additionally...

kinda sounds like the switch to combine the engine (chassis) & house batteries isn't actually combining them....you sure theres no isolation relay in-between the chassis & house batteries (as is usually the case)?

I'd put a load tester on the house batteries and see what the amperage is...AND then id combine the batteries and test the house batteries again to see if theres and increase in amperage.

Harbor Freight: battery load tester

I'm sure it combines them. The last picture above shows the big black round switch on the lower right. That allows you to select the different battery groups. If the wire from the front battering is only a small gauge wire it would not pass much amperage. Therefore not much help powering the inverter? I know that combining them works to allow the Iota to also charge the truck batteries.

none of your pictures can be seen (at least by me).

if those batteries are combined (5 batteries) i can't imagine that 5 batteries not being able to keep a 2k inverter alive.

Aww dang. I'm very computer limited. Let's try this again.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-d...2B12.29.00.jpg

The top inverter is the 600 watt one that I wired to the two televisions.

Here's a close up of the switch to decide which battery bank to use, that large black one. Also shows the 250 amp fuse I put in for the 2k inverter. And the 1 gauge wire coming into the box there. The bottom one has the 4 gauge wires for the 600 watt inverter (black /red).

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-S...2B12.30.45.jpg

I added a disconnect switch to kill power to the 2k inverter.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-T...2B12.30.54.jpg

And the overall.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-m...2B12.31.04.jpg

Do the pictures show up now?

I agree Don, it sure seems like they should. But they don't. If my 2 house batteries are crap and don't have any amps, could they still show up as 12.x volts on the readout of the inverter, yet not work for a load?

The pictures showed up. i just change my chev truck battery out, they tested it and said it was good just needed charging.......well i did that and it died or was dead a few days after that. 145.00 later its good. Why dont you use jumper cables and your pickup battery and see what happens fast and easy.

Sam

Hah! Sam, that reminds me of a personal story. I used to have a theory when I was on the road a lot that I'd use Walmart batteries, because the theory was that no matter where I was there would be a Walmart to warranty one if needed. The problem was EVERY YEAR when it would get cold, the walmart battery would crap out. And EVERY YEAR the walmart I took it too (and not the same walmart) would "test" it, and tell me "it's good, but just needs charged". Even after charging it all night on a charger, or a few hours with the engine running. Long story short, they are all full of crap, and the "good, but needs charged" translates to: crappy battery, but we don't want to warranty it for you. After literally 5 seasons of crappy batteries and a fight with the walmart manager to get it replaced, I went to my local parts store, bought the "best batteries you can get me, don't care about the price", never had another problem. Amazing.

they do in the new posts but not in the others (#81 as an example).

if you don't load test them you'll never know.

12.5 vdc is 90% charged (assumed single battery), you could achieve full voltage and not have amperage enough to start that fridge.

minimally i'd put an ammeter on the batteries and see how many amps are betting drawn by that fridge at start up.

but again you need to LOAD TEST those batteries to truly determine if they can sustain the amp drawl.

Don, I have always wanted to increase my 12 volt capabilities in this rig anyhow. My Allegro had 4 x 6 volt golf cart batteries and I got kind of used to that. So, I picked up 2 golf cart batteries (6 volt ones) on Friday. Going to put them in this week. When I take the 2 12 volt batteries in for the core refund I'll have my guy throw his load tester on just to see how they look. I'll report back on that.

Samm, I think the fact that it works fine with the Iota charger on indicates it would work fine if I had a truck hooked up with jumper cables? Maybe I'm missing something though?

Bob, i was thinking the temp hookup of another battery to absorb the load would help in troubling shooting. key words battery and absorb.

Sam

not a bad (temporary) idea/test....but remember, if those other batteries are marginal they could kill the a good one.

Got the golf cart batteries all in. Works great. Powered up the fridge right off. I took some pictures but they haven't uploaded from my phone to my dropbox yet. I don't know how to prod it to get it to upload. It just seems to do it on it's own. Just in time for our road trip on Thursday to Branson, Missouri. Yippee!

The original batteries were in white plastic boxes vented to the outside by a flex tube from the top and a vent through the bottom down toward the road. The boxes weren't tall enough for the golf cart batteries. I couldn't find any vented boxes tall enough. So, I cut up the white boxes to use what I needed to vent the black boxes.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-m...419_135529.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-R...419_135537.jpg

I made handles out of some thhn wire I had handy. Needed to be able to lower the batteries into the boxes after the boxes were screwed down in the storage bay. I left the wire handles on the batteries so I can pull them back out when I need to.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-S...419_142242.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y...419_152123.jpg

Do these pictures show up? I'm trying here folks.

the pictures are showing.

you only have to vent (the acid/gas) if the batteries are in an enclosed bin, mine are not in a bin, they are behind a door but not enclosed in a storage bin.

Yes, you can be very trying.....LOLOLOL!!:D
Oh, BTW, yep, the pictures are showing up!