Chateau Trik-L-start install

[boggsy64]

My starting battery died when I thought is was being maintained by the shore power in Chateau 28Z. I had a Ford RV technician confirm that there is NO provision from Thor to maintain the chassis starting battery.
I bought and installed a Trim-L-Start for about $40. Here are some pics of how where to locate.
In the engine bay under the radiator reservoir tank is the "emergency start relay. All you have to do is move the radiator reservoir out of the way, install the Trim-L-Start leads to the House side of the relay and the start battery side of the relay and ground.
About 1/2 hour and now my start battery is protected.

[waynetaylor55]

According to THOR, our 28A's chassis battery is trickle charged by shore power, generator, and solar through the battery isolation manager.

[Bill Johnson]

Originally Posted by boggsy64

My starting battery died when I thought is was being maintained by the shore power in Chateau 28Z. I had a Ford RV technician confirm that there is NO provision from Thor to maintain the chassis starting battery.
I bought and installed a Trim-L-Start for about $40. Here are some pics of how where to locate.
In the engine bay under the radiator reservoir tank is the "emergency start relay. All you have to do is move the radiator reservoir out of the way, install the Trim-L-Start leads to the House side of the relay and the start battery side of the relay and ground.
About 1/2 hour and now my start battery is protected.

My thor and Jayco had a switch on the dash to start it if the battery failed. My thor I checked the voltage and it was in the 14+ volt range with solar (love the solar) and plugged into shore power. Get your meter out and check. I turn my switch off all winter and solar keeps the batteries up

[blw2]

I did the same project a couple years ago. It was a nice addition...with a catch or two.

Originally Posted by waynetaylor55

According to THOR, our 28A's chassis battery is trickle charged by shore power, generator, and solar through the battery isolation manager.

The Bim unit that I'm aware of does not trickle charge indefinitely. It only joins the batteries for one (1) hour only and won't reconnect till voltgages drop again.
from a guy at Precision circuits by email - "the BIM will only connect for one hour if one battery bank is 13.3v or greater and the other is 12.7v or less."

Older rigs like mine didn't come with a BIM. They have a Bird system that's a controller with a separate continuous duty relay to join the two battery systems.
Different logic.

I had an issue after installing the trik l start.
Before I installed it or the solar I had a habit of always disconnecting both batteries with a post mounted disconnect switch.
I installed solar on the house side, I use the use/store relay to disconnect the house but I left the post connected so solar could do its thing....but since the BIRD doesn't charge the chassis I'd still disconnect the chassis in storage.

After installing the trik l start, I left the chassis battery connected thinking that the solar would keep it topped up.
Almost immediately I lost my chassis battery. Seems like there is enough parasitic drain in the chassis that the solar couldn't keep up with it through the trik l start. I could have been a combination of something odd about my install or my rig, or perhaps the battery would have failed anyway.... I don't know
Regardless, since then I have been disconnecting the battery in storage.
Even with the chassis battery disconnected at the post, the trik l start energizes the cab enough so that the lights come on, door locks work, etc.... Be careful to not try to start the engine though like this. I popped a fuse when i did it on accident.

Anyway, after some time like this, I have just recently ordered a BIM unit. Haven't installed it. I'm not entirely convinced it will be better logic, but my e-start switch seems to not be working correctly so rather than putzing with it to try getting it working I figured I'd just go ahead and "modernize" the system.