ronaldt09 Report post Posted April 19, 2012 When connecting the charger to my batteries which are wired in parallel if I hook up one battery will it charge all batteries including chassis battery? Can I hook up charger say positive to one battery and negative to other house battery or should I disconnect bother batteries and charge one at a time.... Thanks Ron Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wolfe10 Report post Posted April 19, 2012 Ron, Welcome to the FMCA Forum. You have asked two different questions. 1. Can an external charger be used to charge two 12 VDC batteries wired in parallel at the same time? YES. Connect to one battery's positive and other battery's negative (best). But it will still work if you connect both positive and negative to just one battery. Obivously, if these are 6 VDC batteries wired in series, you would need to put the positive lead on the positive terminal going to house positive and the negative on the other battery's negative (the one that goes to house ground). 2. Will this charge the chassis battery? CAN'T ANSWER THAT ONE. There are a lot of different ways that two battery banks can be wired-- yes some will charge the chassis battery (i.e. Xantrex Echo charger). With a voltmeter you can tell very quickly if charging the house bank also charges the chassis battery bank. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rossboyer Report post Posted April 19, 2012 Hello Ron: The answer is 'It depends'. Do you have 6 volt batteries where two batteries are connected in series and there could be two of those series connected sets connected in parallel? Or you could have two (or more) 12 volt batteries connected in parallel? Normally the converter (120 volt AC to 12 DC) will charge your batteries. A converter may be inside your inverter. Different manufacturers have differennt systems to charge batteries. Some will charge the chassis battery(s) first and then switch to the coach battery(s) and charge them. Others only charge the coach batteries. Asssuming that you have cleaned all the battery connections and have checked the water level (The level should just cover the plates. After charging recheck the level to be to the fill mark, sometimes this is a split ring inside the battery.) If you do not have a converter and want to charge your battery(s) with a stand alone battery charger, connect the positive clamp to the first coach battery's positive post. There should be a very heavy cable (wire) connected to this battery post going into the coach. There may be other cables connected to other batteries or monitor systems, also. Connect the negative clamp to the negative post of the last battery in the series. There should be another very heavy cable going into the coach, also. The battery charger should be set to 12 volts because I do not know of any coaches that use 6 volt batteries where they are not connected in series which results in 12 volts. If you post your coach make, model and year; a member can reply to your specific coach configuration. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
