battery wiring: 1+1= 1 or 1+1=2

[17 Oaks]

Well thanks to all for your support I was able to confirm my thinking, so I built a pair of cables this morning from welding cable and the solid copper battery terminals. I turn off the battery disconnect installed, then turned on the battery disconnect and BINGO it works like a charm NOW both my batteries are getting a charge of 13.66v...

Overall the battery box on the CC is not up to my design. Its small, VERY small, it will hold 3 of the batteries it comes with which are VERY small, note in the pic the OEM batt on the right and my Grp 31 Odyssey on the left which will ONLY go in lengthways...

[Sterlingsilver]

You would be best off using all batteries of the same type and size. I get 4 golf cart batteries in mine. It's a tight fit. Using 6 volt batteries in series/parallel gives way more juice than what you have.

[Tom48]

Originally Posted by banda

It sounds like they wanted to isolate one battery so the fridge couldn't drain away all your power, but from your description of the setup, it doesn't sound like it would receive a charge from the converter.

I agree. Should be parrellel to charge both. Hope both are still undamaged. By that I mean hope neither has become so drained as to damage your batteries.

If they are separate and somehow both receive a charge from the converter/charger. Then great I guess but I do not know how that would happen.

Also curious how the residential frig runs or how long, on just one battery. My friend couldn't get enough OFF HOOK UP time out of four golf cart batteries and went to six in his unit, because of the demand from coach inverter.

[17 Oaks]

Originally Posted by Sterlingsilver

You would be best off using all batteries of the same type and size. I get 4 golf cart batteries in mine. It's a tight fit. Using 6 volt batteries in series/parallel gives way more juice than what you have.

In the pic, showing the 2 batteries, the one on the left is Grp 31, the one on the right is much smaller. This is ALL THE SPACE there is, you will not get 1 golf cart battery let alone 4 or 6, that is not happening, the battery box is tiny, 2 Grp 31's will not even remotely fit.

Originally Posted by Tom48

I agree. Should be parrellel to charge both. Hope both are still undamaged. By that I mean hope neither has become so drained as to damage your batteries.

If they are separate and somehow both receive a charge from the converter/charger. Then great I guess but I do not know how that would happen.

Also curious how the residential frig runs or how long, on just one battery. My friend couldn't get enough OFF HOOK UP time out of four golf cart batteries and went to six in his unit, because of the demand from coach inverter.

That is what caught my attention to begin with. The battery went dead adn its a 1150 amp battery and the reason why is because it was not getting charged at all. I ran the meter and there 0.00 coming in and the house battery had 13.66 coming in...that and the inside of the door there is a diagram for parallel batteries.

Take away: The dealer had it wrong.

[Steveboe]

It could be that the big difference in your set up and in the average RV is. You have a residential refrigerator that runs on 110 V. One of your batteries may be set to operate your refrigerator through a 110 V converter. The other battery is left to operate the rest of your RV.
I know of one new RV purchased by a friend of mine that has a 110 V refrigerator, larger size then usual. It will run off the 12 V system for a period of time.
i'm not certain on how it is wired as compared to yours. I think I would assume that yours was put together properly and leave well enough alone.
Good luck

[17 Oaks]

Originally Posted by Steveboe

It could be that the big difference in your set up and in the average RV is. You have a residential refrigerator that runs on 110 V. One of your batteries may be set to operate your refrigerator through a 110 V converter. The other battery is left to operate the rest of your RV.
I know of one new RV purchased by a friend of mine that has a 110 V refrigerator, larger size then usual. It will run off the 12 V system for a period of time.
i'm not certain on how it is wired as compared to yours. I think I would assume that yours was put together properly and leave well enough alone.
Good luck

Steve, not hardly, my first clue was my battery died, then throwing a meter on it it was not getting a charge as in .0.00 while the other battery was getting a charge. So I pulled both and checked wires, yep, 2 hot putting out 13.66 and both connected to ONE battery. So the ONLY way to to run more than one battery is in parallel as per the wiring diagram on the door, the dealer did NOT install correctly.

[camaraderie]

Just scanned this thread Don and it sounds like you have it solved but I am a bit concerned about paralleling an Odyssey with another battery that not only is not an Odyssey but appears to be a different size as well.
The Odyssey is an AWESOME Thin Plate Pure Lead AGM design that holds about 105 amp hours in a group 31 but may SAFELY be discharged to 20-30% and then RECHARGED at at LEAST 40-60 amps safely to provide exceptional service and economy AND high current when needed. As such it is ideal for refrigeration and inverter use BY ITSELF.
It is also fine if you couple it in parallel with another ODYSSEY of like size nd design.
It is NOT ok to pair it with a standard wet cell or agm of a different brand or size in parallel. You will quickly destroy one or the other off the same charger.
My solution would be to buy a second charger for your smaller battery. (Size to 20% of your amphour capacity) and keep them as two completely separate systems without any ability to combine them.

Your earlier photo seemed to show a pair of sears die hard platinums and no odyssey. The die hard platinum IS an odyssey...so if THAT is your second battery and it is of similar size and age...you are ok. Otherwise expect some lifecycle degradation with a different size die hard but disregard the separation advice above.

Hope that's clear and good luck.

[Kenstrucks]

Follow the picture in the battery compartment. I have a Hathaway 34re and it has a similar diagram (4 6v batteries is what mine shows) in the battery compartment. The dealer wired them separate (2 6v on one side and the other two on the other side, separate) not matching the diagram originally and the inverter battery would not stay charged enough for the refrigerator for more than maybe an hour. It was not done as per the diagram. Showed that to dealer and explained the inverter set was only getting charged when on shore power and not when connected to truck. You must have the truck charging it while driving or the inverter will drain the battery fast. They wired it as per the manufacturer diagram and all works great now. Follow manufacture recommended wiring scheme.

[CedarCreekWoody]

While I think wiring the batteries in parallel is the proper thing to do there is an option that will keep them separate and yet charge both batteries at the same time. It is called a VSR, or voltage sensing relay. These are commonly used on boats to recharge the trolling motor battery while the engine is running but not allow over use of the trolling motor to drain the power from the battery used to restart the engine. I run one on my fishing boat.

[5picker]

Was it ever determined if the inverter had charging capabilities as asked in post # 15?

If the converter charges one and the inverter charges the other (when hooked to shore power) there would be no need to parallel them.

I realize the inverter battery went dead (hence this discussion) but maybe the charge side of the inverter is inop and the dealer had the wiring right all along?

[Jay2504]

17 oaks, what size is the battery on the right, the smaller one? 3 of those might fit in that box. Can you get a measurement of how big the inside of the box is? That group 31 is only about a half inch narrower than 2 group 24 battery's turned like the battery on the right. Depending on the amount of room between the door and back wall, you might be able to get 3 group 27s in there. Jay

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by 5picker

Was it ever determined if the inverter had charging capabilities as asked in post # 15?

If the converter charges one and the inverter charges the other (when hooked to shore power) there would be no need to parallel them.

I realize the inverter battery went dead (hence this discussion) but maybe the charge side of the inverter is inop and the dealer had the wiring right all along?

My money is here ...

[17 Oaks]

Originally Posted by Jay2504

17 oaks, what size is the battery on the right, the smaller one? 3 of those might fit in that box. Can you get a measurement of how big the inside of the box is? That group 31 is only about a half inch narrower than 2 group 24 battery's turned like the battery on the right. Depending on the amount of room between the door and back wall, you might be able to get 3 group 27s in there. Jay

Not sure of its Grp and yes possible to get 3 of those in based upon my measurements.

Originally Posted by 5picker

Was it ever determined if the inverter had charging capabilities as asked in post # 15?

If the converter charges one and the inverter charges the other (when hooked to shore power) there would be no need to parallel them.

I realize the inverter battery went dead (hence this discussion) but maybe the charge side of the inverter is inop and the dealer had the wiring right all along?

All I know is the inverter only has 2 wires from it and they do not charge.

Originally Posted by Kenstrucks

Follow the picture in the battery compartment. I have a Hathaway 34re and it has a similar diagram (4 6v batteries is what mine shows) in the battery compartment. The dealer wired them separate (2 6v on one side and the other two on the other side, separate) not matching the diagram originally and the inverter battery would not stay charged enough for the refrigerator for more than maybe an hour. It was not done as per the diagram. Showed that to dealer and explained the inverter set was only getting charged when on shore power and not when connected to truck. You must have the truck charging it while driving or the inverter will drain the battery fast. They wired it as per the manufacturer diagram and all works great now. Follow manufacture recommended wiring scheme.

Battery box is 21" x 10"

Originally Posted by camaraderie

Just scanned this thread Don and it sounds like you have it solved but I am a bit concerned about paralleling an Odyssey with another battery that not only is not an Odyssey but appears to be a different size as well.
The Odyssey is an AWESOME Thin Plate Pure Lead AGM design that holds about 105 amp hours in a group 31 but may SAFELY be discharged to 20-30% and then RECHARGED at at LEAST 40-60 amps safely to provide exceptional service and economy AND high current when needed. As such it is ideal for refrigeration and inverter use BY ITSELF.
It is also fine if you couple it in parallel with another ODYSSEY of like size nd design.
It is NOT ok to pair it with a standard wet cell or agm of a different brand or size in parallel. You will quickly destroy one or the other off the same charger.
My solution would be to buy a second charger for your smaller battery. (Size to 20% of your amphour capacity) and keep them as two completely separate systems without any ability to combine them.

Your earlier photo seemed to show a pair of sears die hard platinums and no odyssey. The die hard platinum IS an odyssey...so if THAT is your second battery and it is of similar size and age...you are ok. Otherwise expect some lifecycle degradation with a different size die hard but disregard the separation advice above.

Hope that's clear and good luck.

Yes the sear Plt is an Odyssey and if you are wondering how good they are, those 2 are now over 10 years old and still cooking, sadly Sears has not carried those in years.

I cannot and will disagree with anything you say, that said.

I happened to have 2 brand new Odyssey Grp 31's @ $425 each that are new. What I intend to do is replace the smaller battery with the other Odyssey (just got to figure out where I put it, it may be down on the cattle gate???) Hopefully get to that sometime early next week so stay tuned.

I am slowed by a nagging back issue that has me barely moving and almost cannot stand upright. Guess when you spend half your adult life running around carrying 150 lbs on your back you might have some troubles down the road...LOL

[17 Oaks]

Originally Posted by camaraderie

Just scanned this thread Don and it sounds like you have it solved but I am a bit concerned about paralleling an Odyssey with another battery that not only is not an Odyssey but appears to be a different size as well.
The Odyssey is an AWESOME Thin Plate Pure Lead AGM design that holds about 105 amp hours in a group 31 but may SAFELY be discharged to 20-30% and then RECHARGED at at LEAST 40-60 amps safely to provide exceptional service and economy AND high current when needed. As such it is ideal for refrigeration and inverter use BY ITSELF.
It is also fine if you couple it in parallel with another ODYSSEY of like size nd design.
It is NOT ok to pair it with a standard wet cell or agm of a different brand or size in parallel. You will quickly destroy one or the other off the same charger.
My solution would be to buy a second charger for your smaller battery. (Size to 20% of your amphour capacity) and keep them as two completely separate systems without any ability to combine them.

Your earlier photo seemed to show a pair of sears die hard platinums and no odyssey. The die hard platinum IS an odyssey...so if THAT is your second battery and it is of similar size and age...you are ok. Otherwise expect some lifecycle degradation with a different size die hard but disregard the separation advice above.

Hope that's clear and good luck.

Just in case you did not think I was not reading your very informative post, here to ya

[camaraderie]

Originally Posted by 17 Oaks

Just in case you did not think I was not reading your very informative post, here to ya

That'll work! Enjoy 'em for a Loooooong time!

[17 Oaks]

Originally Posted by camaraderie

That'll work! Enjoy 'em for a Loooooong time!

Thank you! FYI in front of and between the lower battery post is a block of wood to keep the battery from moving and touching the door/wall, in addition there is a plastic sheet (like the kind political signs are made from) tucked in on the right side and wrapped around the front to keep the upper and any cables from touching anything.

I appreciate your sage advice and while I can make electrons do my bidding they have to be 1's and 0's, this electric thing is beyond my pay grade...