How to start engine off of house batteries

[Flame]

1998 Concourse v-10 Triton....IF my cranking battery goes bad and motorhome won't start...what is the procedure for starting it off the house batteries? Going on a long trip. Just want to be prepared for anything.

[chin_k]

There is a boost button on top of the driver seat. It engages the battery separator and acts like a jump start.

[Roly]

As pointed out by Blue Go some time back, the wire gage from house to start batteries is insufficient to carry full cold starting current, so in a situation requiring "Boost," you could need to give some time for the house current to bring the starter battery charge up before keying the ignition. Depending on the particular circumstances, the house current added to some charge present in the starting battery could be enough to turn the starting motor.
Best practice would be to have healthy batteries and charging capacities, and avoid leaving something on that could drain the starting battery.

Roly

[Flame]

Shoot I guess in a worse case scenario I could pull the house battery tray out, hook jumper cables to them and around to the engine battery. Anyone ever had to do that? My luck would be I purchase a brand new truck battery and it would be a factory defect and crap out in 2 months!

[chin_k]

It will be great if they crap out in 2 months, since you will get the full refund. They usually last one day after the warranty

I never have to jump start the start battery, but I use the Chinook to jump start my other cars. The Chinook is the best vehicle in my family As you said, the worst is to have to take out your coach battery to jump starts your engine. The deep cycle battery is not meant for jump starting or crank the starter, so it maybe worthwhile to get one of the lithium battery pack for jump starting purpose. Not as convenience, but may work better for many situations.

[Roly]

If I was out in the cold world with my starting battery drained, and a tsunami coming, I'd override the battery separator ( push Boost button) and start the generator first, thence try to get the V-10 started. My 1998 model has the Onan start off the engine battery, I think.
Roly

[Doc]

I've used cold Boost several times with no problem on my 2004 Concourse 21, now with 115K miles. Just hold Boost button while cranking engine. Sure beats a jump start.

[Flame]

Thanks, the link to that post was started my ME about 1 1/2 years ago! Hah! Wasn't worried about my battery so much back then. And...my ol mind slips every now and then. Sorry guys!