Charging Chassis Battery

DandLBart

New member
Forest. The cab cig lighter should be connected only to the chassis or starter battery. The house batteries are separate. Even though 12.4 is a good charge for the chassis battery, I think it should be more like 12.9 to 13.2 full charge. Start you motor and check your battery panel in the coach. Both chassis and house batteries should go up to 14.1 while charging. If there is a solar panel, your house batteries should read 13.1 or 13.2. The chassis battery will remain at 12.4 to 12.9. The electronics of the chassis will draw on the chassis battery over time. That is what I am trying to resolve because my coach sits for a couple weeks at a time. It is not practical to do a quick disconnect on the chassis batter like you do with the house battery disconnect. On my truck, the cig lighter and 12V cig lighter will stay charged for a while but will eventually cut off. I have not checked my 12V cig plug on the Sprinter to see if it stays charged all the time.
 

Kevin.Hutch

2011 Mercedes 313 906
Originally Posted by Mooneypaul View Post
I also have started using a solar maintainer connected to the cig lighter that is always hot. I was looking for a way to bring the starter batt to full charge. Even after driving a long distance it only gets to about 12.4 volts. That is not a full charge correct?

The cigarette lighter will put juice to the house batteries only, not the starter battery.
If you are talking about the Mercedes standard cigarette lighter sockets the one in the ash tray and the one below were originally connected to the chassis/starter battery the one in the ask tray via the starter key switch and the other direct.

If you are talking about an aftermarket cigarette lighter socket it would be connected to which ever battery the installer connected it to, but most likely the house battery.

If they installed a bi-directional VSR then yes it will charge both. If they installed a shore powered battery charger connect it or your cigarette lighter charger then measure the voltage at the jump start post under the bonnet that will soon tell you if it is charging the chassis/starter battery.
 
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It was my understanding that the lower cig plug, which is hot with the key off, is only connected to the starter battery. I drove about 6 hours yesterday and the starter battery as indicated on the one place readout was 12.6 volts. I have never seen it go higher than that.

I connected my 4.8 watt solar maintainer so I will see if it can maintain or not. Plenty of sun here in FL.

Thanks for all the comments.
 

wanderso

New member
It was my understanding that the lower cig plug, which is hot with the key off, is only connected to the starter battery. I drove about 6 hours yesterday and the starter battery as indicated on the one place readout was 12.6 volts. I have never seen it go higher than that.



I connected my 4.8 watt solar maintainer so I will see if it can maintain or not. Plenty of sun here in FL.



Thanks for all the comments.


When parked if you don't have access to power or solar, you can reduce chassis battery drain by disconnecting the negative battery lead from a quick disconnect that is right above the gas pedal. That will stop the parasitic loads.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

The Heathen

New member
Hello all, I have a question regarding solar maintainers. I like the idea of mounting a solar panel on the roof and have it charge my auxiliary battery as well as my starter battery. I found a charge controller that is for dual battery charging, meaning it will monitor and charge each battery independently (if I understand correctly). My question is, where should I hook up to each battery? Do I have to directly to each battery, or is there a connection that can be made under the driver seat?
 

az7000'

2007 Navion on a 2006 3500 chassis
Hello all, I have a question regarding solar maintainers. I like the idea of mounting a solar panel on the roof and have it charge my auxiliary battery as well as my starter battery. I found a charge controller that is for dual battery charging, meaning it will monitor and charge each battery independently (if I understand correctly). My question is, where should I hook up to each battery? Do I have to directly to each battery, or is there a connection that can be made under the driver seat?

Search Trik-L-Start Problem solved.
 

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