[Walter]

That is pretty good. We get about six to seven. Try to remember to leave the Sunmollen switch lights off at night. I use a CPAP so that draws.

[Roy]

I get an easy 10 hrs with minimal loads, cpap included.

[Archived]

As coaches get newer the “phantom” loads get greater so newer coaches likely will have less time before recharging.

[Archived]

Mark

just wondering is your geny vented to the outside when your not there?

[Archived]

Hi Bill,

The generator is not vented to the outside of the building. The warehouse is huge.

During business hours, management leaves two of the three large garage doors open that are located across the front the building.

The warehouse has several large exhaust fans built into the wall but I’m not sure how they activate as I’ve never seen them on.

One of the outages that happened two days ago, lasted for only couple of hours but my power outlet did not reset when electricity was restored so my genny was the only one running. It had been on only an hour when I arrived to check things out. I monitor our coach from my iphone. Of course the genny would have cut off once the batteries were fully charged.

I called their office when they opened and told them that my coach was showing it had no power. The young girl working there said that she could tell the power had been out by the way their computers were resetting. She didn’t know what to do about my problem.

I told her that if she didn’t get someone to find out what was going on, that my generator was going to come on soon to recharge my batteries. The facility has hired a new ‘lot’ guy that had no clue what to do either.

Once I arrived, he finally figured out that he should check their breaker box. Even though the breakers didn’t looked tripped, he flipped them off then back on which gave me power.

I had texted my RV neighbors to let them know that the power was out and they were there when I arrived but their power was working (we are on the same pole but their outlet was not affected).

Mark

[Archived]

I’ve never tested how long our coach will go on battery power before the 20kw Kohler generator kicks on.

Mark, do you run an A/C unit while your bus is in storage?

I dry camp on my 2014 Marathon X3 around 20% of the time and typically during warmer or hot days. On a hot/humid day, with two A/C’s, TV’s and lights, I get around two hours on the (non-lithium) batteries before the generator cycles on for around two hours.

On a related note, I’m just completing production of a three-part interview with Frank Konigseder, Jr. and the majority of one of the segments addresses the use of Lithium Ion batteries. If all goes as planned, I’ll release all three episodes on Tuesday.

[Archived]

Hi Andy,

Yes, I do run two units while the bus is in storage set on 82 (#1 and #4). When the coach switches to battery power, the breakers automatically turn off for the air units.

I have never run the air units on battery power, I have run a unit or two while driving down the road from the 4 alternators but normally run the generator to use the air units (needs exercising anyway).

I just completed watching your ‘road trip’ video’s!

Mark

[Archived]

Mark,

How many Ah are Your 3 Li batteries combined ? 11 hrs does not seem like very long for Lithium ion batteries.

[DON]

Rocky,

I don’t know how many Amp Hours we have. I’ll have to check. I’ll go out to the coach later this week and look for the information in the ‘big tub’ that contains of all the brochures.

I have room for 3 more batteries in that compartment if I were needing more AH power. The way that we travel, it would be overkill for us.

How many amp hours do you have? Are you using AGM’s or Wet Cell? How long can you go unplugged?

Safe travels,

Mark

[Doug]

Rocky,

Our 3 Lithium Ion batteries (24V) have 180 amp hrs. each which would give us a total of 540 amp hours.

Safe travels,

Mark

PS. I got the info from the battery brochure in the ‘tub’.

[Dorel]

Mark,

I have (3) Lifeline AGM 8D batteries that have 255 Ah ea. For a total of 765 Ah with only 50% of them usable giving me 382.5 , and can run refridg, led tv and led lights for 8-10 hrs. I do have the antiquated liberty generator watchdog that will work on autostart that could be used in an emergency. However the start voltage is way too low for the AGM’s being set somewhere between 11.1 and 11.5 volts. I let it kick in once and it took 17 hrs , thats when the batteries were new. With your coach being late model wit Li’s , I would have expected that it would run longer than mine. From all that I have read the newer coach’s take more power. With your 540 Ah discharged to 30% , that calculates to 378 Ah. So about the same as mine. Good news for you is if the specs prove to be true. You should get 2-3000 charge cycles compared to the AGM’s 5-600. Does your coach have the Volta Li batteries ?

[Harry]

Rocky,

No, we don’t have the Volta system, that system came out in ’17.

Our Li batteries are fine the way we use our coach. I have room above our three batteries to had 3 more if they were needed (assuming that could be done) although I would never need to add more.

Safe travels!

Mark

[steve]

For what it’s worth, you cannot compare amp-hours directly if they are rated at different voltages. Mark can multiply his rating times two to get the equivalent amp-hours at 12 vdc.

Mark, at what voltage does your generator start or is it based on the state of charge of your batteries?

[Hisham]

Andy,

My understanding is that the generator starts when the batteries reach about 30%. That is what I have seen on the two auto-starts.

In the brochure that I have for the batteries, it states what the amp hours are at 12V and at 24V…… and you are right, the amp hours are doubled at 12V.

Mark

[steve]

Yes very good point 12V verses 24V is a big difference. So mine has half the Ah’s and will last just as long as a 2016 with Lithium ion’s. The old 12V Classic is not doing so bad after all with its upgrades. Marks coach pulls a lot of juice !