[Roger]

Most of our buses spend most of their time in storage. Are you caring for those expensive Lifelines properly while it’s not being used? I hope your not over or under charging them. I especially worry about overcharging. In the Lifeline Tech Manual read section 5.4 Charging, table 5-1 shows what the “Float” voltage should be at any given temperature. Are your inverter/chargers set properly? If not, CHA$CHING$ sooner rather than later.

[Bernie]

Here is my opinion on our batteries and charging.

As long as our inverters are set to the correct charge current and voltages and our inverters are connected to shore power we are doing the best thing we can do with our AGM batteries. They are always getting a 100% charge because they get the correct charging protocol and are being maintained in float.

If our inverters are of the later generation and have temperature compensation that is even better because the risk of overcharging is eliminated. The inverters without temperature sensing and compensation have the potential to overcharge or undercharge depending on temperatures with both conditions affecting battery life and performance.

The next best thing we can do is to try to initiate a charging cycle before the batteries are discharged below the 50% level because deep discharges down to a very low battery voltage shorten the number of battery charge cycles before the battery is worn out.

It doesn’t get much simpler than that.

Our chassis batteries may be a different story, but still are going to have an extended life if we can care for them also. What impacts the chassis batteries is the lack of sophistication for charging that we have for the house batteries.

Our alternators should be set for about 27.7 according to the Prevost service manuals. Most batteries are not getting a full charge at that voltage, or are they? If they do it is because of luck. I don’t know this for a fact, but I suspect that voltage setting was determined as the best compromise because our chassis batteries are going to get much warmer due to location and the voltage for charging should be lower as a result. That is speculation on my part. But we do know high temps do affect battery life so a set of chassis batteries in AZ are unlikely to live as long as the same batteries in ME. Some owners use a trickle charger to maintain chassis batteries, and as long as the charger being used is a three stage “smart” charger that is probably OK but under normal circumstances the chassis batteries are likely to provide good service with little or no care other than making sure when the coach is stored they also get a full charge before they deeply discharge.