Okay to jump start TV from battery

[myredracer]

on your camper? I had an occasion the other day where I did not shut the doors on our newly acquired F250 with supercab tightly and I guess the interior light was on all night and the battery got drained. I had to call a tow truck to get a jump start.

If this were to happen at a campground, is it okay to jump start a TV with an RV battery? RV batteries aren't designed for starting applications but would a one-time jump start hurt anything? If okay, all I'd need to do is have a set of jumper cables rather than a charger or one of those portable emergency battery packs.

I now know to fully shut the truck doors so this may never happen again...

[Dave_Monica]

Sure it will work. May turn it over slowly as it wouldn't have the cold cranking amps of your truck battery. It'd be best that the camper is plugged into shorepower at the time.

Dave

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by Dave_Monica

Sure it will work. May turn it over slowly as it wouldn't have the cold cranking amps of your truck battery. It'd be best that the camper is plugged into shorepower at the time.

Dave

Would that not put an unduly heavy load on the converter? I would unhook from shorepower just to be safe.

[firephighter]

If the TV were in the position of towing the camper. One could simply plug the trailer lights plug in and let the converter charge the battery over a short period of time. If you had a moment to spare. It would not put a strain on the deep cycle battery of the camper at that rate.

[caper]

Unless your battery is a true deep cycle battery you could use it to jump start. Most RV batteries are marine batteries and do have a cold cranking rating.

[dmf564]

I would not do it with the battery hooked up to the TT at all. The wiring in the trailer is not designed for that kind of draw. As far as using that battery for a jump. If you have a gas engine then yeah a one time shot maybe alright but if you have a diesel don't even think about it.

[jevanb]

Originally Posted by dmf564

you have a gas engine then yeah a one time shot maybe alright but if you have a diesel don't even think about it.

Please explain?? Because I remove 1 battery when I take the truck to the track, so I can shed weigh. My diesel runs and starts just fine on 1 battery

[Dave_Monica]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

Would that not put an unduly heavy load on the converter? I would unhook from shorepower just to be safe.

I would think that the converter would go into boost mode and supply 14.4V (the max) to the battery. What would be the harm other than that?

Dave

[dmf564]

Originally Posted by jevanb

Please explain?? Because I remove 1 battery when I take the truck to the track, so I can shed weigh. My diesel runs and starts just fine on 1 battery

A deep cycle battery by design is made for long discharge of amperage at a slow rate. This is done with larger lead plates within the battery. A car battery has very thin plates within the cells. This allows for rapid discharge of amperage needed to turn over the motor. With the deep cycle, if your using it to start your diesel truck where the demand for the cold cranking amps is double of what a gas engine is, you run a serious risk of over drawing your battery and greatly shorting its life. Not only that, but you are not supplying the right amount of power to your starter. Yes it is starting and everything is what you think is fine, but your making your starter brushes work overtime by not giving the right amount of power to do its job. Which shortens the life of your starter.
I'll say this, if it works for you, fine. But there are risks when you use something for something other than its intended purpose.

[myredracer]

To answer dmf654, I would only connect directly to the RV battery terminals. If I had to, I would lift the RV battery out of the box to closer to the TV.

I vaguely seem to recall that if you discharge a battery too fast (like in jump starting) you can cause buckling of the internal plates and then you've damaged your battery. I am guessing that a quick jump to get the TV (gasoline) running should be fine?

[dmf564]

Originally Posted by myredracer

To answer dmf654, I would only connect directly to the RV battery terminals. If I had to, I would lift the RV battery out of the box to closer to the TV.

I vaguely seem to recall that if you discharge a battery too fast (like in jump starting) you can cause buckling of the internal plates and then you've damaged your battery. I am guessing that a quick jump to get the TV (gasoline) running should be fine?

In a pinch yeah I would guess it would do the job. To depend on it regularly not a good idea.

[ken0042]

Depending on how big of a hurry you are in, I would remove the battery from the truck and put it in place of the deep cycle battery in the TT. (Assuming you have shore power.)

If you don't have shore power, I would remove the battey from the TT and hook it up with the jumper cables to the truck. Then leave it for an hour to let it charge up the truck battery a bit.

[rotorhead1250]

I was camping in the woods and diesel wouldn't start because batts were drained. Pulled camper battery (Interstate) and hooked it up to one of the truck battery connections and fired it up. Put battery back in camper tray and went home. Worked like a champ. So yea, it works.

[Himcules]

the battery boast switch in many RV's is essentially this. They bridge in parallel the house batteries to the chassis batteries to aid in starting the motor when the chassis batteries are drained.

it's not something you should do often or for long periods of time as deep cycle batteries weren't designed to give that many amps that quickly, but yes you can. the factory is already giving you that option in class a and c rv's for sure.

[tomjsas]

I'm also surprised it would run the battery down. Most modern vehicles like my 2011 Chevy have battery run down protection for just such things. If a dome, reading or cargo lamp are on they will automatically be shut down to preserve the battery.