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Installing New House Batteries
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DKO I bought my coach in Dec. and had to replace the 2 year old batteries in Jan. I
changed them by myself and it took about 2 hours.In my case the batteries were not cared for by the previous owner. If they are drained
downed too far down too many times you can’t expect to get full life out of your batteries.Maybe the first owner wasn’t properly informed as how to care for the house batteries.
Rick
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I was outside at 5:30 this morning preparing to change the eight 4D batteries in the BoggsMobile. I turned all the power off at 6:05 and climbed in and set to work. At 11:20 I turned all the power back on and nothing has exploded yet…
I had about 2 hours in prep work the other day removing panels, brackets, hold downs and gathering and taping tools. I worked 5 hours and 15 minutes today and I had two young men that worked a total of 30 minutes each helping me man handle the batteries. That is a total of about 8 hours and 15 minutes and I have about one hour tomorrow to button everything back up. It was 96 degrees at noon so I decided I would finish in the cool of the morning.
When these were replaced by professionals in 2002 the previous owners were billed for nine hours. I will be right there at nine and I am certainly NOT a professional. Before I started looking at this job closely I thought they might have padded their hours just a tad but I understand all the effort and time a lot better now.
Vantare certainly did not do me any favors in the way these are installed but this coach has a mid door so that made it pretty difficult to do any better. I can not see any other place for eight batterries.
I could not have done this without the help I have found here. You all are a God send and I mean that. Thank you very, very much.
Here are some pictures….
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Excellent job DKO. The only thing we do better on this site than giving free advice, is giving advice on how you should spend your money. We particularly like telling people which coach to buy.
You have just become the Prevost Community in-house expert on Vantare battery replacement.
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Lol! Call me an expert when I finally comprehend everything I had a chance to learn the last few weeks and I can conquer the thirst this beast has for batteries.
DKO
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Batteries are the heart of our houses so keeping them healthy is important. Keep your battery connections clean and tight. Keep the connections at the inverters clean and tight. Program the inverters so the charging protocol is exactly as specified by the battery manufacturer. And lastly, recharge the batteries before the rate of discharge exceeds 50%.
If you do all of the above your batteries should last 5 years.
If a single battery fails prematurely you must replace the entire set and their dates must be the same.
The last two statements separate the men from the boys. A quality battery manufacturer’s product is easily going to last five years if you observe the proper charging protocols and avoid deep discharges. A quality battery manufacturer will stand behind the batteries and if one fails will replace the entire set because they know that is the only way to properly maintain batteries.
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Nice job DKO and the extra benefit is you KNOW they were done right…
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Working like a dog has rewards…………….
Good job! I know who to call now.
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Very nice job!
I don’t think I would have tackled that, even if my back didn’t hurt just thinking about it.
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Thanks much. That picture of the dog is hilarious!
I fastened everything up this morning and moved on to a trailer project. I am glad to have this behind me.
One more interesting note. I was on the phone with Ed today and he was walking me throught the settings on my inverters to double check everything. I have two 4024 inverters. One is original and one was replaced by a previous owner in 2004. We discovered that the default settings were different in several areas. The original inverter settings matched the paper work that I have exactly. The newer inverter matched the updated settings in almost every area that Ed uses in his coach. They both have the same software…
I am glad we checked.
Thanks again,
DKO
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Just changed mine out and so far so good. The previous battery group had been in since 11/09 and given the amount of dry camping we do, I’d say I had gotten as much life out of them as possible. I agonized over doing the replacement myself or taking it to Jeff or Marathon in Florida. Thanks to Tom for the delivery of the batteries and encouragement, as well as Marathon for their procedural advice. Here are some before and after pictures.
Yesterday @ 5 PM after uncrating and making a schematic. I cannot strees enough the importance of documenting the previous installation in as much detail as possible.
25% complete. Old batteries out of lower tray. Wiring bundled, insulated, and tied up out of the way.
Done @ 2PM this afternoon. Everything booted back up as intended. The top angled tray was by far the more difficult portion of the work. Maybe one of you more computer-savvy members could turn my pictures 90 degrees. Thanks.
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Good job Towson, now you have piece of mind for a bunch of years.
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Replacing large batteries like 8D size not only requires care in removing, protecting and reconnecting the terminals, it requires the shut down of the bus to be complete, and to a specific sequence on some conversions to protect the electronics.
But from the perspective of the hardest part physically, it is the handling of the batteries, during removal and installation. Each converter has their own way of locating, racking and securing the batteries. My coach requires the removal of the entire entertainment center just to get at the panel coveing the batteries. Other conversions locate the batteries in a more accessible location, but getting them in and out of their racks is the hard part.
Each time I have replaced mine I had to have a way to slide them from and to the rack and it has involved wood blocking, wood ramps, levers to lift the batteries over the lip of the rack, and a means to move the batteries once they are out or going in. It is a lot of grunt work. It can be a back breaker if you try to use brute force, such as lifting by hand. In the end it is not a complex job, but one almost anyone can do if they are willing to give thought to minimizing the physical effort and using various tools and tricks to help with the heavy lifting.
In my case I use my creeper with 4 X 4 lengths stacked on it to move my entertainment center out of the way. I slide it on my home made dolly and can wheel it away from the bay. I have a small motorcycle lift I bought at Harbor Freight that I have used to help me move and lift stuff in the garage to carry the batteries and elevate them to the height I need so I just have to slide them in or out. I use wood blocking to make a ramp I use to slide batteries up to the second level of the battery rack. At about 160 to 170 pounds each I don’t try to lift the batteries, I slide them.
The point is that anyone willing to give some thought to replacing batteries can do it themselves. If you can get a second hand, such as a neighbor even better. Just be careful.
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“But from the perspective of the hardest part physically, it is the handling of the batteries, during removal and installation. Each converter has their own way of locating, racking and securing the batteries.”
I could not agree more Jon, and they always seem to put them in the worst place immaginable. On mine I have to lift them up, and over, so your motorcycle lift intrigues me. Same thing with the starters, long dark skinny hole and short cables. As a result of my recent operations, I am now restricted to 25LBS on the lifts, so I have to get the wife to help.
Looking at yours and then mine, I kind of feel like mine are somewhat more accomodating.
But they are still a hard lift in and out, need to do something about that.
Friday I chunked three that were six years old, and replaced them. They were doing the job, and the bus was starting okay and all, but like you, “I would rather do it in the shop, than do it on the side of the road, so I bit the bullet and I changed ’em out.”
BCO
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There will come a time when I might choose to take my coach somewhere for battery replacement. But until then I am content with seeking the easiest way to replace my batteries, meaning the method requiring the least physical exertion on my part.
I am willing to make the effort to rig up a wooden “highway” so I can slide batteries rather than lift them. I used a long bar as a lever to lift them past the lip of the frame. I made use of my motorcycle lift to roll the old batteries out of the way, and to roll the new ones to the bay, and lift them to the height required to slide them into place. This time I had a friend who wanted my old batteries help me (actually he did all the work and I just issued instructions).
The problem with my installation is the space they go is only accessed by one person. Even if I had 10 men on the job the process of lifting them so they would slide and pushing the new ones in place is still a one man job. But regardless the key to doing it still requires some thought and planning, and an understanding that brute strength is not going to be a substitute for some prep work.
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I hear you Jon, but I just hate taking it somewhere and allowing someone who may or may not know what he is doing, work on it. I am sure you can understand. The lifting is the hard part, and sliding it out of the way of my belly, before I try to stick it in the cavitity(SP).
Sincerely hope you and Di are doing well, did you do the thing up in Indy, wanted to know how that went. Send me an email and let me know.
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