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Old 04-03-2019, 02:58 AM   #61
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THOR #12189
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Originally Posted by riskmgr View Post
My class C doesn’t charge the chassis battery: 2018 Thor 30FE. I carry a battery charger for my RV and Toad and when camping, I check my chassis battery weekly with multimeter and hookup charger night before leaving if voltage is down to 12.1. The toll of a battery is when it discharges to 50% then charge it back
A maintainer is a good option if you're always hooked to shore power. For those that boon dock, they probably already have a generator.

The rest is self explanatory

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Old 04-03-2019, 10:32 AM   #62
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Tidbit update on our Outlaw.

Installed the BIM 225, although it hasn't left the driveway, it is still hooked up on shore power.
I currently show charging at both, the coach, and the chassis battery systems.

Before, I showed only on coach batteries in same set up, and I kept a milliamp battery tender on the chassis battery.

I guess I could start the engine to see, but the converter has coach system fully charged, for now, let you know once we get under way in a few weeks.
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Old 04-03-2019, 06:34 PM   #63
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Originally Posted by 10scDust View Post
Tidbit update on our Outlaw.

Installed the BIM 225, although it hasn't left the driveway, it is still hooked up on shore power.
I currently show charging at both, the coach, and the chassis battery systems.

Before, I showed only on coach batteries in same set up, and I kept a milliamp battery tender on the chassis battery.

I guess I could start the engine to see, but the converter has coach system fully charged, for now, let you know once we get under way in a few weeks.
On 3/27/19, I replaced original chassis battery as it showed 12.3v after charging it and cranking engine with a maintenance free Duracell battery. I crank up MH and run gen monthly.
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Old 04-04-2019, 02:45 AM   #64
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Ultra TRIK-L-START™ 5 Amp Starting Battery Charger/Maintainer

Thanks Guys, you solved my charging issue for my class C starting battery.

After reading this thread, I purchased the: Ultra TRIK-L-START™
5 Amp Starting Battery Charger/Maintainer, from the manufacturer; Ultra TRIK-L-START Starting Battery Charger/Maintainer for $55, (they were cheaper then Amazon)
arrived in 4 days and installed it yesterday took about 20 minutes,
Connected to the solenoid behind the Radiator overflow tank, has 3 wires, one goes to each battery bank terminal on the solenoid and the 3rd wire goes to ground. Had to remove 3 screws to move overflow tank, and mounted the charger to inside fender wall.

Now my starting battery is getting charged whenever I have shore power, generator power and Solar power.
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Old 04-04-2019, 03:37 AM   #65
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Originally Posted by bry899 View Post
Thanks Guys, you solved my charging issue for my class C starting battery.

After reading this thread, I purchased the: Ultra TRIK-L-START™
5 Amp Starting Battery Charger/Maintainer, from the manufacturer; Ultra TRIK-L-START Starting Battery Charger/Maintainer for $55, (they were cheaper then Amazon)
arrived in 4 days and installed it yesterday took about 20 minutes,
Connected to the solenoid behind the Radiator overflow tank, has 3 wires, one goes to each battery bank terminal on the solenoid and the 3rd wire goes to ground. Had to remove 3 screws to move overflow tank, and mounted the charger to inside fender wall.

Now my starting battery is getting charged whenever I have shore power, generator power and Solar power.
Make sure to check water in your chassis battery if not maintenance free and check voltage because 5A is more than my 2A Trickle Charge. Was thinking that a 100W solar panel generates 8.33A/Hr. 5A isn’t much less.
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Old 04-04-2019, 06:07 PM   #66
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Originally Posted by riskmgr View Post
Make sure to check water in your chassis battery if not maintenance free and check voltage because 5A is more than my 2A Trickle Charge. Was thinking that a 100W solar panel generates 8.33A/Hr. 5A isn’t much less.
Not as much of a concern as it Prevents over/undercharging, and minimizes water loss, though I always periodically check the water levels on all batteries.
The Ultra TRIK-L-START:
HOW DOES TRIK-L-START™ WORK? TRIK-L-START™ is a "diversion charger" - Basically, it "steals" a little bit of current from your house battery charger, diverting it to keep your engine starting battery(s) charged. Since it is DC-powered, it does not require any direct connection to AC power - No extension cords or AC wiring required.

WILL TRIK-L-START™ WORK WITH MY DIESEL (OR GASOLINE) STARTING BATTERIES? Yes, TRIK-L-START™ is designed for both diesel and gas engines, and works with either single or multiple starting batteries. Its robust 5 amp maximum output is powerful enough to keep even the largest Cummins/Cat/Detroit Diesel dual-battery bank fully charged, but won't overcharge the single starting battery used with most gas-engine motorcoaches.

DOES TRIK-L-START™ EVER NEED TO BE TURNED OFF OR DISCONNECTED? No, most owners leave TRIK-L-START™ connected all the time. Unlike most AC-powered chargers, TRIK-L-START™ causes no significant drain on your batteries when it's not charging. When you're dry-camped, no current is allowed to flow in the reverse direction (i.e., from the starting to house batteries), so your engine always has full cranking power - even if your house batteries are completely discharged. Finally, TRIK-L-START™ does not interfere with the normal operation of your engine alternator while you're driving. It's completely worry-free - Install it, and forget it!

WILL TRIK-L-START™ OVERCHARGE MY BATTERIES? No, TRIK-L-START™ maintains your starting battery(s) at approximately 0.2 volts below your house battery voltage. This is considered to be the ideal setting for starting batteries, and virtually eliminates water loss and gassing. Maintained in this manner, your starting battery(s) should last for many years.

I STORE MY MOTOR HOME WITHOUT ANY AC HOOKUPS. CAN TRIK-L-START™ BE USED TO DRAW POWER FROM MY HOUSE BATTERIES TO KEEP MY STARTING BATTERIES CHARGED? No, TRIK-L-START™ only works when there is a house battery charging source (i.e., DC power converter, inverter/charger or solar panels) present. In the absence of this charging source, TRIK-L-START™ is effectively disconnected, and doesn't supply any charge to your starting battery(s).
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Old 04-04-2019, 06:11 PM   #67
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I also don't plug the motorhome in when not in use as all the batteries now get charged from the 100 watt solar panel. Regardless of what position the Use/Store switch is in.
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Old 07-08-2019, 07:16 PM   #68
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more battery woes....gotta say this...I see all this new electronics becoming a night mare....I put my RV in storage for the summer, and I'm in boat mode....

but, just to check on it, I went out and tried to start it... nothing... and nothing with the emergency button....when I parked it , as normal... shut off the battery switch,... coach is a 2019 thor hurricain 29m... coach and chassis batterys dead......so I plugged it in to shore power...lights work... monitor says 13.6 on coach,... and 1.7 on chassis..so I try to start the engine... no power,... so left it plugged in for a couple hrs... come back... still 1.7 volts at chassis... complete dead.... un plug and coach ballerys have 2.0 volts... no power any where...with it plugged in... no start power to gen either...

now... heres the problem... where I have it stored... up against the wall, so can't open hood...can't do the pop out cause against the wall.. so can't get under the bed...all the motorhomes I've had in the past, if the batterys go dead... plug it in and you can start the gen, start the gen and you can emergency start the engine...

so where I'm at is this...hooked a battery charger to the coach batterys, and hope full i'll be able to use the emergency button to start the engine to back up and get to the chassis battery....


WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Old 07-08-2019, 07:37 PM   #69
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I’m not sure I understand, but if your monitor says 13.6v on the coach battery and it is hooked directly to the battery, then the coach battery should charge. If it does and the chassis battery stills shows no charge, You might try pushing the emergency start button and leaving it In for a while to see if juice will flow from the coach battery and shore power thru the emergency start to the chassis battery. If it does you could tape the button down and charge up your chassis battery that way enough to start the engine. It seems that the BIRD or BCC is not opening the solenoid to connect the two systems. I don’t know if that would work, but it might be worth a try.
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Old 07-08-2019, 08:57 PM   #70
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Originally Posted by vegasruv24.1 View Post
. shut off the battery switch,... coach is a 2019 thor hurricain 29m... coach and chassis batterys dead......so I plugged it in to shore power...lights work... monitor says 13.6 on coach,... and 1.7 on chassis..so I try to start the engine... no power,... so left it plugged in for a couple hrs... come back... still 1.7 volts at chassis... complete dead.... un plug and coach ballerys have 2.0 volts... no power any where...with it plugged in... no start power to gen either...
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When you shut-off the master power (use/store) switch, you disconnected the batteries (both house and chassis) from the charger. When the coach is on shore power, the charger will power all the 12 volts circuits on the coach (assuming the 15 amp circuit breaker in the power center is on).


More explanation - there is a latching relay between charger and the house battery bank. The battery switch (master power -U/S) controls this relay. If the relay is switched on when on shore or generator power, the converter will always charge the house batteries. As soon as the house batteries are about 80% charged, the BIRD (or battery interconnect) will close and the converter will then begin to charge the chassis battery. It is the BIRD that connects the battery banks when you activate the emergency start switch.
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Old 07-08-2019, 10:33 PM   #71
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When you shut-off the master power (use/store) switch, you disconnected the batteries (both house and chassis) from the charger. When the coach is on shore power, the charger will power all the 12 volts circuits on the coach (assuming the 15 amp circuit breaker in the power center is on).


More explanation - there is a latching relay between charger and the house battery bank. The battery switch (master power -U/S) controls this relay. If the relay is switched on when on shore or generator power, the converter will always charge the house batteries. As soon as the house batteries are about 80% charged, the BIRD (or battery interconnect) will close and the converter will then begin to charge the chassis battery. It is the BIRD that connects the battery banks when you activate the emergency start switch.
thanks so much for the reply,... here's what happened,.. when I stored it, I shut the use store switch off...

when I went out months latter, tried to turn the switch on.... but no go as there was no power in the batteries....so I tried to start the engine.... no go engine battery dead also...

so as in the past with other coaches... I got out the shore power cord and plugged in,... the use store switch auto engages when you plug to shore and lights up...when plugged in the panel reads 13.1 coach, and 1.9 chassis...so I let it sit plugged in for over an hour...hour latter... still at 1.9 on the chassis...so I unplug the shore power, with meter on the coach battery,..4 volts.... so I drug out a battery charger...let it charge for a hour,...now wwhen I plug into shore power,... you can hear the converter fan,... and slow but sure, the monitor is climbing up....but still no charge to the chassis battery..... so, now that the level to the battery is up, the emergency switch works, and able to start the engine.... as soon as the engine is running,.. I shows 14.2 on the monitor for both the coach, and the chassis.... shut the engine off and the chassis drops right back to 2.0 volts....so what I'm thinking is this...the converter doesn't charge as much when On shore???? how could that be???
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Old 07-08-2019, 10:35 PM   #72
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Your BIRD may be different than mine, but mine says nothing about waiting for the chassis battery being at 80% until the coach batteries charge.
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Old 07-08-2019, 10:44 PM   #73
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up date,....while standing in the coach staring at the monitor... I watched it go up to 13.4, when that happened, the clunk sound of a latching solenoid , and then the chassis battery went up to 13 volts... so what i'm thinking is now it will top off both coach and chassis batteries…. while plugged in to shore power, and with the batteries so low, it only was charging the coach batteries till they reached 13.4 volts...correct????
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Old 07-08-2019, 11:42 PM   #74
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Under shore power, the voltage of the coach battery does not have to get up to 13.4V before the BIRD will open the Trombetta. The voltage from the converter/ charger just has to be above 13.1v for like 2.5 minutes. However, the Trombetta will not open if the coach battery is completely dead. As far as shore power and engine alternator charging, the converter/charger puts out 55 amps while the engine alternator puts out 80 amps. So the engine charges the batteries more quickly.
Under shore power, the power goes to the coach batteries first and then the chassis battery. The reverse when using the engine alternator.
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Old 07-08-2019, 11:48 PM   #75
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so as in the past with other coaches... I got out the shore power cord and plugged in,... the use store switch auto engages when you plug to shore and lights up...
No, it doesn't "auto engage" The light is always lit when there is power to the DC buss (in this case supplied by the converter). It is not an indicator of the USE/STORE solenoid status. The battery is not connected and is not charging until the USE/STORE switch is selected to USE.
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Old 07-09-2019, 12:09 AM   #76
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No, it doesn't "auto engage" The light is always lit when there is power to the DC buss (in this case supplied by the converter). It is not an indicator of the USE/STORE solenoid status. The battery is not connected and is not charging until the USE/STORE switch is selected to USE.
ahhh, sorry but your wrong,...2019 has push push switch,... not the rocker switch of previous years...when the light is on it's engaged,... when off it's not.... the second you plug in to shore power.... it engages….that and unlike previous years... as soon as you plug in, even with the switch in store, all the 12v stuff works...
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Old 07-09-2019, 12:15 AM   #77
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Under shore power, the voltage of the coach battery does not have to get up to 13.4V before the BIRD will open the Trombetta. The voltage from the converter/ charger just has to be above 13.1v for like 2.5 minutes. However, the Trombetta will not open if the coach battery is completely dead. As far as shore power and engine alternator charging, the converter/charger puts out 55 amps while the engine alternator puts out 80 amps. So the engine charges the batteries more quickly.
Under shore power, the power goes to the coach batteries first and then the chassis battery. The reverse when using the engine alternator.
correct,...but mine clicked when it hit 13.4, as I was standing there... it was at 13.1 for an hour....also, at the same time... the monitor reads higher than the meter on the battery direct

and also correct,... the shore power would not charge the battery's till I pre charged them with a separate charger...
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Old 07-09-2019, 12:38 AM   #78
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Interesting comments but... All coaches will light-up on shore power with the master power off because the converter is supplying the power to the coach's 12 volt fuse panel. In my coach, power for the latching relay MUST come from the batteries. That is why, if the house batteries are below 9 volts, you will hear a click, but the relay will not latch. Put an external charger on the house batteries and you have enough voltage to latch the relay. You have to have enough power (wattage) to let the solenoid to push against the spring to rotate the relay's cam. There is a five amp fuse in the activation wire going to the latching relay, so if you hold the switch (button) too long it will not burn-out the solenoid in the latching relay but burn out the fuse.
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Old 07-09-2019, 12:46 AM   #79
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Interesting comments but... All coaches will light-up on shore power with the master power off because the converter is supplying the power to the coach's 12 volt fuse panel. In my coach, power for the latching relay MUST come from the batteries. That is why, if the house batteries are below 9 volts, you will hear a click, but the relay will not latch. Put an external charger on the house batteries and you have enough voltage to latch the relay. You have to have enough power (wattage) to let the solenoid to push against the spring to rotate the relay's cam. There is a five amp fuse in the activation wire going to the latching relay, so if you hold the switch (button) too long it will not burn-out the solenoid in the latching relay but burn out the fuse.
LOL,... ive own rv's for the past 50 years of my 66 years,.. and know what it does....up to 2019, all have worked as you say....but for sake of not arguing, is it possible that the 2019 is different???
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Old 07-09-2019, 12:53 AM   #80
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here's another way I know the switch goes on automatic...if the switch is off, and you plug into shore power.... it goes on automatic.... if you unplug from shore power,... it stays on, and you have to manual shut it off again...

I can say this from owning past rv's…. if the switch is off...and you head down the road... nothing 12v on the coach side will work..does the same with this coach....

if you were here, i'd show you....with the switch off, plug into shore power and the coach battery's charge...and the switch goes to on automatic...
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