Emergency Start

[Bukiman]

I have a 04 Gulf Stream BT Cruiser, it has an Emergency Start button, is this to start generator if the house battery is dead ? and if so how does ir work ? i've tried to use it when house battery was dead to no avail,
Any ideas ? Tks

[tap4154]

My emergency start on the dashboard of my Class C is for starting the engine when the engine battery is dead. You hold it down for about 20 seconds or so, then try to start the engine, and it uses the house batteries.

[WA Larry]

It's technically meant to be the other way around. It connects your house battery to your vehicle chassis battery to "jumpstart" the vehicle if needed. Typically, you would need to hold this switch down for several minutes to allow charge to get from the "good" battery to the "bad" battery.

Don't run batteries dead, that's bad. The house battery(s) can be charged in multiple ways: 1) plugging into shore power so the power converter will give charge. 2) running your generator so the the power converter will give charge. 3) running the chassis engine so that the alternator will give charge. 4) connect an external charging device directly to the battery terminals to give charge, such as an electrical battery charger or a solar charging set up.

[twinboat]

If your dry camping, your going to run down the house battery. If you run it down to low, you can't start the generator.

You push and hold your boost switch to use your chassis battery to start your generator.

Makes sense to me.

[Quantum]

just be sure you dont run down the chassis battery as well

[THenne1713]

Technically .... meant to go BOTH ways, as LOW COACH BATTERIES MUCH more common than low chassis... have NEEDED mine a few times to crank GEN after a night of furnace run (2yo coach battery), never needed for engine (2011/ 9yo battery)

[Bukiman]

Thanks again

[GypsyR]

This thread has got me wondering now. My generator cranks off the chassis battery. I know this because when the chassis battery got run down I could start neither the generator nor the engine without using the "boost" button and my well-charged house batteries.
So is my coach wired wrong? It's been around the block a few times so anything could have happened. Wouldn't be the first wire I'd have found in the wrong place. But does it matter?

[twinboat]

Originally Posted by GypsyR

This thread has got me wondering now. My generator cranks off the chassis battery. I know this because when the chassis battery got run down I could start neither the generator nor the engine without using the "boost" button and my well-charged house batteries.
So is my coach wired wrong? It's been around the block a few times so anything could have happened. Wouldn't be the first wire I'd have found in the wrong place. But does it matter?

No, some are wired that way but they also have some kind of house to chassis charging device. The Lampert L 45, or something like that, is often used.

Most RV installed generators don't have charging systems and depend on a 120 volt device for charging. Simply done if running off the house batteries.

On the older RVs with diode isolators, not relays, charging was accomplished with the Lambert device sending a charge from the house battery to the chassis battery.
The house batteries will charge as they are now, from converter/chargers or inverter/chargers.

As long as you have a way to keep the chassis batteries charged, you can use them for running the generator.

Yes, even diesel generators use power to run the safety shut down circuits.

[GypsyR]

Mine "runs off" the chassis battery also. IE, if that battery voltage goes too low the generator will stop running. Found that out by accident before correcting some old and iffy battery cable issues. I just never looked to see if the generator 12 volt feed cable could even reach the house batteries. never thought about it. Of course now it will bug me until I can go have a looksee.