Foretravel Owners' Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches September 13, 2025 ...

Has anyone ever eliminated the engine start batteries and added one or two more 8D's to be tied together to start the coach and run the house?

Been having issues with the red top optima batteries lately. So a replacement is in the future. Have the lithium house batteries and would like to go all lithium in the coach. Have to figure out the next step. One thing I always wondered is why they chose not to put in a start battery for the generator? Seems like a long way to put heavy wire. In boats, long runs of heavy wire are usually not done, and a 2nd battery is put in, like for the windlass. It's a high amp draw, and you need heavy 4/0 wire, and that costs bucks, plus weight.
So was thinking of putting in a small agm battery for the generator start, so I could always have the ability to start it, if my other battery bank was depleted, OR, just not worry about it, and start it from as portable lithium bank I have for my car. Or jump from my car.
I would like to add a additional 300 amp hour Victron battery and just use the combined 900 amp hour bank to start the engine and run the house.
Since replacing the 3 Optima batteries cost almost a coach buck, not sure what to do at this point. Don't have the $3300 to add  another lithium battery right now, and don't want to put in 3 more Optima batteries either. I am hearing that the quality of these have gone down since moving the plant to Mexico, not sure if that is true or not.
Always liked the Odyssey battery's. Might go with that. But for now, I keep the red tops plugged in to the Optima battery charger to keep them topped off. The voltage drops fast when not plugged in. They are toast I think.

Since replacing the 3 Optima batteries cost almost a coach buck, not sure what to do at this point. Don't have the $3300 to add  another lithium battery right now, and don't want to put in 3 more Optima batteries either. I am hearing that the quality of these have gone down since moving the plant to Mexico, not sure if that is true or not.

The unicoaches moved the engine batteries into the engine compartment where there is heat and vibrations. The optimas are designed for those uses. 

Just another nasty rumor about Mexico. Many of our cars, aircraft (Lear Jets are made in Mexico) and thousands of other items as well as much of our produce come from Mexico. This list is only the tip of the iceberg: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/30/10-popular-products-in-the-us-you-didnt-know-were-made-in-mexico.html .

Optima batteries have seen many complaints on forums for years. This is just one of the reasons aside from price why I have never used them. Not hard to do the math for our three 31 series Duralast batteries for right at $300 for all three out the door compared to $1000. Since our last set lasted 11 years, where is the Optima advantage??? 2850 CCA for the three Duralasts on top of that. Check the weight on batteries, Good 31 series should weight at least 55 lbs each.

Pierce

One of the first things I did was replace the 3 starter batteries and the 3 house gel batteries. I was told I needed to switch the charger being the new batteries are not gel but I can not find that switch. Anyone here know anything about that?

One thing I always wondered is why they chose not to put in a start battery for the generator? Seems like a long way to put heavy wire. In boats, long runs of heavy wire are usually not done, and a 2nd battery is put in, like for the windlass. It's a high amp draw, and you need heavy 4/0 wire, and that costs bucks, plus weight.
So was thinking of putting in a small agm battery for the generator start, so I could always have the ability to start it, if my other battery bank I keep the red tops plugged in to the Optima battery charger to keep them topped off. The voltage drops fast when not plugged in. They are toast I think.

Or wiring the generator to the house batteries.  Over the past 8 years, more than once, a cold night left us with pretty flat house batteries.  Our previous coach had a dedicated battery for the generator.  My long term plan for our new home is to add a dedicated battery for the generator start.

Voltage drop on lead acid batteries needs to be qualified.  There is a normal voltage drop for the first 3 hours after charging, this is normal and due to the lead acid battery internal chemistry doing its thing.  After resting for 3 hours or if the discharge is relatively rapid, voltage drop indicates shorted cells, and then yes, your Optima Red tops have given their all.

Voltage drop on lead acid batteries needs to be qualified.  There is a normal voltage drop for the first 3 hours after charging, this is normal and due to the lead acid battery internal chemistry doing its thing.  After resting for 3 hours or if the discharge is relatively rapid, voltage drop indicates shorted cells, and then yes, your Optima Red tops have given their all.