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Does alternator charge coach battery while driving?


Mister Blu

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Fixing to head out on first lengthy trip.  

How am i to know if my coach battery is charged by alternator while driving?  

If it does, is that to say that it will also run fridge on 12V setting while driving? 

Is there some device or hardware that i can put an eye on to confirm?

 

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IF everything is working as designed your engine will charge the house battery and run a 12v refer when your driving' One thing the 12v will maintain the temp in the refer but is not powerful enough to cool thing  off.

The device that makes this is the isolator, there 2 styles. The solid state one is a rectangular metal box with a finned top. The other is a solenoid type it looks like a small cylinder.

Both will have a large dia cable from the alternator also large cables to the truck battery and house battery

Edited by WME
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Normally its under the hood mounted near the back of the driver side inner fender.

solid state M120517.1.jpg

Solenoid

IMG_4506b.jpg

 

Edited by WME
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I installed an LED volt meter under the dash that gives me the voltage that is going to the rear (coach) battery.  This volt showed me that my 3 month old isolator failed on the first day of my 2 week trip.  I would have not known about the failure until my coach battery was dead at the end of the day.  

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bob c     what brand, model of under dash volt meter did you purchase?  this appeals to me as something I may do. thanks in advance for your help. joe from dover

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wme - question - I looked at the products you provided links to. thanks. the question I have is this.... does the plug in volt meter (plug in to the cigarette lighter socket) display tell you how the coach battery is charging ? or the motor compartment battery ? ...or both ? I also liked the other product that allows for charging other devices. so same questions for that product as well. thanks in advance for your help. joe from dover

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I installed several 12v cigarette lighter all around my Toyota, in pre USB days. The plug in would have told me the status of my house batteries. If you just plug it into your dash lighter plug it will tell you your truck battery status and the charging system status. So add an 12v cigg outlet in your RV house to use the plug in on your house battery.

The fancy one just wire into a 12v line in the house and it will keep track of the battery and charging systems, both the alternator and converter. I taped in to a 12v hot going to a light fixture and just mounted one under my cabinet. The charging cords all reach far enough to rest the device on the counter top when charging.

Edited by WME
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