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Chinese Battery
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Gil,
Generally speaking battery and other system locations are at best a compromise. The converters have to jam a certain amount of stuff in a certain amount of available space. But additionally they also have to not only find the hole into which they can cram stuff, they also have to consider weight and balance. Finally, whatever they decide for the locations and configurations they also must deal with changes in technology. The only time I saw batteries for the house located in the engine area was on early conversions with lead acid batteries. Not the ideal situation, but a compromise because any alternative would transfer weight to the front axle, and possibly create a side ot side balance issue as well. The batteries located there if they were lead acid did fine, because I had one like that and consistently got my five years out of batteries, and engine cooling was not an issue.
Fast forward to when people wanted to substitute gel or AGM for the wet cell and that is when the batteries were failing. They were not available commecially when the coach was built.
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Robert,
Thanks for talking with me today. I am looking forward to the new module and have my fingers crossed that it will help with our engine issues.
You were most helpful and I will let you know how things go.
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Mike and Jon: Thanks for the information and insight. Dick
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Batteries often seem to be
treated as a necessary evil by designers instead of the heart of the DC
system. Also, many people treat the purchase
of a battery like buying a commodity where quality and often performance are
assumed to be equal and thus all they need be concerned about is price and
physical size. This thinking is a
recipe for early failure and poor DC system performance.Mike
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Excellent thread!
I live full time in the Desert Southwest which by region, is the number one killer area of batteries. The heat kills everything, batteries included…….
I have used AGM, Gel-Cel, Flooded and every other available battery (save NIMH) for not only my coach but also airplanes, cars and accessories. My average vehicle battery life is but two years! Concorde, which is the Lifeline Battery for airplanes, is no doubt the best however when they are subjected to routine temperatures above 115 degrees their life span is no greater than with a flooded cell, one that is not sealed but allows the addition of distilled water. Sealed flooded batteries are by far the worst. What I am saying here is than geographic location and ambient temperature also play into the selection.
Oh, and then there is China…… Off to Harbor Freight to purchase an air bottle for my new Eastwood Plasma Cutter (China), wearing my Clarks Desert Boots (China), my Levi’s (Viet Nam), an Arrow Shirt (Pakistan), carrying my I-Phone (China) driving a new Jaguar (Owned by India)……….alas, when I return I can still have a Jack Daniels, made in the USA!
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Don’t forget your bus, made in Canada and US.
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I can tell you, that last year my battery’s were giving me trouble they were lifeline, they were six years old . I have had lifeline battery’s since 2005 . I was in Canada called Tom had new ones shipped up there at not only the cost of them plus I had to pay shipping into Canada plus duty on them , it was still worth it to me . The service from Tom was outstanding , I would not have anything else !!!!!!! I could have waited until I got back to the USA and got them without the added cost of shipping and duty to Canada but the trouble it causes with waiting was not worth it to me , so I called Tom and got Lifelines !!!! Just my thoughts !!!!!!!!
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I went the chinese route with 4 8D’s. and new a Magnum 2512 ME inverter. Had it set up for this type battery and charge rate. Don’t use battery system hardly ever. Its always plugged in to shore power or gen set is running. Batteries lasted a little over 12 months as one by one went down. Oh yeah they were cheap when purchased and acted like typicle china junk. Have 3 wet type 31’s in now and they are 2 years old and still going strong. Will buy 2 or 3 (8D) Lifelines this summer and get rid of the 31’s for a little more capacity. Hope the China junk works for you!
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Thanks! They are still going strong for me and I frequently dry camp (maybe that’s better than plugged in all the time!). I recently updated to a 3000W PSW inverter with a 150amp charger and it does a great job getting them back up to full charge quickly. I don’t see any difference (so far) between the 2 battery performance profile but I do know that the Universal Batteries are substantially lighter than the Lifeline so if that’s less lead or less something it’s certainly possible they will only last 5-6 years but I am OK with that. It’s just easier for me to spend $1200 now and $1200 in 5 years than it is for me to spend $2400 today.
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Bill how did the module work that Robert sent you we have not heard from you about it , you stirred everybody up about your motor ,but no follow through . What’s up with that !!!!
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I only got to give the device a try last Sunday and unfortunately, it did not help with my problem. I remember that many years ago I was told that there was some kind of wiring you could do (jump a couple of connections) and it would over ride the smoke control function and allow better kick from start by allowing more fuel. I think it was something that claimed to help at higher altitudes. This appears to be a similar device as it causes extreme black smoke unless you carefully feather the gas pedal until you have a couple of pounds of turbo boost. It would also smoke if you were in traffic and get caught between gears. I don’t think having the unit installed would do any harm and it’s even possible I climbed the hills out of Reno a little better but the smoke was a non-starter for me.
Robert had never seen the orange style plug used with my DDEC1 boost sensor and I finally had to send him a picture to prove I was not nuts! Roberts a great guy and I appreciate his offer of help. I am just hopeful that someone who said they thought they had a DDEC1 “chip” is able to find one that I can give a try as well.
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Just out of curiosity have you ever drag raced another coach?
Not to see if you can win the race, but to compare what you consider a bad engine to one the owner thinks is OK?
I still cannot get over the fact you lived with this problem for 10 years so the best way to actually learn if you have a problem is to find someone with a similar vintage coach and the same gear ratio and compare performance.
I thought my engine had gone bad the first time I took my 87 coach to Colorado Springs. It was a dog and wouldn’t get out of its own way. Then I realized almost half the earth’s atmospheric pressure was lower than my elevation.
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No drag race necessary. I owned it when the engine worked properly so I know the difference. It was working great, we sat in Tucson, AZ for 30 days and when we left the power was gone. Something happened while it was sitting there which is why I suspect an animal chewed something. I should be able to ohm out the wiring but no one knows what a correct reading is or which wires are grounds and which are spares so I have nowhere to start.
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