jump from house to chassis...

[Georgia]

So i've been sitting for about 1 month and I thought, what the heck, I'll fire up the engine for a bit just to make sure all is in order.... we'll it won't start. The chassie battery is just about gone. Enough to kick the solenoid out , but not turn the beast over. I hit the battery cross connect switch for 30 seconds, no discernible difference. so i'm thinking two things.

1. can I just toss a pair of jumper cables from the house to the chassie to jump start.
2. how come my chassie batteries are not getting a charge by my charger when i'm running the gen or sitting on 50 amp service from a camp site. and why not have a hard cross connect switch in the battery compartment.

thoughts from the pros?

cheers
georgia

[mavric65]

I hold down the jumper switch while cranking the coach over

[RickO]

The "boost" switch is usually a momentary switch which needs to be held down while cranking the engine. If it isn't helping at all you might have a problem with the "bird" solenoid. I don't think you'll do any harm by trying jumper cables between the two battery banks.

I could be wrong on this but I think you need a "Trik L Charge" type of device to charge the chassis batteries when plugged in to shore power.

Good luck.

Rick

[mfire1339]

Do a search on here for Tric-L-Start. That may be what you need. Very inexpensive.


Mike

[rpasetto]

When you press the "boost" switch, have someone near the back of the coach listen for which relay clicks. (I don't know how your Diplomat is wired; that boost relay might be in the battery compartment but I am not sure of your year; my 2000 Dip had it there.) Anyway, once you identify this relay you'll see it has two heavy terminals, one cabled to house the other to chassis batteries. You can just jumper the terminals together, with a booster cable for example.

Some coaches come with a "battery maintainer" which will kick in to keep the chassis batteries charged from the inverter charger; some don't. You can get either a battery maintainer, or a separate "trickle" charger as other posts suggest.

[Georgia]

that's what I thought. Thanks all. I purchased a BOOST batter unit from Auto Zone for now, I'm going to rewire the coach so that I'm maintaining a charge from shore/gen when I want it. The Trick L charge is perfect. Ordering one today.

This is yes another silly thing that for the price of a CLASS A you'd think that they would take care of in the design. go figure.

cheers
geo

[nodine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Georgia that's what I thought. Thanks all. I purchased a BOOST batter unit from Auto Zone for now, I'm going to rewire the coach so that I'm maintaining a charge from shore/gen when I want it. The Trick L charge is perfect. Ordering one today. This is yes another silly thing that for the price of a CLASS A you'd think that they would take care of in the design. go figure. cheers geo

When you locate the solenoid mentioned by Rick above, that is the perfect place to install the Trik-L-Start. That is where I have ours and just connected across the terminals on the solenoid. The house system in on one side and the chassis on the other. Both house and chassis share a common ground.

It blows my mind that these things are not standard equipment. The manufactures connect things like your awning and radio, which many use while camping, to the chassis battery and then expect you to make sure you don't run down the chassis battery.

Bob

[JimM68]

my 08 knight does have such a thing standard, though I don't think it works, and my boost switch doesn't appear to work either.

I would suggest your 07 Dip has the same setup as my 08 knight, and is probably supposed to charge both banks of batteries.

Here's a link to a lengthy thread on various "bird" systems used by monaco Boost switch on 08 Knight.

Now if only I could find the time to work on mine.

[Georgia]

thank you so much for the info. I checked my fuses and the 5 amp fuse was blown. replaced the fuse and the relay works. I've also purchased a battery charger and will be purchasing the Trick L Charge unit. Engine started right up. yeah!

cheers
geo