We recently purchased a Monaco Class C and I am curious about something.
On the monitor board, there is a switch to check the voltage on the batteries.
When connected to shore power, the house shows 13.6 volts and the chassis shows 11.9 volts.
Im confused as to what is the "house and "chassis"?
And which functions for what?
Thanks for the input.
* This post was
edited 05/15/08 09:37am by donee *
Chassis battery is the one under the hood which starts the motor.
The house battery runs the lights, propane sensors, furnace ignition, fridge temp sensor, water pump, etc.
The monitor switch will let you keep an eye on amperage so that you don't run the batts down too low. You should also have a switch which will let the genset throw current to the chassis battery for starting the engine if the battery gets too low, and also will let you charge the house battery with the engine alternator while driving. Hope this helps.
1993 Minnie Winnie
Class C 24'
Chevy 350
Usually pulling one of my toys
YEs it does.
I like to add, that I have three batteries on the coach.
The normal one in the engine compartment and two in the compartment on the coach.
FWIW, The engine one is a Motorcraft and the two for the coach are Interstate.
The two batteries in the coach compartment will be connected in parallel, so they function as one big battery. The voltage seen is for the pair, but is the same as each one separately. The chassis battery is a "starting battery" design, with high output capability but limited capacity. The house batteries should be of true deep cycle design, to give best total capacity.
I endorse smkettner's recommendation for the Trik-L-Start device. The 13.6 volts you report for the house batteries is fine, and indicates that your converter / charger is working ok. However, the 11.9 volt reading on the chassis battery is marginal. Even allowing for meter error, that battery was well discharged. At full charge it should read at least 12.6 volts with the engine off. I'm sure that's what prompted his recommendation. However, keep in mind that it only works when the coach is plugged in to shore power, or the generator is running. If power is available when the coach is stored, I encourage you to keep it plugged in.
* This post was
edited 05/15/08 10:02am by Caseydon *
If one of your house batteries gets weak -replace both with the same type and brand,other wise your charge will not be even-it always flows to the battery of least resistance.
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