Battery Disconnect, Yes or No?

[Admiral0647]

My question is, should a battery disconnect be used on the late model Ford? (Mine is a 2007 F53)

Also, will its use cause damage or problems down the road?

When I parked it last fall I installed a chassis battery disconnect on the negative terminal intending to use the disconnect when the motor home was in extended storage. I wasn't worried about radio presets as we use the XM Radio in our GPS.

Anyway, since last fall I have installed a dedicated battery tender to keep it topped off and no longer use the disconnect.

I have heard from other sources that disconnecting the battery will "dump" stored memory. Will I cause harm to the on-board engine computer if I do disconnect the battery for extended periods? Will it affect performance?


Jim

[Wizard]

Won't cause any permanent harm to the engine, however if off long enough the engine may have to relearn the proper settings. Could run a rough for na nwhile. I have also heard that there is a specific way to operate while it is relearning. Someone else may have more information than me. I keep mmy MH plugged in all the time anyway.

[Hikerdogs]

We have a chassis battery disconnect on our coach and use it every time we put it in storage. The only downside is the clock on the radio has to be reset as do the stations in the memory. If you have a satellite dish with GPS it will take a few miles before the system relearns its position.

The engine management computer will also loose it's memory which is no big deal since it relearns your driving habits quickly. We have almost 70,000 miles on our coach and have had the chassis battery disconnect since it was new. It starts and drives fine every time we reconnect the battery.

[LVJ58]

When not in use we store our coach in the driveway and I leave both chassis & house battery disconnect switches ON so our 110W solar panel will keep both batteries charged.

[Admiral0647]

Thank you for this information.

[UltraClassicElectraGlide]

Quote:

Originally posted by Hikerdogs: We have a chassis battery disconnect on our coach and use it every time we put it in storage.

what brand and model did you install and is it installed at the battery. thank-u

[Hikerdogs]

We use this model from Flaming River.
Battery Disconnect

They originally sold it for use on over the road tractors. It's sealed and waterproof so it can be positioned near the batteries. It can handle a constant load of 250 amps and a peak load of 2,500 amps for starting.

They've gone up a bit in price since we installed ours. I believe our cost was $49.95

[redboots]

The battery disconnect switch on my '08 National only affects the coach batteries. With the switch in the OFF position, there is still power to the ignition and all dash functions. It does not affect the clock or computer.

[Hikerdogs]

The OP is talking about an additional battery disconnect switch he added to the chassis (starting) battery.

When the chassis battery is disconnected there is no power to the engine computer, instrument panel, starter or any accessory powered by that battery. The standard way to clear stored computer codes is to disconnect the chassis battery.

The codes are cleared when the computer memory is lost due to lack of current to the computer. Unfortunately anything the computer has learned (like driving habits) is also stored in the memory. All this information is lost when the power is disconnected.

The upside is that it doesn't take long for the computer to relearn your driving habits once the battery is reconnected.

[redboots]

Hikerdogs, Sorry, I misinterpreted the post. I guess my question at this point would be why you want to go through all the trouble of installing a separate battery disconnect, running the risk of screwing up the engine computer and having it have to re-learn is drivability map, resetting the clock and radio stations, etc. Why not just put a trickle charger on it when not in use and avoid all that?

[gary P]

I use this 42292-6VGA from harbor freight works good.

[gary P]

Quote:

I use this 42292-6VGA from harbor freight works good.

[Hikerdogs]

We store our motorhome in a garage without any electricity to power a charger. Also there isn't any sunlight to activate the solar panel. If the batteries stay connected the parasitic loads of the radio memory and engine computer drain the battery to the point it would freeze. It's easier to conserve the battery by disconnecting it. There is no danger of damaging the engine computer or any other onboard electronics.

When we drive the coach it's usually for long distances in a single day. The computer will relearn driving habits in less than a days use.

As for the radio and clock they only take a couple minutes to reset. It seems whenever we travel the radio stations and clock need to be reset for the local time and stations anyway.

[Admiral0647]

Thank you, that helps.
Jim