House Battery Charging

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House Battery Charging

Home > Discussion Forum > Mechanic's Corner - Electrical

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All Messages in Thread	Author	Date
House Battery Charging	Thom	5-27-08
I purchased a used motorhome about a year ago. At some point the wire that runs back to the rear house batteries for charging has been removed from my RV. The connection is still there but the wire was removed for some reason. The rig has a inverter installed and charges the rear house batteries with shore power. I don't see any reason why it cannot charge from the alternator on the engine. The alternator is oversized and puts out way more amps than the starter battery needs. Is there a problem with over charging? The van (E-350) has two batteries up front, one a starter and one a house, they are isolated from each other until the ignition is turned on, then both work to start the truck. If I put this wire back in place the alternator would work to keep all four batteries charged while going down the road. That would be a help to the inverter that is running the refrigerator on the move. By putting this wire back, the only time the batteries are not seeing a charge is when the RV is sitting at home, unplugged. By adding the wire back, am I charging the batteries to much?? The RV lot where I got it said the rig will charge going down the road and charge when plugged in or when the generator is running. What do you think about me putting a wire back to make all this happen and what guage wire would you use??
Re: House Battery Charging	BUBBA THE BUS TECH	5-27-08
The problem is that your inverter can and will over load your alternator. If you are drawing 5 amps to run the fridge you will draw roughly 50 amps from the twelve volt system to provide that. This can cause the charge lead to melt down and start a fire. I dont have my pocket refrence handy but for the run of wire you need to provide juce to a 1500 watt inverter you will probably need 00 guage wire from the alternator or batteries and a contnuous duty solinoid that will handle 150 amp and a 150 amp breaker. Huge 12 volt power draws to run inverters are the downfall of these systems. As to charging them to much, as long as your charging system is working correct that won't happen, but, there is always a but, RV deep cycle batteries take a long time to charge and take juce slow. So make up power to run the lights etc yes. To actually completely charge the batteries the truck will need to run 3 to 5 days. Be carefull handling that much juice and how you route your cables. a minor problem and 150 amp available will definately cause a fire. Good Luck
Re: House Battery Charging	Thom	5-27-08
Thanx Bubba, I was hoping you would answer. Right now, it sounds like I had better leave things as they are. I don't need any fires going down the road. This is an old Freedom 10, 1000 watt inverter and it does fine on two storage batteries. If I start making any longer trips than I have been, I will simply add a third storage battery to help the inverter out.