Starting truck with the house battery

[Beach]

Well I've seen posts on it here before and didn't give it much thought until Sunday when it was time to leave and the truck battery was dead. Popped the hood, threw the switch/breaker and the truck fired right up. Time for a new truck battery and will remove the fuse for the cargo lamp that comes on every time you open the truck doors. Battery is original(8yrs), works fine if started each day, but I knew it was way past prime and had always carried a back up for such things when heading into back areas.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Well I've seen posts on it here before and didn't give it much thought until Sunday when it was time to leave and the truck battery was dead. Popped the hood, threw the switch/breaker and the truck fired right up. Time for a new truck battery and will remove the fuse for the cargo lamp that comes on every time you open the truck doors. Battery is original(8yrs), works fine if started each day, but I knew it was way past prime and had always carried a back up for such things when heading into back areas.

How is your house battery wired into the truck one and where is the house battery?
I have always kept that in the back of my mine.I carry jumpers if i need to connect the house to truck.
My battery in in the front of the camper under the seat.
Thanks for sharing.
Frank

 

[SunMan]

I did that once but i had to pull my battery from my camper and use my cables. It was a good feeling as it would have been a long walk or wait.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

How is your house battery wired into the truck one and where is the house battery?
I have always kept that in the back of my mine.I carry jumpers if i need to connect the house to truck.
My battery in in the front of the camper under the seat.
Thanks for sharing.
Frank

Frank, it sounds like he bypassed the separator relay, but if that's the case, it's a lot of current going back into the truck on a start.

 

[pvstoy]

8 years! you got more than the average life out that battery....

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Frank, it sounds like he bypassed the separator relay, but if that's the case, it's a lot of current going back into the truck on a start.

Yeh seems like a lot of "juice" going through the small wires back to the truck battery.
I would use jumpers.Carry a set that will reach between both batteries.
Hope to not have the need to do that.
Frank

 

[Beach]

My house battery + is connected to the truck battery + through a 30a blue seas toggle type breaker(acts as a switch also). I connected the house battery - to the truck chassis where the truck battery - is grounded. Ran it to the drivers side of the truck bed and installed a Marinco twist lock troll motor plug. Wire used was jacketed10ga marine grade. If I was to redo do it ever, I would use 8ga wire. I had a bunch of 10ga left over from a boat job and its hard to beat free. I very seldom use this circuit as the fridge stays on propane most times unless 110v is avail. and the solar panel seems to keep the camper battery up fine for the other 12v accessories. The truck always fires right up, so I'm not worried about the amount of current draw for such a short time period(3 or 4 sec). I would break out the jumper cables if I had to do a lot of cranking though.

 

[takesiteasy]

This is one of the features of the IBS battery system that I have in the truck. I can combine the batteries for jump by simply pushing a button on the controller mounted in the cab. Both batteries are in the engine bay but they wouldn't need to be. I haven't had the need to use it yet but I like having the feature available.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

This is one of the features of the IBS battery system that I have in the truck. I can combine the batteries for jump by simply pushing a button on the controller mounted in the cab. Both batteries are in the engine bay but they wouldn't need to be. I haven't had the need to use it yet but I like having the feature available.

That is interesting! Sounds like a pretty nice way of doing things.

 

[Beach]

Blue sea has some different start relay/isolators that I considered, but in the end I chose simple and manual. here is a link. http://www.bluesea.com/products/category/Automatic_Charging_Relays

 

[ntsqd]

Blue sea has some different start relay/isolators that I considered, but in the end I chose simple and manual. here is a link. http://www.bluesea.com/products/category/Automatic_Charging_Relays

On my old Suburban I ran one of those in parallel with a marine battery bank switch. "Self Jump-Starting" meant that I had to open the hood, but I didn't and don't see that as a negative. It is large, intentional motions like that that protect me from my own brain-fade.
I have that system set aside for the FJ-60 once it is operational.