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Help. Alternator belt broke. Can I keep going?
Hello PC!
We are in Montgomery, AL. Started the coach this morning and saw smoke. Alternator belt came off of two alternators. One of the two alternator attached to this belt is locked up.
The main alternator for the engine is fine.
We are actually on our way to service to Liberty Coach in Stuart, FL.
Can I continue without this belt and run the genny?
I have a text into Troy too.
Thank you.
Mark
PS. I’ll try to post a pic.
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19 Replies
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You have a Volvo engine so I’am not sure if your broken belt has other service besides alternator. ie. engine water pump.
Have you called Provest Pass ? The 24 hour Prevost Service hot line.
AL
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Not sure I would drive all the way to Stuart….You need to run gen. also minimize loads on the engine systems, a/c headlights etc…Not sure on your coach if you have the 2 only alternator system…For a period of time the alternators had to be replaced as pairs, so verify if you go some place that isnt familiar…what ever you do watch voltmeter carefully.
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Thank you Jeff and AL!
I was able to reach PASS and they verified that I could continue the trip and just run the generator. If I’m not mistaken, we have four alternators.
‘Eric’ had me check my dash gauges with the engine running and the broken belt has no effect on the engine operation.
Again, Thank you!
Mark
PS. I could not post a pic from my Iphone.
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Sorry to hear that Mark…Safe travel to Stuart !!
Diane
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Mark, I think you can relax and enjoy the ride to Stuart. As Jeff says, avoid heavy loads such as lights.
Start the generator and turn on the 24V battery charger and monitor the chassis voltage. If it gets down to 24V or less, pull over and relax while the chassis battery recharges. I seriously doubt if you will ever see low voltage on the chassis however if you avoid heavy loads on the chassis electrical system.
The generator will take car of the house just fine because the inverters are going to take care of the house electric and you can run anything you want in the house without affecting the chassis battery voltage.
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We made it to Stuart.
I ran the house air mostly. Most all of our driving lights and tail-lights are all LED’s so not much draw.
The alternator that ‘froze’ is on the house side which was added in the conversion. Am I correct in thinking that the alternator on the engine is not effected by the loss of two small alternators (same belt) on the house side?
Mark
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Pure speculation on my part, but are you guys running the RPD on high?Could be why a 2 year old alternator gives up. Just saying……..
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Dan, what’s an RPD?
November 3rd was our 3rd anniversary of ownership of the coach with 40,000 miles (Delivery 11/3/2014).
Mark
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Rose Petal Distributor……
Sorry Mark, need to work on my comic delivery.
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Dan: Converting Prevosts with some of the most advanced electronics and technology in the industry, Liberty a long time ago developed proprietary cutting edge circuitry for the RPDs in our coaches which reduces the load on the alternator to that of a single LED diode (which is measured in a fraction of a watt) regardless of how high the RPD control is set.
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This is a lithium ion coach and has 4 alternators, depending on the set up 2 are on the house side, so smaller units working harder at times, however there have been issues with the alternators and water.
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Left Liberty Coach a few days ago. New alternator installed, it was just an early failure (exactly 3 years old). I was told it was nothing I had done.
Looking back, I realize that I was not charging the house batteries as quickly. It would fall to about an 80% charge with just the fridge on going down the road after 4-5 hrs. Now, it is staying at 99-100%. Sometimes there can be ‘hints’, I just need to be able to recognize them. We were lucky.
I already had an appt. with Liberty so it was nice everything could be taken care of as I also had a few warranty items that needed to be done.
Happy Trails!
Mark -
Mark,
Warranty work by Liberty after three years?
Did you get some type of additional warranty contract or does Liberty provide a three-year warranty on new coaches?
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Tim,
Liberty takes care of their customers …… lifetime warranty on conversion (Cabinetry, lighting, etc.), anything that they used their hands to build it is covered.
By lighting I mean, a piece of rope lighting came loose (covered). The fridge locking latches on one french door broke (covered). A little adjustment here and there (covered). An electrical outlet became loose (covered).
As with most conversions, appliances have their own warranty and damages would not be covered. I had an I-pad that started swelling so I took it off the charger and Liberty put in a new one (not under warranty). That’s the only time I’ve ever had a problem with an Apple product. Our lap-tops are 5-6 yrs. old at least and going strong.
Mark
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Interesting … Didn’t know that anyone had a “Lifetime” Warranty on their coaches.
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