So to the best of my poking around knowledge, my auxillary battery charging system looks like this :
Warning: I'm very new to thinking about electricity. So, my understanding is that when the switch (which is in the cab by the steering wheel) is down, the truck battery activates the solenoid (12v) through that wire. Then power flows through the other wire from the truck battery through the solenoid to the coach battery (or is it possible for it to flow both ways?). The truck will not start if the switch is down.
This is pretty different from other RV systems, right? Doesn't the alternator usually charge the coach battery through the isolator, rather than via the truck battery? Can you charge batteries in series like this?
I've been having trouble with the truck dying on me, both while driving and when it's sat for bit, and especially when I have the lights etc on, and so I'm wondering if maybe this is the culprit (or it could be I just haven't fully figured out how to work the ststem). It's also worth noting that the solenoid terminal connected to the truck battery (+) looks all rusty. I'm tempted to just disconnect the whole isolator system from the truck battery and see if that solves things, or at least helps me narrow down the issue to the alternator or the wiring between the alternator and the battery (I bought a new battery yesterday, so that's shouldn't be the problem from this point forward). Does that seem like a terrible idea? Then at least I can charge the aux battery with my generator and not have to worry about draining power from the truck battery.
If all the parts are working, is this even a good system for charging the back battery?
Thank you all for your help! It's all such a puzzle
