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2000 H3-45 Storage Power Management
Hello, looking for best practice on Power Management while coach in in storage.
Our storage facility does not offer power supply, therefore we have to have Autogen On.
All appliances in the coach are Off, with the exception of the fridge(on low).
WHat is the best practice In this situation, trying to avoid electronic systems shut down / power up issues / resets, etc:
– master shore power off
– 12v and 24v batteries off
– Autogen On
Will the inverters keep all the systems ON, as long as the Autogen charges when required?
Please advise!
Thanks.
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11 Replies
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Yes.
Having said that if I were in your shoes I would get inside storage with power. You have a large investment, and for sure if the generator fails to start it can bring about a cascade of issues (or not), but at the very least you are entrusting your coach to a series of mechanical devices that all have to work at all times. The only thing worse is if you have to drive a long way to do the frequent checks on the coach that would minimize my fears.
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Thanks, Jon.
Current storage is 5 min away, usually I check every other day. For indoor storage without power…approx 40 miles away, inconvenient/out of the way and wait listed.
So what I outlined to power storage is OK, will work, but you recommend indoor storage with power, got it. -
Dorel,
Your bus has (6) 4DL batteries and with the setup your talking about the auto-start will probably run about every 24 hrs and based on the parameters you have set up on the Trace 4000’s, probably will charge for about 3 hrs. Your batteries have a life cycle and you surely are using up those cycles. Think about it, you’re going through 7 full charge cycles every week along with the fuel consumption.
If there was another alternative, you may want to think about it.
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Thanks Tom, will have to look at getting at least 120/15amp to the coach if possible for the summer time.
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Dorel, There comes a point when you must make choices as the saying goes….. risk and reward.
You say power is not offered. If this situation be me I would be getting bids for 30 amp service for my bus. Get some bids and pay for the install, yourself. You will benefit with worry / trouble free power and proper protection of your electrical system.
Don’t take a chance of trusting a daily run of generator for recharging, wear and tear on system, and as Truk hints, battery cycles.
The damage or the possibility of damage is to great for things going wrong.
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If the location allows for the operation of solar and all you have on is the frig or inverter to charge batteries set a small amp draw, would this work or be too costly.
I say costly but compaired to the price of a set of batteries you might look into it.
I would like to know what a system to take care of those needs would cost.
Never dealt with the cost of solar at any amperage.
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Got it, have a better understanding now, will get working on alternative solutions as suggested. Thanks
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One of the bad things that has come about as our coaches have increased features and complexity is we cannot just flip a few switches and shut them down. We now have far too many devices and systems that need power for a lot of reasons.
Our first coach could be completely shut down any time we wanted by throwing two switches relating to the chassis and two more for the two battery banks. There was no special procedure, no devices that had ot be rebooted, and no phantom loads we needed to keep owered.
It is not possible to shut down later model coaches without going through some specific steps and even then it is a pain to bring things back alive.
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Jon,
What year did the coaches become much more complex to simply flip a few switches to shut down?
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Coaches did not just go from simple to complex. As the market demanded more and more features the converters slowly added them. Our 87 Liberty was simple electro mechanical devices with relays, circuit breakers, and rocker switches. If you switched something the switch itself carried the current to the light for example, or it switched a relay that carried the current.
The 97 coach 10 years later had ramped up the complexity. It used a PLC system and associated relays to take signals from low voltage switches that apparently sent signals to the PLCs and that in turn switched small relays that ultimately turned on a light or opened a pocket door.
Now the coaches have some form of “whole house” system, that uses wireless remotes that can perform any house function including control of the audio visual systems. And the components and devices have gotten equally complex in their own way to provide features. You know things are complex when you can adjust the temperature in the living room with your smart phone while you are heading to the coach.
I know a lot of folks that are having their operating systems reprogrammed so they can operate them from their ipad.
I am working on a system exclusively for my coach in which if I think I want the lights turned on they will turn on.
(I just said that to see if you were reading.)
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No doubt they will have that feature too once people are willing to pay for it…
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