Toasted my Alternator

[mdwpm]

I drained the deep-cycle battery on my RV down very, very low. Subsequently I hooked up to my 2002 F350 diesel and drove from Alabama to Florida. A few days after arrival the batteries on my truck wouldn't start the truck. It became apparent that the alternator was toast.

So, I bought new batteries for the truck (one was diagnosed as 'bad') and a new alternator.

So my questions are:

- Is it possible I burned out my alternator trying to recharge the overly discharged RV battery on my trip to Florida?

- Was it correct to replace both truck batteries (they were 4 years old) or would it have been OK to only replace one of them?

- To prevent a recurrence I'm think of pulling fuse number 115 - trailer tow battery charge - until I get a replacement for the trailer battery. Sound OK? [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif[/img]

Thanks,
Jim

[tsaelens]

[ QUOTE ]

- Is it possible I burned out my alternator trying to recharge the overly discharged RV battery on my trip to Florida?

- Was it correct to replace both truck batteries (they were 4 years old) or would it have been OK to only replace one of them?

- To prevent a recurrence I'm think of pulling fuse number 115 - trailer tow battery charge - until I get a replacement for the trailer battery. Sound OK? [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif[/img]

Thanks,
Jim

[/ QUOTE ]

I think it's completely possible the two are linked, how I'm not sure?

I think you did right by replacing both batts.

Pulling the fuse sounds like a good idea.

Only other advice I would give is if you haven't turned in your old alternator for a core, keep it. I did and took it to an Starter/alternator shop and had it rebuilt for about $40. Add that to the $30 core and I have a $70 spare always in my tool box.

Trinity

[jimmy]

The RV could be a contributing factor to the alternator failure but I more believe it was a bad batt in truck PLUS the RV.
You should replace both in a dual battery setup when they are very old. They are in parallel and a new with a 4 yr old "good" battery can lead to the new failing since it will be more drained for glow plugs and starter than the existing "good" battery.

It would not be a bad idea to pull the fuse for the RV. Vehicle can maintain the RV battery but it really will not fully recharge it. Too much voltage drop in wiring to get a 100% charge using truck alternator for that.
If you have fully charged batteries in RV and you do a small usage of batteries in RV, then the trucks alternator can restore some of the charge.
Using the truck to charge RV batteries will decrease life of battery in RV a lot.
The converter in most RV's does a poor job of batt recharge also.