that is getting replaced or one in the battery bay?

[-Gramps-]

The one in the front bay is the charging solenoid, the one in the back is the battery boost solenoid that jumps starts your chassis battery from the house battery when needed.

I am a bit confused as to why your house batteries don't charge from the alternator. I know mine do. I also installed a Trik-L-Start. It doesn't do much at the moment because I installed a brand new fully charged chassis battery so the Trik-L-Start doesn't light up.

[The Texan]

Don, the solenoid they are talking about is the one in the rear battery compartment on our coaches. Again, it was Monaco being cheap, that is causing the problem. The Trombetta relay they installed was the cheapest available with copper alloy points, which will burn and pit very quickly. The one you ordered from Murcal, is the upgraded model with silver alloy points which will last a long time. I installed the new Trombetta at the same time I installed the MT960DC and have had no problems.

[itdave]

Bob,
Is the Trombetta relay available from a NAPA Auto Parts store if so do you know the part number for the good one?

[The Texan]

Dave, I don't know if it is available at NAPA. Here is the link to the one at Murcal and with that you may be able to cross at NAPA.
Trombetta 114-1211-020 DC Contactor