P30 Chassis Batt. Charging
Brought the Mothership out of winter storage yesterday….Last fall I installed the Intellipower Converter w/ Charge Wizard and left it plugged in for 100+ days..
Biweekly checks showed zero water loss and the battery is at 100% and good-to-go.
New-Age chargers/maintainers are definitely the way to go for goof-proof battery care.
Also last fall, I tapped into the 110v receptacle on the sidewall at the driver’s seat and ran a line to a new receptacle in the engine compartment, plugging in a Deltran Battery Tender Jr. (.75amp output) and hard wiring that to the chassis battery. So now, anytime I’m in storage and connected to shore power, both batteries are being maintained.
My concern now is if I’m on the road and decide to fire-up the genset for roof AC, which will also energize the Deltran chassis charger . Deltran info says the Battery Tender Jr. is protected from back-feed…It also says it kicks-in when it reads 13.2v or less at the battery.
My thinking is that the engine alternator output will always being telling the Battery Tender to stay off-line and therefore I won’t have two operating charging systems working on the chassis battery at the same time. But often times, MY thinking is exactly what gets me in trouble……..
I guess a simple SPDT toggle would make it fool-proof…..but maybe there’s no need.
What say ye all?
Thanks……..
03-31-2007, 04:27 PM
RustyI doubt there's any need - the Intellipower works similarly, in that it won't charge if the generator and engine are both running - unless the alternator quits putting out.
04-01-2007, 12:18 AM
Gary CarterYou also mentioned the unit shuts off at 13.2 volts and almost any charging system will be putting out 13.8 vdc or better, so in my opinion the is no conflict.