[Davy]

Vantare experts can add to this or correct this, but when changing house batteries I think there are just a few basic rules to follow.

The first is to shut the coach down. Do the shut down according to the procedures your converter has outlined, usually turning off the inverters first, shutting off 120 Volt power to them next, and then turning off the house electric master switches. Verify there is no power to the house ANYWHERE. Then check again. It would not hurt to unplug the coach. Do not ever forget that if the inverter is on, and it has no incoming shore or generator power, it can convert battery DC power to AC power. You want to be sure you have no power anywhere.

Access the batteries and to the extent possible anyplace you can envision the positive terminals or posts making contact with any part of the chassis or any ground terminal or post, insulate it as a precaution. Duct tape works good, masking tape will work, or anything else that will prevent contact.

As cables and terminals are going to be connected in a fashion specific to the coach make a drawing, take photos, mark the terminal with numbers and create a diagram. or do anything else possible to insure whatever you remove goes back exactly where it belongs. When you remove a cable, insulate its terminal by taping it. No sense risking a spark.

Don’t get under the coach unless it is supported. Don’t hurt your back trying to lift or pull batteries and don’t be afraind to get help.

Once the batteries are removed take advantage to see if anything needs to be repainted, to do a complete inspection of what is blocked by the batteries to make sure nothing is rubbing, leaking, loose, or otherwise in need of attention.

There might be specific things unique to your coach, but if you follow the above steps you should have no issues.

[Archived]

I need to shut down everything even if I can bypass the inverters with a switch?

Not doubting you just trying to make sure. Since we live and work in this thing and it will be 100 next week I would love to keep the power on for the air. This is liable to take me several hours.

If shutting everything off is inevitable then you advised, “ Do the shut down according to the procedures your converter has outlined..” Although the previous owners seemed to keep every scrap of paper I have NOTHING from Vantare about anything.

Other than that your directions are clear. I can turn off each inverter. I also have a breaker type switch to each inverter. And I have a main breaker where the shore power comes into the coach.

I won’t do it this time but when the next battery change comes around 5 years or so from now I hope to know enough about this to simplify this system. I never dry camp so all I need inverters for is to keep the fridge and a few electrical outlets for computers and chargers while moving down the road. Seems to me I ought to be able to go down to a lot less batteries and maybe even one inverter. I know there is resale to think about but I am planning on keeping this bus long term.

Thanks again for your help.

DKO

[Archived]

Jon is correct…

On our Vantare we switched off all the breakers in the electrical panel inside the bus first and then powered down the inverters. (I noticed in your pictures your inverters are the same as ours) Then turn off the outside inverter breakers and UNPLUG the shore power.We do not have a battery cut off switch. I even switched the Generator off outside. Then verify that you have NO power anywhere…. then do as Jon said.

Our Vantare is figured a little differently from other converters in that everything goes through the inverters.

After new install you will have to program your inverters again.

When you power everything back up you can turn on your breakers on the inside panel again after you verify your incoming power is correct.

Like I said the Vantare setup is a little different from other converters.

Hope it all goes well for you.

[AL]

As Diane mentioned your Vantare likely is not set up the way other coaches are likely to be set up, but I can assure you regardless of how any coach is set up the risk of a problem is near zero if you turn off all power possible.

If everything does in fact go through your inverters there is no way you should have anything on to keep the risk of a problem near zero.

The reason for turning inverters off is they function regardless of the source of power. If 120 volt is coming in to them, they are chargers or a pass through device or both. If no 120 volt power is coming into them they are pulling power from the batteries to create 120. Turning them off shuts down all functions and that is typically done at the remote panel. Then turn off the 120 volt power into them. Then turn off the battery master switch which I presume all conversions have. And then double check. The reason for being careful is electric is dangerous and even if you only get surpised by the 12 volt or 24 volt battery current, those batteries will generate enough power to give you a serious spark or weld a tool or burn a hole in your chassis. If you take precautions there is likely to be no issue.

If you prepare, maybe even get a helper for the heavy lifting, there is a lot that can be done prior to actually shutting off power to minimize the time your coach is without power. If your inverters have to be reprogrammed (that depends on the type) read the manuals and know how to do it so your new batteries will receive the proper charging protocol. No sense going to the trouble of installing new batteries and then ruining them with the wrong charge.

As to the shut down procedures it is likely covered in the inverter manual, the owner’s manual or maybe even a placard. There may be other items on the coach that require a procedure for shut down so take care to insure you are aware of all the procedures. For example my coach has specific procedures for the generator start system to be observed before killing power to the coach.

[Davy]

Thanks, Larry. That is pretty straight forward. Just to be clear, does you Vantarre have a switch that bypasses the inverters as mine does?

Also, what is involved in reprogramming the inverters?

DKO

[Archived]

I do have the inverter manuals so I will work on learning how to reprogram the inverters before I make the battery change.

DKO

[Davy]

DKO…

I’m not sure of the differences between our coaches… we have 8 batteries… looked like you have 6… our inverters are same… and we did have to re-program them… ours Vantare is a ’98 model H3-45… so there may be several differences. The inverter manual can be found on line… if you can’t find it let me know and I can copy the pages you will need to reprogram and email them to you. What kind of batteries did you buy? That too will change some settings. For some reason the inverters do not save the settings after they completely shut down… as in disconnected from their power source… they will revert to the default settings which are not all correct for our setup. If you used AGM Lifelines then your settings will be the same as mine.

As you mentioned it is pretty straight forward… just make sure you have NO power to the bus.

Diane

[Davy]

Thanks, Dianne. I do have the inverter manuals. I have 8 batteries too. 2 are tucked away in a very hard to get place. I have Lifelines now and the new ones are AGMs but not Lifeline. I am looking over the manuals now. It sure seems like a big process to get them programed correctly.

DKO

[Larry & Diane]

Taking Jon’s suggestion about tape I would use duck tape for sure and a sharpie pen writing a number on the tape and number on the battery position. Use the duck tape to cover all exposed metal this will allow the use of wire ties to pull the wires out of the way while you remove the batteries. Another sugestion is to number the batteries 1 thru 6 on the face before you remove along with what wires attached to that numbered battery.

I just did starting batteries replacement a couple of months ago. Yes, “hard to believe” Marathons do need new parts once in a while. After taking up the battery cover and looking at the wiring quadmyer for 4 batteries we don’t need any mistakes.

When I had it all back together and before firing up the bus had a cool beverage and then double checked everything one last time.

those NAPA batteries sure look pretty…….

[Davy]

I found these pages in my inverter manuals. This one is a lose sheet and the second one is in the manual itself. Are these the things I will need to reprogram? How am I sure this is for AGMs? The second sheet mentions AGMs in one column.

This is a lot overwhelming. I do not want to ruin thousands of $$ in batteries…

DKO

[Peter]

DKO, what brand of AGM did you purchase. The recommendation is always to ask the battery manufacture for there charging specs. If you state your “brand” we can find your specs for the Trace SW4024 setup.

[Rodger]

DKO,

You’ve been given great information. The manual switch you pictured would seem to eliminate AC voltage to the inverter/charger. Even if you can eliminate 110VAC input to the charger and bypass it, some items like air conditioners may not. Many thermostats run off of 12VDC from the batteries. This is necessary for the thermostats to support diesel fired heating systems.

I think you are moving from Lifeline AGMs to another brand of AGM. If true, the charger configuration shoulkd work. Just make sure the absorbtion and float voltage ranges recommended by the battery manufacturer falls within the voltages already set-up in the charger. Make sure you check these volatges through the temperature range, if your charger is set-up for charging based on battery bank temperature.

Your converter should didn’t do you any favors with battery access. Be careful with the weight of these beast and make sure you disconnect negative terminals first and reconnect positive battery terminals first. This eliminates the tool welding that can occur if your wrench hits any grounded part of the coach when removing and replacing terminal cables.

Gil

[Davy]

DKO…

Some of those look right but the set battery at 15-35 amps charge is wrong… should be set at 15 amps max

..unless yours is different… if we are running on a 30 amp service with a cheater I set my charging amps down to 5 on both legs…then back up to 15 when we leave… gives more amps for a/cs to run.

I set my shore cord size to 45 amps… keeps the RV park breaker from tripping.

I have a special page of RV settings but can’t access them until Monday… most of the default settings are good… I only remember changing 4 or 5 of them.. but you need to go through each menu… I had several pages of settings. My generator settings were identical on both legs of power… your Generator page said #1 only, so I’m not sure about that.

Ben Cummings at Coachworx will walk you thru the settings if you call him… he knows the Vantare setup inside out.

Call him if you need to he’s a really nice guy and always willing to help.

If you like I can check my setting pages on Monday just let me know.

BTW what brand are your batteries?… some brands have different requirements (even AGMs)… we also replaced our old battery temperature sensors that attach to the battery sides and plug into the inverters with telephone like plugs. Those are available from Xantrex ($24 each X 2 )… easier to do that while you are in there…. ours were original and brittle.

Diane

[Archived]

“DKO, what brand of AGM did you purchase. The recommendation is always to ask the battery manufacture for there charging specs. If you state your “brand” we can find your specs for the Trace SW4024 setup.“

I purchased batteries from a regional dealer that has his own brand. I believe the same company that makes Interstate makes his batteries. He is a friend of a friend. I can call him and ask him the charging specs. What specifically do I ask?

“The manual switch you pictured would seem to eliminate AC voltage to the inverter/charger. Even if you can eliminate 110VAC input to the charger and bypass it, some items like air conditioners may not. Many thermostats run off of 12VDC from the batteries. “

That makes sense to me and brings it into focus. I will turn it all off and eliminate any chance of damage.

“Your converter should didn’t do you any favors with battery access. Be careful with the weight of these beast and make sure you disconnect negative terminals first and reconnect positive battery terminals first. This eliminates the tool welding that can occur if your wrench hits any grounded part of the coach when removing and replacing terminal cables.“

You are right. It looks impossible to remove the two that are by themselves. I have been studying it this evening and I am no closer to a solution. I know to remove the negative first and I can certainly do that with the six batteries in the rack. I will not be able to touch the connections on the other two until the six in the rack are removed. I can not even see those batteries clearly until the others are removed.

Thanks for all the information…

DKO

[Dale]

I was just viewing your pictures and it looks like the panel next to your battery door should be removable… all our panels in our bays unscrew for “easier” access…even the ceiling ones… looks like your batteries of concern are on the right end so you should be able to access them through that next panel even though there is a narrow post there? Is that a possibility?