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dave17352

LINCOLN, NE

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Joined: 09/20/2004

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Posted: 04/29/12 08:26am

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I just purchased a used lance TC. I have a 2011 Chevy Duramax. I was curious, how important is a battery isolator. Also is it more difficult to install one with a deisel because of two batterys. I don't plan to use this TC alot and was thinking about not installing one. What are the dangers of not installing one?

Thanks
Dave

PS I have been having a heck of a time getting on RVNET the past few days, anybody else having the same issue?

narcodog

Georgia

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Posted: 04/29/12 09:13am

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Your Lance should already have a separator installed. If you don't have one the the house battery's my drain the truck battery's.

AnEv942

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Posted: 04/29/12 09:57am

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Very important if camper can draw form truck when not running. Need to verify thats not the case. If required to add somthing dual batteries doesnt affect difficulty- single charge line going to camper.

Yes past few mornings-RV.net portal painfully slow or simply fails to load. Though what I use RV.net there are other routes that allow access-seemingly with no issues-another subject-theres a thread going in the -hmmm cant access-in tech section. Wonder if this will post..
there it is have another browser going took 5 minuets to open
http://forums.trailerlife.com/Index.cfm/fuseaction/listings/forum/15442691.cfm
I was using other portal that was working now same issues?

HJGyswyt

Buckley Washington

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Posted: 04/29/12 10:02am

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Isolator Thread

I posted a similar question not too long ago so I linked it here above if it’s of any help. I think for simplicity sake I’ll just unplug the camper plug and leave my charge line alone. And yes I too have had problems logging into RV.net recently, or even going back to old posts in history. Not sure what’s going on there. Hans

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ScottG

Bothell Wa.

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Posted: 04/29/12 10:07am

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My advice is this, if you have a diode based isolator then make sure you have an easy way to bypass it when it fails. Believe me, it will do so at the worst possible time!

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c.traveler2

Moreno Valley,Ca.

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Posted: 04/29/12 10:34am

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dave17352 wrote:

It's very important to have a battery isolator for you don't want to accidently drain your truck batties.As for being a diesel run your hot wire from your primairy battery of as least a 8 guage strained wire(min). I had installed a battery isolator from Sure Power
during the first year I had bought my 2002 Lance 815. They are easy to install, I placed mine under the sink where the power comes in.

2007 F-250 4x4 /6.0 PSD/ext cab/LB/camper pkg..Lance 815/ 85 watts solar panel

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pa traveler

usa

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Posted: 04/29/12 05:54pm

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What is best way to check if it is working properly? I have a multimeter,or do you have to raise truck camper and unplug and plug camper? What tells you it is correct. After they had a recall,I changed mine but still dont know how to tell if its good now.

big whitey

raleigh,nc

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Posted: 04/29/12 06:46pm

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HJGyswyt wrote:

wnjj

Cornelius, Oregon

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Posted: 04/29/12 09:01pm

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pa traveler wrote:

Here's a way to tell (assuming the isolator normally only allows the truck to charge the camper and not the reverse):

Plug the camper into shore power and check the voltage at the camper battery. Since the camper's charger should be on, it should read 13 5V or higher. Then check the at the truck battery and see that it is still down below 13V. Then unplug the camper from shore power and check the camper battery again. It should now be back down below 13V. Start the truck and then check if the camper battery is back up above 13.5V as the truck should be charging it.

This will check that the isolator is open when it should be a closed when it should be.

uScott

SLC, UT

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Posted: 04/29/12 10:36pm

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My Lance came with a solid-state isolator. The first night out, with a weak camper battery, it sucked my truck battery dry. If I'd been in the boonies instead of an NPS campground, I'd have been stranded.

Later, with the camper off the truck and fitted with solar panels and an awesome battery, that stupid isolator was sitting there getting too hot to touch, wasting my solar power and pulling my battery down.

I do not trust solid-state battery isolators, not at all, not even a little bit. I completely bypassed it, and put a conventional relay-type isolator on my truck to protect my truck batteries.

The difference on the truck is nil, one battery or ten, you treat at as a single bank.

2001 Lance 1121 TC loaded
1998 Dodge 3500 QC CTD DRW