Truck Battery Charging February 22, 2003, 07:53:31 am Yahoo Message Number: 19219A question that I might be able to answer by reading the manual, but it is easier to ask the experts.When you are plugged into the 110 v (or running the generator), the converter charges the house batteries, but does it also charge the truck battery or does the isolation diode (relay?) prevent the charging of the truck battery?Thanks.Barry
Re: Truck Battery Charging Reply #1 – February 22, 2003, 09:51:36 am Yahoo Message Number: 19222"When you are plugged into the 110 v (or running the generator), the converter charges the house batteries, but does it also charge the truck battery?"Nope, not as far as I know. Only the engine's alternator does that.Andy Baird :-)
Re: Truck Battery Charging Reply #2 – February 22, 2003, 11:30:18 am Yahoo Message Number: 19226Barry Andy is right, there is no provision for charging the engine battery. When you are in Europe, do you leave your LD plugged in? If so, you could get a "Battery Minder", a small trickle charger for the engine battery. If it is not plugged in, consider a small solar panel for the battery. CW and others sell small panels that sit on the dash and plug into the cigarette lighter. Maybe some of the electronic wizards could suggest a way of charging the engine battery off the solar panel or coach battery without causing problems with the cross connection. Maybe using a diode or something.Larry
Re: Truck Battery Charging Reply #3 – February 22, 2003, 04:09:36 pm Yahoo Message Number: 19233Larry,We did leave it plugged
Re: Truck Battery Charging Reply #4 – February 22, 2003, 06:34:57 pm Yahoo Message Number: 19235Another discussion group Quoteindicated that you should not leave the engine battery disconnected that long, as the computer would loose it's 'memory' of the maintenance status. Any comments on that from the LD experts? Barry:If you disconnect the engine battery, when you reconnect it, just follow the instructions in your Ford manual. As I remember, you run it in idle for at least one minute to get its memory started, and shortly thereafter it will be good as new. Make sure you look it up yourself as I am telling you this from memory, and at my age memory is the second thing to go!RegardsGus
Truck battery charging Reply #5 – February 22, 2003, 07:47:47 pm Yahoo Message Number: 19236"when you are plugged into ll0, does it also charge the truck (engine) battery" Barry: No, the engine battery does not get charged when plugged into 110. My solution was to make a short jumper cable to jump the two outside terminals (bolts) on the battery isolater under the hood on my 1995 Ford 460, 23 1/2 FL. The middle bolt is from the generator. After a trip all the battries are at the same rate of charge, so when I connect to the 110 at home I put the jumper on the isolater and the battiers charge at the same rate and float at the same rate. I'm no expert, but it works for me. I'd appreciate knowing if there are any negatives to this practice. I've done it for several years when we're not using the LD for a period of time.Les Bowers
Re: Truck battery charging Reply #6 – February 23, 2003, 09:15:09 am Yahoo Message Number: 19244Les, Thanks for the information. It sounds like a good suggestion. I'll check under the hood of my LD to see if I can recognize the jumper points.I'll also take Gus's suggestion and read that section of the Ford manual about disconnecting the battery.Thanks to both for the feedback.Barry
Truck Battery Charging Reply #7 – February 22, 2003, 07:57:26 pm Yahoo Message Number: 19237You must run the engine to charge the engine battery. On the older LD the converter only has a trickle charge when plugged in or running the generater. It is faster to charge the house batteries whith the engine alternater runing about 30 or 40 minutes.