Hey guys,
So as you might have seen I recently purchased a new to me van! It's a ford cargo that already has an auxiliary battery system set up, and I have a few questions about it. I've already looked through some related threads here and it's been helpful... but I still have some questions.
I drained my starter a few days ago so I want to understand how all of this works so I don't strand myself. It sat for a couple of days and I used some house power, but I thought the solenoid isolated the starter battery? I jumped from another car, but I am reading that you can jump from the house (but also hearing it's not so good?).
I have a Die Hard Platinum house battery(31M) and tripp-lite 1250W inverter (with a plug for shore power). It has a solenoid but I'm not sure what kind it is - looks like an 80A, a silver one without any markings on it that i can see. how do I know if it's still working properly?
My system is hooked up like this (sorry no diagram):
-house battery connects to inverter.
-house battery connects to solenoid - connects two wires going to front - starter and "on"? (i don't know what that means in the diagrams i've been looking at)
-house battery connects to a switch - connects to LED lights, roof vent, sink pump
-house battery connects to a fuse panel - connects to LED lights, roof vent, sink pump
What is the switch for? Is that just to turn off everything at once? does it prevent the house battery from charging? I don't think it's that kind of switch is it?
My big questions are these: how do I know if the solenoid is working? Is there a way to know if the house battery is charged or working? I just don't want to drain the starter when i'm out camping without another vehicle.
One final much less important question... how difficult is it to hook up the radio into this system? there is a spot for one more fuse and I think it would be easy to hook it up the same as the lights, vent, and sink. Except how do I hook it up to the radio itself? I just installed it so I'm familiar with the wiring behind it (just the simple part of connecting it to the wiring harness).
Thanks everyone
So as you might have seen I recently purchased a new to me van! It's a ford cargo that already has an auxiliary battery system set up, and I have a few questions about it. I've already looked through some related threads here and it's been helpful... but I still have some questions.
I drained my starter a few days ago so I want to understand how all of this works so I don't strand myself. It sat for a couple of days and I used some house power, but I thought the solenoid isolated the starter battery? I jumped from another car, but I am reading that you can jump from the house (but also hearing it's not so good?).
I have a Die Hard Platinum house battery(31M) and tripp-lite 1250W inverter (with a plug for shore power). It has a solenoid but I'm not sure what kind it is - looks like an 80A, a silver one without any markings on it that i can see. how do I know if it's still working properly?
My system is hooked up like this (sorry no diagram):
-house battery connects to inverter.
-house battery connects to solenoid - connects two wires going to front - starter and "on"? (i don't know what that means in the diagrams i've been looking at)
-house battery connects to a switch - connects to LED lights, roof vent, sink pump
-house battery connects to a fuse panel - connects to LED lights, roof vent, sink pump
What is the switch for? Is that just to turn off everything at once? does it prevent the house battery from charging? I don't think it's that kind of switch is it?
My big questions are these: how do I know if the solenoid is working? Is there a way to know if the house battery is charged or working? I just don't want to drain the starter when i'm out camping without another vehicle.
One final much less important question... how difficult is it to hook up the radio into this system? there is a spot for one more fuse and I think it would be easy to hook it up the same as the lights, vent, and sink. Except how do I hook it up to the radio itself? I just installed it so I'm familiar with the wiring behind it (just the simple part of connecting it to the wiring harness).
Thanks everyone