Battery Charging

[luvrbus]

Can I hook the house batteries to the main disconnect from the engine on the bus just temporary till I get the isolators to charge the house batteries while driving both are 24 volt or am I asking for trouble. I was going to add a disconnect between the 2 to separate the banks when I parked this is just for a temporary use this week     

[Jon]

There should be no issues with doing that.

When a coach is equipped with a single large alternator charging both sets through an isolator they are "connected" together as you describe. The only reason for keeping the two sets separate is so if one set is discharged it does not impact the other.

[oldmansax]

You won't have any problems, Clifford. I've done that a couple of times in a pinch. Also, I removed the isolator entirely on my Bluebird. Mine is a 12V system but that makes no difference as long as both systems are the same voltage.

TOM

[bs4104]

Cliff: Are the both like for like battery OK,  Wet with wet or AGM with AGM, if not make sure Reg need to be set for wet then it will work but will not total charge AGM
Bruce

[luvrbus]

Damn Bruce you always throw a wrench in one of brain storms 

[bobofthenorth]

We spend a lot of time worrying about the ideal way to treat batteries.  In the real world batteries get charged and discharged with very little regard to "ideal" treatment.  They seem to survive in ag, construction and forestry without much problem.  You'll be OK.

[bevans6]

I would connect them to the battery side of the main disconnect switch, so they are in parallel with the starts.  If you connect them to the "bus" side of the disconnect, they will always be connect to the alternator, etc.  Mind you, for a permanent solution with a second disconnect or isolator you should wire to the bus side of the main switch.  I wired my house batteries to the bus side of the main disconnect, through a second disconnect switch.  Came in real handy when I lost a cell in one of the start batteries on a trip, I just threw the main disconnect open and ran off the house batteries alone for a few days till I could replace the start batteries.

Brian

[Jon]

I have wet cell batteries for the chassis (all of my buses had the same group 31 Delco 1150 chassis batteries) and my last two buses had 8D AGM batteries. The charging voltage was 27.7 or 27.8. from the alternator. When plugged in the AGMs are charged with the inverters.

Never had an issue, on either set of batteries.

[luvrbus]

Lol Bruce and I are friends he just likes to give me something to worry about when it comes to the electrical stuff, but I can usually make the DC work now AC I have a problem 
These 8D's charge off the inverters when plugged in or the generator running I want to charge them from engine driving to save generator running time
 

[Jon]

Just go ahead and do what you planned Clifford. I have charged house batteries on my coaches for years with the alternator and they were gel or AGM and I have never had premature failure.

[gumpy]

Might want to put a couple fuses on the line. We discussed that earlier this year in another thread. Other than that, I don't see a problem. It's no different than putting
a crossover relay in to connect the two banks while driving, except you're eliminating the the automatic part of the equations. :-)

[gus]

Can I hook the house batteries to the main disconnect from the engine on the bus just temporary till I get the isolators to charge the house batteries while driving both are 24 volt or am I asking for trouble. I was going to add a disconnect between the 2 to separate the banks when I parked this is just for a temporary use this week     

Mine is 12v but I connect them all the time I'm on the road, only separate when parked.

[pvcces]

It looks OK to me, Cliff. We connect and disconnect ours all the time.

Since the control panels read the negative cables, your meters and fuses ought to work fine, regardless of how you connect the positives.

Tom Caffrey