Adding additional battery

hobbssb

Member
When I asked Pleasure Way about adding an additional coach battery, below is the reply I received.
Do you agree?

"The Sprinter charging system is designed for 1 auxiliary battery. If you
add another battery it may overload the charging system.

Mercedes Benz warned us against installing 2 coach batteries."

John Mattern
Pleasure Way Ind.
 

autostaretx

Erratic Member
You're probably seeing the effect (consequences?) of too-accurate German engineering.
The normal charging system probably was not designed to handle long-period overloads (i.e. if you want more current, buy the supersized optional alternator).
Let's assume that the charging system can:
(a) easily handle one (the starter) battery at a low state of charge
(b) safely (but perhaps running a bit warm) handle two (one starter, one aux) batteries at fairly low states of charge.

But when you add a third (2nd aux) low battery, you're now running at 3 times the "easy" load, and 50% above the "safe" load.

If you never run your batteries into those "low states of charge", then you'd probably still be safe with two aux batteries.
But if you ever *did* "flatten" the batteries, then you'd be in the risky zone.
And MB would be very unwise to recommend such usage.

One answer would be to have an "intelligent" battery controller between the Sprinter's charger and the battery bank.
Among its duties would be to limit the current demands that charging the batteries puts on the Sprinter.
(thus extending the number of running hours needed to bring the aux batteries up to full charge).
Another set of answers would be a mix of: bigger alternator, perhaps a 2nd alternator, other battery switching systems (perhaps split the battery bank so that only one aux battery is charged at a time? This is similar to the "smart controller" option)

--dick
 

mondmn70

New member
I have two aux batteries installed on my 2006 Plateau but I have an autoreset 30 amp circuit breaker in the charging system and I am careful to not run the batteries very low. This is particularly important if you use AGM batteries as they can draw a lot of current when low.
 

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