[Archived]

Dale,

Those lights get a signal from a Vanner Monitor located near the Vanner equalizer over your batteries.

If your gauge shows 29V it is probable the Vanner Monitor has failed. Use a multi-tester to check the voltages at the terminals on the bottom of the monitor. The 24 volt reading with the engine running can be expected to be around 27.8 or a little higher. The 12 volt reading should be 1/2 of the 24 volt reading, within 1/2 volt.

If the voltages are within range you can pull the two terminals that are labeled battery low and battery balance. That will extinguish the lights until you can get a new monitor.

http://http://www.vanner.com/manuals/EM70D.pdf

The fact you have to charge the batteries suggests you either have low or no 24V for charging (which I doubt) or your batteries have reached the end of life. To confirm that test them individually (terminals off)

[AL]

Thanks Jon. That brings up another question. I wondered if this was involved. My Vanner box in the back above the batteries is disconnected, and a Voltmaster 100 amp equalizer has been hooked up. From the amount of grime on it, I would say this was done a long time ago.

[Bill]

When you do the voltage checks you will learn if the equalizer(s) are functioning. My guess is unless this is a very new problem you are likely OK. A minute or so of checking voltages will tell you a whole lot. BTW, you can do the voltage checks at the equalizer if that is easier.

[Archived]

Just been out there looking in the battery bay. There is no monitor there… Only the disconnected Vanner, and the Voltmaster. I’m learning that the previous owner did lots of questionable things on this bus. Of course, the issue is that I am supposed to be leaving for Talladega this afternoon. Isn’t that always how it goes?

[Archived]

At least verify your voltages with the engine running.

If you are not charging, or if the voltage is too high you could end up stranded. Also you need to verify battery balance 12V readings are to equal 1/2 of the 24 volt readings (from the equalizer terminals) because if the 12 volt side of the batteries is not being charged you could have the low voltage shut down the engine computer.

I didn’t say that technically correct, but the point I made about voltages is accurate.

If everything checks out you can ignore the lights. But if it doesn’t work out you need to either get it fixed, or have a plan for keeping the bus going, such as running the generator which can power the bus battery charger (which is only going to handle limited loads and will not resolve a balance issue.

[Mike]

4 ea 31s? ck for bad cell in 1. usually # 4 if 3 down and one up will be upper one. ck with cables diconnected one end. Have a good trip! bob.

[Davy]

I just went ahead and replaced all the batteries. With my NAPA card, I got four group 31s that almost doubled the CCA of the ones I had for just $103 each. I don’t have a multimeter, so I’ll have to get someone to check it for me. The orange BAL light went off and I am back to the red one that has been on the whole time. I feel better about going for the weekend. I’m stopping at a buddy’s house in Rome. Maybe he can check it for me.

I think I need to redo a lot of electrical stuff, including a new inverter on the house side. I’m sure I’ll be asking lots of questions over the next few months.

[Archived]

Just a bit of info Our International Truck dealer in Daytona Beach sells group 31 thier lable battaries 1100 cca for $790 with exchange ,,if you know bat you can tell they are interstate under thier lable. It is listedin thier flyer almost each month

[Corey]

More questions… Hopefully related.

As I said I put all new batteries in today. Took care of the extra BAL light. Still have the red battery light. Also still showing 29v on the battery gauge. This does not fluctuate when driving.

Another odd thing happening.my buddy thinks it is tied to the power issue, as it applies to the DDEC computer. From time to time the orange check engine and the red stop engine light will come on together. Usually within a few seconds they will go off. A couple of times, the engine shut down. All gauges are good. Seems like the turbo doesn’t want to spool up when these lights are on. Could this be a power issue affecting the DDEC?

[Jim/Chris]

another odd thing… I mentioned earlier that the old Vanner box was disconnected and a Voltmaster had been installed beside it. My manual shows having both hooked up. Is having just one a bad thing?

We did find the Vanner monitor inside the rear junction box. Readings were just as you said, Jon. So maybe the 29v is just my gauge?

If someone has some insight and would like to call, my number is 661-809-2463.

[Archived]

when you have more than one device trying to regulate battery charge at same time. The minimun voltage for your DDEC to preform is 11.2V at that point it shuts down and shortly above that starts doing odd things. If II get a break I will try to call. You can go back to that vanner set up real inexpensive. To many things trying to do same thing end trouble! 812 449 8263 Bob

[AL]

Dale,

The Prevost chassis of your vintage uses one 100 amp battery equalizer. I cannot explain why you have two unless the second was for use with the house electrical system. As you can imagine trying to sort stuff like this out on a forum from a distance is difficult.

It does sound like at some point repairs or modifications were made just to keep the coach going and it also sounds like they were not of the highest quality. If I were in your position I would get the voltages checked just to make sure stuff is working as intended. Once I had confidence the alternator is charging, the equalizer is maintaining the battery voltage relationships, then I would go ahead and have someone start trying to sort out what was done and to make sure everything is safe.

I am not surprised the battery balance light has gone out with brand new batteries. Even if the equalizer is not functioning you are starting out with the relationship between the 12 and 24 volt circuits being correct. I hope the balance light was due to a bad battery and not a failed equalizer.

[Larry & Diane]

Made it to Talladega. I’ll be here through Sunday night. My buddy checked all the voltages at the equalizer, on the batteries, on the Vanner monitor, in the rear junction box, and in the front junction box. He said everything was rock solid, just as you described it, Jon. He said he wishes his Eagle was that consistent. I agree about going over it and trying to get everything into spec.

My buddy is convinced that the problem with the check/stop engine lights in DDEC related. It is very random, and is in conjunction with losing turbo boost. The turbo shows no sign of anything bad. So Monday, I’ll be on the search for anyone with a Detroit scan tool.

Thanks for all the input. I’m here at the track all weekend. Anyone, feel free to call if you have ideas

[Dale]

– Update –

Made it through a trip that turned into a nightmare of bus problems and finally made it back home to start figuring out where the problems came from. This all started with the BAL battery light coming on. Replacing the start batteries fixed that. The bus had NAPA commercial Group 31s in it, but they were only like 750cca. The ones I put in are 1150. BAL light went off and bus has started like a dream. I did, with the help of a friend go around and checked voltages everywhere. Everything looks good.

About the two Vanner boxes… I talked to Bruce at Vulcan yesterday. He confirmed that the reason a bus would have two equalizers would be that one would be connected to the house batteries to charge them. He said that of my bus has the auxiliary alternator, that it would charge the house batteries so the other Vanner would not be needed. I do have the aux alternator, so mystery solved.

Then I mentioned that I was getting heck and stop engine lights and losing power. I was able to flash the codes to see what the computer was seeing. I had six codes stored in the computer. Four of them mentioned the coolant level sensor. So apparently that is the culprit, I think someone did suggest that above. Thanks for the input. I’ll try to pick one of those up this week. On a side note – just as suddenly as this problem appeared, it disappeared. Which I don’t like because that means it can reappear! But at least it got me home from Talladega with no problems.

Other things that added to the nightmare weekend… Stopped at a Pilot and used the Wingfoot place there to replace a slow leaking valve stem on my right front tire. Parked at my spot in the Talladega infield at 5:30am Friday. Slept till about 7:30. Walked out to a flat tire. Not just low. Flat! Separated from the rim. It hadn’t been driven on. It went flat after I parked. Called Wingfoot. He asked me what I wanted him to do about it. I said that I wanted him to call one of their locations close to me and have them come fix it. He called me back shortly and said they would be calling me. He said that he would gladly refund my $50 for the valve stem and I could work out the rest with the other store.i explained that I didn’t feel that I should pay for a roadside call on something that had not been fixed right. So the new guy comes out to fix the tire. As you can imagine, he had trouble getting a jack under the bus. he was ready to give up and leave me hanging. I called Bob and he gave me info on Jack points and other relevant advice. I convinced the guy to try again, and with my help (and Bob’s) we got it jacked up. After he inflated the tire, he spent an hour trying to find some treason other than the valve stem that the tire went flat. He found nothing. So it cost me $350 for a roadside service. The lady from the Birmingham store suggested that if I got no satisfaction from the original store, that I should call corporate and complain. Next issue, house A/C quit working. Looks like a com sensor on a squirrel cage fan went out and the compressor would get hot and shut off. Should be an easy fix, but made for a hot weekend. Next – inverter died. I mentioned before that without the gen running, the readout a for the 110v banks dropped to 40%. Turns out that is accurate. And without charger working, gen could not charge house batteries. 12v got down to about only 8v. Just totally annoying stuff! Stuff that all worked last time I drove the bus.

When I spoke to Bruce yesterday, I ask him about the inverter. I have read here that you should not run the inverter and the generator at the same time, Bruce said my system is set so that I should always run the inverter when the genset is on. Which brings up another question. I was reading in another thread about shutting off gen for quiet time. My A/C will not run off inverter. Is that normal, or can some run off inverter? I’ve also read here about people being able to run basic lights and TVs just off battery bank for a few days. Is that normal? If I shut my gen off, I have no A/C, my 110v stuff goes off within minutes, and my 12v will be dead within hours. Of course, most of this may be attributd to the bad, and ancient inverter. Hoping to replace it this week.

[Dick]

Dale,

Your inverter(s) are your house battery chargers. If you are dry camping the only way you can keep the house batteries charged is to run the generator. (Or run the bus engine)