Chassis Battery

[Barrick]

Currently at an RV park till the end of January in our 2019 Jayco Alante 29s. Realized that we are leaning slightly on one side and went to adjust my hydraulic jacks, and also realized that my chassis battery is drained dead. Without knowing it I was charging some batteries from the drivers side cigarette lighter charger, and over time I drained the chassis battery. Didn’t know that this plug was on the chassis.

So now I can’t adjust the jacks because apparently they run from the now dead chassis battery.

I know I can start the engine by using the battery boost, but I’m pretty sure that won’t recharge the chassis battery until I drive for at least 30 minutes.

Is that the case, or will the engine running without driving recharge the chassis battery?

[WinnieView]

Start and adjust jacks?

[hawkster]

So you are not plugged into shore power? Your converter would charge house batteries.

Start and adjust Jack's as Seneca said above. Turn on generator will charge batteries quicker than just engine running.

Are you boondocking?

[Barrick]

Originally Posted by hawkster

So you are not plugged into shore power? Your converter would charge house batteries.

Start and adjust Jack's as Seneca said above. Turn on generator will charge batteries quicker than just engine running.

Are you boondocking?

I am hooked up to shore power, and my house batteries are fine. It’s the chassis battery that’s dead.

One of the issues is that my Alante 2019 model does not operate the jacks with the engine running. To deploy or adjust the jacks the engine has to be off. I can use the battery boost to start the engine, but that will automatically retract the jacks. Then when I shut the engine off, if my chassis battery isn’t charged, I won’t be able to deploy the jacks at all.

I drained the chassis battery by charging some lithium batteries for stuff I have using the drivers side cigarette adaptor, without realizing that this would drain the chassis battery. I also didn’t know that it’s the chassis battery that runs the jacks and not the coach batteries.

BTW I have a friend that has the same model Alante but he has a 2017, and he has to have the engine running to deploy his jacks, my model is the opposite in that my engine has to be off.

[Camper_bob]

Are you near anywhere you can get a stand alone battery charger? Or are you near an auto parts store?

The way I see it:
Option 1) Start the MH engine using the boost from the house batteries. Let it run long enough to get a charge enough on the battery to run your jacks. Short-term solution.

Option 2) Hit your local auto parts/hardware/wally world, etc. and pick up a decent battery charger. Hook it up to your chassis battery and let it put a good charge on over night. My charger also has a maintenance function where I can leave it connected and it will maintain the battery as necessary. Longer-term solution because you obviously need something to charge your chassis battery while connected to shore power. An even better long-term solution would be a trik-l-start, but I doubt you will find one of those local, you'll need to order it?

ETA: You should be able to plug it in to the post at your campsite; they will usually have a 20A household outlet. If not, you can plug it into any of the 110V powered outlets on your MH itself so long as you're plugged into shore power.

Option 3) Remove chassis battery and take it to an auto parts store and have them charge/recondition it. Re-install, and you should be good to go. But this will not address the longer-term issue of your chassis battery dying over time. You'll still want to install some kind of charging system for that.

[Barrick]

Perfect, love the trik l charger idea, will order one today on Amazon. Thanks !!

[hawkster]

Barrick, thanks for reply. I'm with Bob, charge your chassis battery with charger. Are your Jack's supposed to work with engine off? Haven't seen that before. Most are emergency brake on, engine running like your friends unit.

[WinnieView]

Originally Posted by Barrick

Perfect, love the trik l charger idea, will order one today on Amazon. Thanks !!

You may want to install a Trik-L-Start instead and never again worry about your chassis' batteries.

[Steve1152]

camper bob our 29mvs have to have the engine running and the park brake on in order to level. must be different for other rvs

[Barrick]

Originally Posted by hawkster

Barrick, thanks for reply. I'm with Bob, charge your chassis battery with charger. Are your Jack's supposed to work with engine off? Haven't seen that before. Most are emergency brake on, engine running like your friends unit.

Yup, engine has to be off and parking brake on. Even my dealer said he didn’t see that before. We’ve had the motorhome for a few months, and always have to have the engine off for the jacks. We found that out in the manual when we first tried to deploy them at the dealership.

[Mitch S]

Originally Posted by Steve1152

camper bob our 29mvs have to have the engine running and the park brake on in order to level. must be different for other rvs

Our 2016 AY has to have the engine running to level, strange that yours doesn't. Leveling seems to pull a lot of power.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by Steve1152

camper bob our 29mvs have to have the engine running and the park brake on in order to level. must be different for other rvs

Originally Posted by Mitch S

Our 2016 AY has to have the engine running to level, strange that yours doesn't. Leveling seems to pull a lot of power.

I agree it's strange that "engine off" would be an operational requirement while leveling. Like was mentioned, on our Greyhawk the parking brake must be engaged, and there is little chance there is enough voltage if the engine is NOT running. And even if there was enough voltage, it wouldn't last long as the pump takes a lot of power.

I haven't tested it in a long time, so I don't know if the engine running is an operational requirement, that's just always the way I do it so I know there's enough power.

Even if it's a "safety requirement", why not just attach the safeties to the parking brake and the transmission? If parking brake not engaged, no levelers; if transmission not in park, no levelers.

Mine will even automatically bring up the levelers ("emergency retract") if the parking brake is released during operation. You could attach the same function to the transmission so that if it's shifted out of park, it goes into auto-retract mode.

[JesseS]

Originally Posted by hawkster

Start and adjust Jack's as Seneca said above. Turn on generator will charge batteries quicker than just engine running.

Actually this is a misconception, using the generator to charge the chassis battery will be slower that running the engine. The generator powers the converter/charger, which in most cases maxes out at either 40 or 60 amps, where the alternator on the engine provides 90 amps or more. The heavy duty alternator in my Ford V-10 provides 120 amps. twice as much as most AC powered converter/chargers. I use my engine at times to do a fast charge on my house batteries, it is both quieter and faster than the generator, although it does use more fuel.

[JesseS]

My 2016 Alante needs the park brake on as well as the engine to deploy the jacks.
On another note I had a 29mv that would not charge the chassis battery from either the generator or solar connected to the house batteries, and I drained the chassis battery same as you did. I installed a switched relay between the house battery positive and the chassis battery side of the boost relay through a battery isolater, allowing me to charge both the chassis and house batteries from the solar controller when needed but preventing the chassis battery from being drained back into the house battery.
My Alante has this built in so they must have changed your model in that respect.