07-23-2014, 07:13 AM
hi all,
i put the trik-l-charge on the 90. my 02 has the xantrex/heart echo charge. there is an upgraded version that charges up to 15a (vs the 5a of the triklcharge).
i think there may be some confusion as to how they work. the connections are simple enough. one wire to the house and one to the charging batteries. (can be hooked directly to the batteries, or to the battery isolator, or to the merge solenoid.)
they "steal" current from the house batteries to charge the starting batteries when it dectets a 1/2 volt difference. that said, it ONLY does that when the house batteries are being charged by the inverter charger. when they are not being charged, the unit is inactive.
so, if you are dry camping, it will not pull from your house batteries unless you have the generator running.
in my case, the starting batteries were dead last week, and it was plugged in and charging the house batteries, that means i have something wrong with one or more of my starting batteries or a bad ground on the starting side or bad positive connection on the positive side. i will find out later when i am back at the coach. it did start by using the mergre (on mine called emergency start) as it should have. in one position of the 3 way rocker switch it did nothing (meaning that is the side that powers the solenoid with the starting batteries) and the other position it worked (because it used the house batteries to power the merge solenoid to combine the two battery banks.)and barely started the series 60. (because the starting batteries were drawing down all the combined batteries together)
many are confused as to why there are 3 positions on the merge/emergency start solenoid. and that is why. middle off, up and down each respectively power the solenoid to combine the battery banks by either the house or starting batteires depending on which is wired to what side of the switch.
the echocharger, triklstart and amplstart all do basically the same thing. the echocharger being twice the price of the biggest of the other two.
tom
i put the trik-l-charge on the 90. my 02 has the xantrex/heart echo charge. there is an upgraded version that charges up to 15a (vs the 5a of the triklcharge).
i think there may be some confusion as to how they work. the connections are simple enough. one wire to the house and one to the charging batteries. (can be hooked directly to the batteries, or to the battery isolator, or to the merge solenoid.)
they "steal" current from the house batteries to charge the starting batteries when it dectets a 1/2 volt difference. that said, it ONLY does that when the house batteries are being charged by the inverter charger. when they are not being charged, the unit is inactive.
so, if you are dry camping, it will not pull from your house batteries unless you have the generator running.
in my case, the starting batteries were dead last week, and it was plugged in and charging the house batteries, that means i have something wrong with one or more of my starting batteries or a bad ground on the starting side or bad positive connection on the positive side. i will find out later when i am back at the coach. it did start by using the mergre (on mine called emergency start) as it should have. in one position of the 3 way rocker switch it did nothing (meaning that is the side that powers the solenoid with the starting batteries) and the other position it worked (because it used the house batteries to power the merge solenoid to combine the two battery banks.)and barely started the series 60. (because the starting batteries were drawing down all the combined batteries together)
many are confused as to why there are 3 positions on the merge/emergency start solenoid. and that is why. middle off, up and down each respectively power the solenoid to combine the battery banks by either the house or starting batteires depending on which is wired to what side of the switch.
the echocharger, triklstart and amplstart all do basically the same thing. the echocharger being twice the price of the biggest of the other two.
tom
2002 45'8" Newell Coach 608 Series 60 DDEC4/Allison World 6 Speed HD4000MH