Battery Questions


wdbowers

New Member
I have a 1985 Allegro Class A. The only Battery in the Joey Tray starts the Generator. There are several other cables that I assume are to provide 12V power to the coach. Can anyone say what type are needed and are they wired in sequence somehow? Does the Generator have batteries separate from the coach? A drawing would be helpful. I tried hooking all the reds to positve on the 1 battery present and all the blacks to negative and got some scary results. The switch box began to smoke. Since then I have left it alone.
 

Kirk

Senior Member
Battery Questions

Are we to take it by this that the wires are not connected to the battery? You will have two separate batteries, one at the front, near the engine to start the chassis engine and the other supplies power to start the generator and to supply 12V to the coach. Your coach battery should be a 12V, deep cycle battery. The generator does not have a battery. In an Allegro, you should also have a switch on the dash that is labeled "Emergency Start." If so, you can use that to connect the two electrical systems together. If you want to start the genset without the battery for the coach working, just start the chassis engine, then hold down the emergency start and you should be able to crank the genset to start it.

It would be very difficult to tell you what wires go where without seeing it. Do you have a meter to check the voltages and such? Are you familiar with electrical systems? Also, did you just buy the RV and the wires are not connected, or how did they come loose?
 

wdbowers

New Member
Battery Questions

Thanks for the reply, the part about the function of the emergency start was helpful. We bought our old RV at an estate sale and there was nothing in the battery tray except for some wires and corrosion. NOW In the Joey Box I have one standard automotive battery. That is not a problem as I really have had little need for the 12v capability in all the outings we have had so far but I would like to have my old rig as close to straight as possible and you never know when you might need a backup system. It has a red positve cable and a black negative and the genset starts from the generator or the remote control on the dash. There are also several other sets of cables. I tried putting all the reds on the same terminal of the battery I mentioned before and all the blacks on the other and I had something bad wrong because the coach began to get to stinking like burning wire so I disconnected them and went on with life. What other items on the coach would have their own connection to the battery other than the main 12v supply. Would the fresh water pump and the refridgerator have their own cables to the batteries?
 
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