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Old 02-11-2019, 05:11 PM   #1
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
State: Colorado
Posts: 22
THOR #7468
Charging truck battery?

First off - I was stupid, I get it, I know, my dad already gave me the lecture.

I didn't drive my rig often enough and the truck battery and the house batteries were all dead. So, dear dad helped me jump the truck and I took it home and charged everything up.

Because I didn't know the answer, I plugged in for the house batteries, and I used a battery charger directly onto the truck battery.

HOPEFULLY I will never do this again, but it did make me wonder, when I am charging the house batteries does the system also carryover to charge the truck?

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Old 02-11-2019, 05:16 PM   #2
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Model: Axis 24.4
State: Michigan
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THOR #1150
Actually: If you have it plugged in and leave it in "Use" mode both the chassis and the house batteries should charge.

If you leave it unplugged: its best to put disconnect switches on the batteries.
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Old 02-11-2019, 05:28 PM   #3
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Axis 25.4
State: California
Posts: 784
THOR #6582
Quote:
Originally Posted by JamieGeek View Post
Actually: If you have it plugged in and leave it in "Use" mode both the chassis and the house batteries should charge.

If you leave it unplugged: its best to put disconnect switches on the batteries.
Jamie- exactly how does the chassis battery tie to the coach's?
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Old 02-11-2019, 06:37 PM   #4
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Axis 24.4
State: Michigan
Posts: 9,837
THOR #1150
Quote:
Originally Posted by gnach View Post
Jamie- exactly how does the chassis battery tie to the coach's?
Depends on how you are setup. For the newer coaches with a BIRD: After a specific time delay the BIRD will close the relay between the chassis and the house systems allowing the chassis battery to charge off the converter--at least that is how it is supposed to work.

From the BIRD Documentation (PDF):
Quote:
The BIRD (BI-DIRECTIONAL ISOLATOR RELAY DELAY)
performs two important functions. It provides a method of
charging the coach battery from the engine alternator and
charges the chassis battery from the converter when the
coach is plugged into shore power. When neither battery
is being charged, the batteries are isolated from each
other to prevent the loads of one battery from inadvertently
discharging the other battery. The unit is housed in a plastic
enclosure suitable for mounting under the hood, out of direct
water spray. It operates in combination with a continuous
duty solenoid to connect the two batteries at the proper times
for charging.
I believe the RV Custom Products board performs a similar feature closing the relay to charge both.
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Old 02-11-2019, 07:42 PM   #5
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THOR #7468
Thank you

Quote:
Originally Posted by JamieGeek View Post
Actually: If you have it plugged in and leave it in "Use" mode both the chassis and the house batteries should charge.

If you leave it unplugged: its best to put disconnect switches on the batteries.
Thank you. I am going to try to go drive and/or bring it home at least every 3 weeks to make sure I keep everything charged up. But my drive from storage is only 10 minutes, so I wasn't sure that would be enough to charge the truck battery. But if I can just plug in and charge it all overnight I should be good.
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Old 02-11-2019, 08:47 PM   #6
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: 2013 31L
State: Florida
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THOR #908
put isolator switches on both batteries and there will be no need for doing it that often. When you put her to bed, make sure the batteries are topped off as well as possible, then as soon as you hit the store switch, also open the battery disconnects. Do it every time immediately when parking. your batteries, if in good shape to begin with, should last a few months at least.

but your problem now....it's almost certain that your batteries are not holding much of a charge, if any at all. Pulling them down too low causes some harm....pulling them down cold dead kills them fast in my experience.

If you're interested...I've seen lots of folks point to this resource for learning about battery systems. It does seem like a good and thorough resource to me....
The 12volt Side of Life (Part 1)
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