Royale battery configuration

[philip t. dickinson]

I just finished changing what I thought was the generator starting
battery on my 78 Royale. My coach has three batteries in the front. A
bank of two on the pass. side
and one on the drivers side. After disconnecting the drivers side
(generator ?)
battery I still had juice to
1. start the engine
2. run the house lights
3. start the generator
This doesn't seem right. Any one have any thoughts.

thanks

Phil
78 Royale GO BLUE

 

[jerry hartley]

I have a 76 Royale which has only 2 batteries, both up front on the
passenger side. There is an empty battery bracket on the drivers side
just above the steering gear but no abondoned wires or evidence of use.
I have a Kohler generator (apparently original instalation) with no
battery in the back. Jerry hartley

>
> I just finished changing what I thought was the generator starting
> battery on my 78 Royale. My coach has three batteries in the front. A
> bank of two on the pass. side
> and one on the drivers side. After disconnecting the drivers side
> (generator ?)
> battery I still had juice to
> 1. start the engine
> 2. run the house lights
> 3. start the generator
> This doesn't seem right. Any one have any thoughts.
>
> thanks
>
> Phil
> 78 Royale GO BLUE

 

[byron maxwell]

Phil, Chuck is probably closer to the original configuration. Have a friend
who swears that Coachmen let each electrician do what he wanted ... and
changed each day.

Sounds like a PO modified yours. Process for identifying is too involved to
try to do here. If you will contact me perhaps I can help you figure out
how yours is wired. maxwell or 830 816 3004
byron maxwell

 

[ron keener]

my 78 Birchaven also has the 3 front battery setup - it appears that the
'original' setup was the:

the driver side battery and one of the passenger side are cabin
batteries - the remaining passenger side is the engine battery

the way to tell is to trace the cable going to the engine starter back
to the battery - it should go to one side of the boost relay then
directly to the battery

the other two batties will go to the other side of the boost relay by
one means or another

I reworked the configuration - the driver side battery is now a standard
lead acid - the hot lead goes from the battery across the top of the
radiator to the boost relay and then directly to the engine starter -
there is a post just above the booster relay that is labeled 'engine +'
that has leads for dash etc.

the two passenger side batteries are deep cycle marine - they are wired
in parallel - the hot leads go to the 'other' side of the boost relay -
a cable goes from there to the back of the cabin and the Onan - so there
are 3 heavy cables tied to the cabin side of the booster relay

now my installation is different here - my battery isolator failed so I
made temporary repairs that have become permanent - I took the
alternator lead off the center of the isolator and attached it to the
engine side of the boost relay - when I am mobile (or engine is running)
I set the boost switch in - this allows the alternator to charge the
cabin batteries - when engine is off i set boost off to isolate the
engine battery - it is a MANUAL operation so it is possible I will
'forget' and could run down all three batteries but in my situation I
very seldom use the cabin batteries for long periods of time without
having the Onan running

works for me

there was a comment a couple weeks ago about the boost switch not
working if the cabin batteries are too low - exactly right - the hot
lead on the booster relay comes from the cabin battery - the hot control
lead of the relay is just an inch from the engine battery post on the
relay - if the cabin batteries are too low to trigger the relay just
start the engine then use a small screwdriver to short from the relay
hot control post to the engine battery post - make sure that the engine
is running because the low house batteries will immediately draw lots of
current from the engine battery to balance out the three batteries - you
will hear the alternator pull down - if I am in that situation I usually
get the Onan running at that point and then switch the boost off - this
lets the Onan charge the cabin batteries and you can turn the engine off
after a couple minutes after it has a chance to bring the engine battery
back up to full charge

- --

ron keener near Austin, Texas http://MidAmericaBreedingTech.com
**************************************************************
* proud owner of classic 1978 GMC Birchaven motorhome
**************************************************************

 

[bartz paul]

Phil:

I have the same setup on my 78 Royale as you. In effect, you'll find that
you have two house batteries. If you follow the routing of the red
(positive) battery cables to their connections on the passenger side floor
pan inside the right front access door, you'll also see how they are ganged
together.

Recently, I removed the second battery on the passenger side with no
noticeable effects.

Paul Bartz

From: Philip T. Dickinson [mailto:dickinson]
Sent: Friday, September 03, 1999 10:21 PM

I just finished changing what I thought was the generator starting battery
on my 78 Royale. My coach has three batteries in the front. A bank of two
on the pass. Side and one on the drivers side. After disconnecting the
drivers side (generator ?) battery I still had juice to
1. start the engine
2. run the house lights
3. start the generator
This doesn't seem right. Any one have any thoughts.