[Archived]

Will, you know he really is a decent guy especialy when you catch him on a good day! And I never had a dought about your ability to handle those batteries, remembering that fellow I saw walking around Darlington doing traffic studys. Hope to see ya soon, Bill

[Mike & Brigitte]

Will, how’s your back today? I hope well. I hate moving those things and try not to any more.

I’m curious, was your coach designed for 4 batteries? Given how little most dry camp or otherwise have a need for inverter or DC power I always wonder why most have so much DC battery capacity.

[Archived]

I think the answer to the battery question is that converters are trying to build a middle of the road motorhome, not particularly dedicated to any specific type of use, but capable of a variety of uses.

From posts over the years it is obvious folks would rather use battery power than the generator when overnighting for example. So our coaches get enough batteries to carry us through the night as long as we don’t need to run the air conditioning or use a lot of power. Those that aren’t concerned about managing energy to get through the night on batteries alone rely on their generator autostart, as opposed to just running the generator continuously.

Entertainer coaches on the other hand have very little battery power since they usually fire up the generator and use whatever electrical devices they choose. That is actually a good idea because then the occupants don’t have to worry about energy management or conservation.

With a 24 volt coach and a small change in how we think almost all of us that don’t spend time in Quartzite could do quite nicely with 2 group 27 marine batteries as long as we learned to start the generator almost at the same time we start the bus. We could eliminate not only a considerable weight of batteries, we could do away with at least one inverter and maybe even the second.

But how many would be willing to change their thinking regarding how to use the coach? I hate buying batteries, I really hate the grief I go through putting them in, but I like the flexibility of knowing I can overnight somewhere silently, or I have the option of running the generator so I will stick with the way my coach was set up.

[Archived]

Thanks for the atta boy Will, but you did all the work.

When I did mine a couple months ago, I took the old 8D’s to the recycle center. I loaded them in the tractor bucket then slid them on the pickup. At the recycle center, they backed me up close to the scale that was about 50′ away. There was so much junk and crap, everthing has to be carried to the scale that’s in the building. This skinny kid comes out and grabs the first battery like is was a loaf of bread, walks to the scale, bends over and sets the battery gently down. No doubt the battery weighed way more than him. Youth, I do remember those days….

[Paul]

I can vouch for Tom and his impecable service and the quality of the LifeLine batteries. Replaced mine last summer. BTW Tom, I just recently went into the battery compartment to service the batteries and they looked great – didn’t require much cleaning at all.

[Paul]

Gil,

Yes, it was designed to use four batteries. The old batteries were slightly smaller physically. Some PO must have installed them and made two spacers so the old batteries would not slide around in the tray.

The back is OK. I went home and spent some time meditating in the hot tub with the back massage on high. I did the arms and shoulders too, just for good measure since I was already wet!

Thanks for asking.

[Archived]

It looks like Country Coach did something else right. There’s not many of us that could ever deplete 4 8Ds in a days time unless the air conditioner is ran from the inverters. If I ever have to replace batteries again, I will look seriously at going to 4 8Ds instead of the 6 I have today or the 8 the coach was configured to support. Others may also want to look at their loads and see what is the right sized bank for your use.

[gary]

Taking 4 8D’s down to 12.2, 50% discharge in a days time is pretty normal with just light loads such as lights, TV’s, coffee pot, micowave, fans, etc. There are so many AC loads in our buses, that 12 hrs of inverter time dry camping will get you to 12.2 easily with 4 8D’s.

[Archived]

To add to Tom’s comment most well equipped coaches of today have phantom loads at work in the background that are always drawing power. Our first coach equipped like Gil’s would go a long time between charges but our 97 was a different animal. It was evident that there was a lot of power draw for devices always working behind the scenes. We all know the obvious power draws such as the TVs (even when off), water pump, refrigerator and all the little devices we can see such as thermometers, clocks, CO alarm, etc., but we also have many small loads we don’t see or think of such as the burglar alarm, PLCs, and even the inverters which draw power even when idle.

Our current coach has all of the above and then some with even more devices on standby. Every time I open a panel I see another black box or control and chances are that will have a little red or green light to indicate whatever it is for, that it is powered up and ready to work. Individually these loads don’t amount to much, but collectively they will pull down 4 8D batteries in as little as 12 hours if we turn on lights, watch TV or run some other loads.

The only way a set of batteries can be deemed good or bad or sufficient or insufficient is to learn the current draw with no known loads such as lights or the refrigerator, and then add the current draw from the devices you might use such as when you turn the TV or lights on. Remember that TVs and inverters draw power if you supply power to them even when they are not working. You also need to learn at what voltage you consider your batteries depleted. Some generator auto-start voltages are down in the 11.9 volt range, but a battery will provide greater recharge cycles if the voltage is not allowed to drop below 12.25 for example so you need to define “depleted”.

Remember that batteries are rated in amp hours so you can predict how long a set will go between charges as long as you can determine the current draw under various conditions. Older batteries will not have the same performance as new ones.

[Peter]

Jon,

Lately I’ve noticed that older guys don’t quite seem to have the same performance as new either….

[gary]

Use it or lose it Paul.