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Low Vehicle Battery Voltage
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John,
My one and only Prevost is my CC but I am happy to share the information I have. The Electronic Control Cabinet (ECC) houses the Motherboard on which the cards (daughter cards ) are found. The ECC is mounted in the first bay and controls the functions associated with the lighted switches (Sunmulon switches) found thru out the coach. Buddy and Michael both purchased their coaches new and hopefully they will jump in but I believe they have had great service from their coaches. I took possession of my 2002 coach in 2013 and have been very happy with everything about it. The cards can be repaired if necessary and there is more than one source. I haven’t had any repair but CC tells me they have a quick turnaround if a card needs repair. As to card life it seems to be unlimited.
I have a couple of articles I can send next week if you would like which are much better than any explaination I can give. If you have basic computer knowledge, which I don’t, the system is easily understood. For me the system is simpler,less complicated, and less expensive to repair than other control systems. Again for me the real key to any coach purchase goes back to what Jon,Tom, Peter, Al, and all the other gurus preach, inspection and proof of prior service. -
Lets try this Michael, and I have not done it cause I am not a coach and want be for a couple of days.
I am assuming the low battery voltage warning is from the circuit monitoring the chassis battery on the Speech Processor Interface PC Board. The circuit is pretty simple which monitors the chassis battery and outputs a signal to the speech processor. First place to check is to make sure the voltage is present. You should measure the voltage on the large black terminal strip on the speech processor interface board (next to the speech processor board). It is the purple wire marked 391. Make sure the screw is tight on the terminal strip where the wire connects. If the voltage is good the only other thing you can do is try to adjust the potentiometer (variable resistor) marked R79 using a small screwdriver until the speech process stops saying low voltage.
Miles Circo
Many thanks to Miles
Behind the TV over the driver in the back of the cabinet.
P.S. Just for truthfullness and not wanting any misunderstanding, this post content was copied and pasted by me in a personal email from Miles. He did not post this on PC although I hope he would participate with us and I think he would. I just wanted to make that clear because I think some here at PC think he posted it by way of the manner inwhich I wrote the responce. Sorry for any misunderstanding and again thanks to Miles.
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Ditto, to what George has stated, mine is a 94 with the same ECC. First time I opened it up, I hyperventilated, but it’s actually very straight forward.
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What Miles posted under Buddy’s name is not only valid for the CC low battery alert the exact same principle applies to any voltage measurement. A Liberty with the Watchdog used a voltage sense wire to determine battery voltage for purposes of engaging the auto-start feature. Our gauges measure voltage and in every case a low reading is going to occur if the connections are not clean and tight.
The problems may have nothing to do with the system, but with the voltage sense wire seen be the system so the advice to verify voltage before considering the board or other device to be at fault is valid. One device we all have that is very sensitive to poor voltage sensing is an inverter and if an inverter appears to be acting up, especially if it is delivering a high voltage the first place to start will be to check all connections. The same holds true for DDEC and transmission faults. In fact in most cases those are very sensistive to poor grounds or bad connections and rarely a true fault.
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George,
Thanks for the reply and the explaination. I guess I never gave much thought to how the electronics are
controlled. This is the first thread that I noticed any reference to the card system for Country Coach.
I would appreciate any information you could send.
Thanks again
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John,
I had a 2000 CC XLV and had a couple problems, dash glass included and was able to work through the repairs. That was quite a few years ago at a time when parts were still available direct from CC. Miles is the go to guy for these repairs. My concern would be the computer for the system that is old and outdated from the 90’s using DOS and 3.1 discs. The biggest problem today would probably be finding someone to work on and diagnose the problem if you’re not able to do the work yourself.
CC did a nice job and I liked the way they did things.
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Issues due to parts availability and skills to work on them are not exclusive to CC.
While I believe CC may have a greater potential for issues than some conversions age has a way of catching up with a lot of them and the simpler the coach the less potential for technical issues that are going to be difficult to resolve.
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Jon and Tom,
I know it is a double edge sword when it comes to technology. The older the systems, the harder to find
original components, but as technology advances maybe there are options for replacement from other
manufacturers that were not available. We have had Royales on the list, due to the simplicity of their
systems, but having a coach from a converter that is still in business would be a big plus.
I am not sure that the acquisition of Country Coach by Winnebago is a good thing for Country Coach owners
or not. I have not heard or seen much about it since the original announcement. Most of the components
and systems are not proprietary and as such there are options, but the Country Coach card system appears
to be unique unto itself. What are the other converters using instead? I have heard of the glass dash conversion
to silver leaf, but is there an option for the entire system? Would it be cost prohibitive?
Our current Monaco is pre-bankruptcy, so we have been “orphans” from the get go.
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John, part of the answer depends on your coach model year, and in some cases the model.
The Liberty Classic is a coach with simple basic systems and I believe with the possible exception of the Watchdog and maybe a display such as used with Crestron there is nothing proprietary or difficult to source. The Elegant Lady of the same model year may have PLCs that can be sourced but need programming A-B cards for the control system, the Watchdog and possible Crestron type displays. I think as coaches get newer there are greater numbers of systems and devices that need support that might become more of a problem as coaches age.
Having said that I believe most if not all conversions were robust and while we do speak about issues with them the vast number of owners are having no problems with support or alternative parts or systems.
What is mostly discussed as age related regards conversions, but the same is applicable to the Prevost shell also. Simple things like awning window parts become an issue and more complex items like slide room controllers are also a potential problem. The support (or lack of) can be condensed to a financial decision. An earlier conversion may have such simple systems parts or support are a non issue, but they lack some of the neat features of newer coaches and therefore are relatively cheap. As the coaches get newer they become more complex but have such neat features their still relatively cheap price offsets the potential grief.
If you want assured support the cost ramps up quickly because you are looking at newer models whose components and systems are still available. I don’t believe any coach will be immune to obsolesence.
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Amen Jon. amen
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These guys can help with about anything Royale related.
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Thank you Buddy for the advice. I will try it when I have a chance. I was looking at my Schematics tonight and saw the system will report Low Voltage when 10v or less is present for more than 15 seconds when the system runs it’s check. But as Miles and Jon pointed out, it could just be a connection fault at the sensing unit.
Country Coach is alive and well. They answer the phone and return phone calls. They have helped me every time I have called. And I called them just a few weeks ago.
This is the first time in nearly 17 years I have had any problem with the ECC system and it is really more of an annoyance because I can silence the system if I want too.
I highly recommend the Silverleaf Dash replacement for the CC computer dash. It was a drop in replacement. I replaced mine around eight years ago just because I thought it was a better product. I had no problems with the CC computer dash, but the Silverleaf can display everything the DDEC and Transmission reads including fault codes. I cannot compliment the Silverleaf dash enough. It is a great product.
Run, don’t walk to put one in your coach. And mention my name.
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Any time I have gotten an indication of a voltage issue, whether it is a gauge reading, a warning light for balance or hi or lo voltage my first reaction is to verify voltages.
At one time or another I think I have gotten every warning our coaches can provide and the reasons have been everything from a failed instrument or voltage monitor to a failed alternator, failed equalizer or bad terminal. The starting point is to verify what you are being told by your instruments or monitors. After that the answer is either obvious or the answer is only going to come after a laborious and time consuming check of the entire system.
I will admit to using a scorched earth procedure to make a problem go away in which I started at the device and went through every single terminal, connection, ground wire, and when I got done the problem was gone, but I never did figure out where the specific problem was, but I did know when I got done every connection was clean and not creating resistance.
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Hey Michael, I changed out all four of my batteries and the wicked witch of the bus went away.
One of the four batteries was bad so I guess the system picked that up and had a low reading.
Send me an email with your email address. I wanted to see if your CC Digital Dash displays transmission gear selection.
Thanks
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Buddy
My problem went away as well. After replacing the batteries, I drove 3,600 miles and some where along the drive, the voice warning quit. I guess I just needed to warm the bus up a little.
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