using car to charge?

[pootnic]

Has anyone tried to charge their battery(deep cycle) at a camp site by using there truck;either by hooking it up in parallel or if it isn't to dead, start your truck and run it for awhile to top it off?
If you were to do it in parallel,would you hook it up before you start the engine or could you do it after it was running?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: using car to charge?

Yes you can do it. Doesn't matter whether car is running or not. At more than $3.50/gallon of fuel that's an expensive way to charge a battery and will probably annoy your neighbors as well.

 

[JCF350]

Re: using car to charge?

It would work to an extent. Car alternator systems these day's are designed to run the vehicle with some left over to charge the battery.

 

[Boatist]

Re: using car to charge?

It will work fine by if discharged probably take 8 hours or more.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: using car to charge?

And by the time you use the gas to charge it, you could have bought a whole new battery.

 

[gstanton]

Re: using car to charge?

Those of us with travel trailers do it all the time. In fact, we use deep cycle RV/Marine batterie(s) just like boats. Usually, the tow vehicle (and travel trailer) has a 7 pin connector, one pin of which is a charging line coming from the alternator. This allows the trailer battery to be charged while traveling... or, when the tow vehicle's engine is running. The tow vehicle usually has a diode that won't allow the trailer to drain the tow vehicle's battery when the engine isn't running. My experience is that it takes about an hour of driving to charge the battery.

How you're gonna hook your boat battery in, is a safety issue, but it can be done.

Here's a website that will have tons of info and experts:
http://www.goodsamclub.com/cforum/index.cfm/fuseaction/index.cfm

 

[pootnic]

Re: using car to charge?

Thanks for all the information
Some of the campsites I go to have no electric,I just thought if I was going to travel to another site(couple hours away) I could top off the battery a bit,it's good to see that I can.
Thanks again

 

[rndn]

Re: using car to charge?

You should also look at the small solar chargers.