Trik-L-Start

Here is a great little gadget for you motorhome owners: It’s called the Trik-L-Start. Simply put, it maintains your engine starting battery by borrowing power from your RV house battery bank.

Many motorhome owners assume that their battery charging system also maintains their engine (or chassis) battery or batteries. In most cases, that’s not true. Starting batteries have different charge profiles than your deep-cycle house batteries, so most manufacturers don’t provide for any maintenance charge. Various small loads on your starting battery, like engine computer and radio memory, draw power constantly. In addition, the battery has a tendency to self-discharge over time, even with no loads at all. While you’ll never have a problem if you drive the motorhome regularly, when it sits idle for weeks or months, the starter battery will slowly discharge and eventually be unable to start the engine.

The Trik-L-Start “steals” power from your house battery and provides a regulated maintenance charge to the engine battery to keep it at full charge and minimize water loss. The device is easy to install with only three wires to hook up, and the unit is encapsulated in epoxy, so it’s completely weatherproof. It can mount in the engine compartment or anywhere in the RV. Once installed, you can forget about it. LSL Products, a US company, has been building and selling these units for many years, and tech support is only an e-mail away. My RV often sits for months between long trips. In the past, I’ve always had to run an extension cord and hook up an AC-powered battery maintainer. Now, with the Trik-L-Charge, I don’t need to worry about it! I know my engine battery will stay healthy no matter how long my rig sits.

Note: before you purchase, check to see if your motorhome already has a Trik-L-Start installed. LSL provides units to Winnebago/Itasca, Monaco and other manufacturers for installation in new RVs.

12/06/2022
The Trik L Start is currently unavailable from LSL and is out of stock just about everywhere. The owner of LSL Products recently passed away, and it may be that the company is closing. I have been trying to get a response from the folks at LSL as to whether or not the product line will be discontinued or if they (or someone else) will pick it up and continue producing it. Only time will tell.

Complete Product Name: Trik-L-Start

Company Name and Info: LSL Products | P.O. Box 681072, San Antonio, TX, 78268 | http://www.lslproducts.net

Online Shopping Links: http://www.lslproducts.net

Average Street Price: Under $60

Original Publication Date: ND/22