I'm sure others have had this same problem, so I'm passing this fix on to you who may want it. After being hooked up to shore power for two or three weeks, my vehicle batteries are so low they won,t start the engine. I know there are alternate ways to provide the cranking power, but this, I think, is a much better solution. I looked on line and finally found a unit called, Ultra Trik-L-Start at RVUpgrades.com. It only cost $53.86 S&H included, and took less than 5 minutes to install. It senses a difference in the voltage between the house & vehicle batteries, and steals a little (5 Amps max)charge from the house to charge & maintain vehicle batteries. Of course, if you're on the road, the alternator will charge H & V batteries, and this unit doesn't come into play at all. In my searching I also happened to find a tech letter from Winnebago which suggested this very same fix for their very same problem on models prior to 2006! When I recieved the unit I was surprised to see that it carries a Winnebago part number! I installed it yesterday, and my v-battery has improved from ll.375 volts to 12.2 volts. I'm looking forward to a wonderful, carefree relationship with Ultr Trik-L-Sart. I am also very excited about joining WWW.iRV2.com!

Hi -

Sorry I am a bit slow on the trigger here, but welcome to irv2 anyways. We’re really glad to have you here as a new member and are looking forward to reading your posts about your RVing experiences and adventures. You’ll find a great bunch of folks on this site who are very knowledgeable of RVing, the rigs we use, and the places we go in them. Enjoy the forums and post often.


I couldn't figure out why Monaco didn't include a chassis charger either, so I installed the same one. Much better now.


Thanks!
Ron

Most mid-high end coaches have some sort of battery controller that charges the chassis batteries from the house system (and possibly also solar, if equipped). I thought the Endeavor has this feature, but maybe not. Winnebago did not put it on many of their coach models and thus the recommendation for Trik-L-Start or similar products.

The typical battery controller/isolater design will not charge the chassis batteries unless the house batteries are at full charge, often determined by house voltage. If the house batteries don't come up to something like 13.3V or more, the relay to start chassis charging never is activated and so the chassis batteries slowly run down. This can happen if one of the house batteries is weak (drags down the system voltage) or if a connection is corroded. You never realize this is happening until the engine won't start. Use of Trik-L-Start (or just a simple trickle charger available in most auto departments or auto parts stores) eliminates the risk of this happening. However, it is not a good idea to have a 120VAC powered charging attempting to charge the chassis batteries while the engine is running and doing its own charging. This could happen if the auxiliary charger is on a circuit powered from your inverter or if you drive with the generator running.

Our Dealer said he installed a charger on all units when the vehicle is delivered to him. He said it is better for the customer, the Battery and Him. Less dead Battery jump starts. He said if you came to road test a new vehicle and it won't start? Would you feel good about buying it? Sounds like a smart dealer to me.