Battery Blues May 10, 2019, 10:02:48 pm Hard to determine what category this should fall in but let's try this one!Had always used Interstate starting batteries until just a few months ago. There were signs that the old Interstate was on it's way out after 6 years of faithful service and so, 5 months ago, before Lazybones2 took off for Joshua Tree over the Christmas Holidays I had a new battery installed (Alliance). Not the one I wanted but time was tight.Between January and April it was necessary to jump start the LD every month. Doing a slow burn I finally got off my back-side and acquired the battery that I should have insisted on in the 1st place, an Interstate AGM MTZ65.Had it installed today in place of the Alliance under a Warranty claim. Now let's see how this one does. Interstate Batteries | MTZ-65
Re: Battery Blues Reply #1 – May 11, 2019, 12:14:58 pm It sees odd that you had to jump start a start battery every month. I wonder if there is a small parasitic drain on the battery? If so, a new battery may not fix the problem.
Re: Battery Blues Reply #2 – May 11, 2019, 01:34:31 pm "I wonder if there is a small parasitic drain on the battery?"That had crossed my mind but was discounted due to the fact that the Interstate, prior to the failed Alliance, lasted six (6) years and started the engine faithfully through that period without one jump start.
Re: Battery Blues Reply #3 – May 11, 2019, 01:49:09 pm The difference could be the reserve capacity between the two batteries. I noticed the reserve capacity of the Interstate is 130 minutes. What was the reserve capacity of the Alliance?
Re: Battery Blues Reply #4 – May 11, 2019, 03:51:53 pm "What was the reserve capacity of the Alliance?"That's a bit out of my skill set, I hadn't paid any attention to RC until just recently.I will say that to drive the LD to my service facility it was necessary to have the engine running (duh). I attempted to use my new Lithium Jump Start Device (NOCO geniusBOOST HD - GB70) which had been used successfully the week prior. But because it had not been charged since January and read only 75% it did not work. My bad!Resorting to ancient technology I brought the Honda CRV into service. Questioning the ability of that battery I was not surprised when it also failed. ? But, after sitting with my foot on the accelerator and maintaining 2K RPM for about five minutes I was able to force enough current into the LD battery that with the help of the still connected CRV I managed to get the LD engine to turn over. So, off to the service facility for the new battery.
Re: Battery Blues Reply #5 – May 11, 2019, 05:18:58 pm With a long set of battery jumpers, the coach battery works great to jump start the engineOr you can install a marine battery switch and just turn a knob to connect the two batteries together.Battery compartment before | lw5315us | Flickr[/url]FYI- for those replacing their solar controllers, some, including the Blue Sky 3000i can charge the starting battery, as well as the coach battery. This keeps the starting battery fully charged.Larry 1 Likes
Re: Battery Blues Reply #6 – May 11, 2019, 05:43:12 pm And for after market without the expense of replacing the solar controller, or adding much wiring, this Amazon.com: AM Solar CHGR-TRIK Ultra Trik-L-Start 5 Amp Starting Battery... will keep the chassis battery fully charged using leftover charge capacity of your solar panels. If you don't have solar, but do plug in your converter to 110v AC to keep your house batteries charged, then you can also use this to charge the chassis battery. This Trickle charger won't over charge the engine/chassis battery. House and chassis battery wiring is already under the hood and available at the (diode) isolator. I included a picture of my installation. RonB 1 Likes As an Amazon Associate Lazy Daze Owners' Group earns from qualifying purchases.
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Topic: Battery Blues (Read 231 times)
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