Dual Battery Charge

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FW has incorporated into their class A motorhomes what they call  "Dual Battery Charge Control".  The following is correspondence (minor editing) with Jim Pourroy at FW Training Center regarding just how this capability is achieved, the components involved and their location in the unit.  (The location will vary by model but the description should help lead to them.)

 

 Leo,
>
> Sorry for the delay in responding, I have been out of town training.  I have always gone with the 217 Ah rating in all of my computations.  Trojan is the final word and you can go to their web site www.trojan-battery.com for the most accurate info.  I believe the T105 model designation is also a rating, 105 minutes at 75 Amps.  When I went to the web site to double check I found that I was wrong, it is 115 minutes at 75 Amps.  They also provide a rating of 447 minutes at 25 Amps which would be closer to a motor home application. This also goes to prove that amp hours are not an exact science as they vary at different rates of discharge.  You can't get 1 Amp for 217 hours or 217 Amps for 1 hour.

About the battery control center, it does indeed have an isolator that is intended to be used to charge the batteries from the alternator or inverter charger.  The way it is designed to work it activates the isolator relay (solenoid) to link the batteries when either charge source achieves a voltage of 13.3 or greater.  The activation follows a 12 to 20 second time delay.  The relay is intended to remain activated until the voltage drops below 12.6 VDC.

The solenoid that parallels the battery banks for charging  is normally located in the same compartment as the battery control center, although often out of sight.  The solenoid receives power from a white 2 pin connector located in the corner of the battery control center circuit board.  You can follow the wires from the board to the solenoid or have someone press the auxiliary start switch and find it by sound.  The auxiliary start method only works when the coach is not running, unplugged from shore power and the solenoid is no longer being powered for charging. About the battery control center, it does indeed have an isolator/auxiliary start solenoid that is intended to be used to charge the all of the batteries from the alternator or inverter charger. The way it is designed to work the battery control center pc board activates the isolator relay (solenoid) to link the batteries when either charge source achieves a voltage of 13.3 or greater. The activation follows a 12 to 20 second time delay. On initial activation the relay coil receives 12 VDC  for about 4 seconds and then drops to a 50% duty cycle @ 300 Hz.  My meter shows a voltage of 4.75 VDC. The relay is intended to remain activated until the voltage drops to the drop out level.  The drop out levels vary by circuit board revision, revisions A and B drop out at 12.2 VDC in both ignition activated and charger activated modes.  Boards with revision C and up drop out at 12.2 VDC with ignition on and 12.6 VDC when charger activated.  The change was made to retain a greater amount of charge in the auxiliary battery. If the relay never drops out and the voltage is below the drop out level, the board is defective.

If you need any additional information feel free to write.

At your service,

Jim Pourroy
Technical Service Trainer
Western Region


Pictures of Dual Battery Board Fuse and Connector - Click Here