Chassis battery problem

[Jim_HiTek]

My rig had no provision for charging the starting battery when plugged into shore but it does have a measly 8W solar panel on the roof which amounts to nothing other than a scam.

But I digress...I have a 120V outlet (for the engine block heater) in a compartment right next to the battery compartment. So I drilled a hole and snaked in wires from a 2.5 Amp Schumacher Float charger ($25 at nearly all automotive supply places, even Walmart). Connected to the chassis battery, plugged into shore power & viola', no problems since.

[darstar]

Originally Posted by Cat320

If you have a Magnum, be sure it it set up for your number and type batteries, correct charger, absorption time, charge rate, etc.

This all came to light when I put in new 2500 inverters/ chargers. .....along with gauge ,a dash mounted unit that always reads battery condition. ( all products were Zantrex, old and new) .......one other feature that does not seem to work is the automatic start feature when batteries get low enough. Will see, so far it does not seem to work......( leaving for Tucson in a week or two, depending).

[Koop]

Originally Posted by Bigpower

We have a 2004 Alpine Avalanche 400. The chassis batteries are not charging with the coach plugged into 110 source. House batteries are doing fine. Any suggestions?

Bigpower, you would have received better answers in the Alpine forum. My Alpine has an Echo charger as part of the Xantrax system. I believe all Alpines of that era had them. The Echo charge is supposed to provide up to 15 amps of current to the chassis batteries when the following conditions are met:

Plugged into shore power or generator providing 120-volts AC
House batteries fully charged
Difference in voltage between house batteries and chassis batteries is greater than 0.5 volts

My Echo charger doesn't charge intermittently. I've been using an external battery maintainer but I plan to install an Amp-L-Charge next week.

[darstar]

Originally Posted by Koop

Bigpower, you would have received better answers in the Alpine forum. My Alpine has an Echo charger as part of the Xantrax system. I believe all Alpines of that era had them. The Echo charge is supposed to provide up to 15 amps of current to the chassis batteries when the following conditions are met:

Plugged into shore power or generator providing 120-volts AC
House batteries fully charged
Difference in voltage between house batteries and chassis batteries is greater than 0.5 volts

My Echo charger doesn't charge intermittently. I've been using an external battery maintainer but I plan to install an Amp-L-Charge next week.

Country Coach ( mine ) also has an ECHO charger , we just put in a new one 2 weeks ago. Should be all you will need to keep the chassis Batteries charged.