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Millennium vs. Marathon
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Jack is right. I have observed that depleting batteries to the 50% point takes a much longer time than it does to go from that point to the auto-start voltage so while there may be some bragging rights associated with delaying auto-start it appears of little actual value.
In a perfect world we would only have our coach electrical system set up to be optimal for how we use our coach, with some sort of modular design so we could easily add or delete batteries and inverters to make the coach suit the needs of each successive owner. But that is not going to happen so converters compromise the design to try to do all things to please all owners.
As we use our coach it is rare when we would even consider using auto-start. We are either on the road driving or plugged into shore power. When we do stop with no shore power available we turn on the generator and then we turn on all the devices we want because with the generator running we don’t ever have to worry about running loads off our batteries. If we do not need heavy loads when it is bed time we turn off the generator. If we need heat or air conditioning we just let the generator run when we go to bed.
If we dry camped for extended periods then auto-start and battery life might be a consideration, but we rarely dry camp.
The only time we ever used auto-start the batteries were down to 22 volts when the generator started. That had such an impact on me that I never used auto-start again. If I had to rely on auto-start I would modify my system as Jack has.
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For $300 you can buy an autostart controller that is fully programmable, to include start voltage. Converters had to build their own controllers back in the day or use ones designed for solar systems that were just not the right option. Today, optionally AGS controllers are available for the commonly used inverter/chargers. Lacking an integrated controller, Magnum makes a very capable standalone controller.
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No autostart for me either, I manually start near 12.2, 50%. Jack sorted this out and was able to change his autostart, smart move.
This is a constant topic in dealing with batteries and we’ll disguss this with Lifeline at Branson.
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We do run the batteries down below 50% in terms of amps and voltage to 22.6V which is out of the box but so is building a 2 million dollar bus. But in the years we’ve been building coaches and having our autogen set to kick on at 22.6V we’ve had great success in getting our 5 plus years out of the batts. History is our best measurement of success.
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Just out of currosity, can the AGS be set to come on earlier and avoid the below 50% cut-off point?
I found our AGS component in the bay with the inverter (attached to the bay ceiling) and there is an adjustment on it to set the voltage amount to start the genny. I think it’s set at 12.
MM.
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You should be able to. If you have problems just give us a call and we can have one of our techs walk you through it.
Chris
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Mark,
All off the shelf AGS’ have an adjustable start trigger for both voltage and temeprature (if you use that option). The one’s that are integrated with the inverter chargers can often be set to turn off after a preset amount of time or when the inverter goes to float mode. The ones that are not adjustable or not easily adjustable are the ones produced by the converters before the commercial availability of AGS controllers. Those that have solar panel specific controllers will only turn off at a set voltage, which is worthless in our application.
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We are like Jon pretty much pole to pole… the only concern that I have where I would like the auto gen feature is should we lose shore power during the day or during the middle of the night when we are sleeping and the inverters kick in to keep the AC going and we don’t realize it or get back before the batteries hit a level that will damage them. My Auto gen isn’t currently working… it’s on the list to fixed.
How does everyone else handle this? We have a dog on board with us at all times
Thanks
Bill
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Bill,
Before you leave a pup in an unmonitored coach check out the coach systems.
Set the coach up connected to shore power with at least one AC unit running.
Trip the shore power breaker. Under normal circumstances there is going to be a delay no matter how you have auto-start set. It is either going to wait for the trigger low voltage or it is going to start the generator upon power interruption. What you need to look for is if the air conditioning continues running or if it stops running and will not restart, or if it stops running and restarts.
The worst case scenario is if the power interruption causes the air conditioner to drop off line, and then it requires human intervention to restart regardless of if power has been restored or not. If that is the case then you need someone in the campground to monitor your coach and pet’s safety. I know some AC units will not restart upon power interruption.
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Bill,
Not sure if it can be done on your coach, but on a Millennium we have the coach email you when there is a loss of shore power or if the Gen does not start as needed. May want to ask Marathon if that can be incorperated in yours. We actually came up with that solely to keep the pets comfortable.
Chris
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Jon,
When we loose shore power… the AC keep right on working we never have any interuption of them… so what we have been doing successfully on this trip so far is to limit all loads why we are away from the coach to pretty much just the roof airs for the pup…
I guess my hope is once I get the AutoGen working correctly is that if we left for the day we would turn auto gen on so that if something happened resulting in the loss of shore power auto gen would kick in before the invertors depleted the batteries… I am going to be doing some additional training at Marathon in Tampa in a few weeks and understanding all this is top on the list… If I understand correctly our inverters are programed to cut out at a preset min voltage. Does that sound right? So if the inverter is setup correctly it should be difficult to damage the batteries?
Bill
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Yes, inverters will shut down at some predetermined voltage level, usually below the autostart voltage level. But regardless just verify your AC units will restart or at least not be interrupted during a power source switchover.
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Bill,
In your vintage bus you should have a shore power alarm that will definately wake you if you lose power in the night.
Later
bv
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I spoke with a Marathon representative yesterday who explained a couple of things about their coaches. First, they use Prevost slide-outs which I was glad to hear. Also, they use AGM batteries vs. Lithium.
Marathon uses the Wabasto water heating system vs. Aqua-Hot. Reading about the Webasto on their website, it seems very similar to the Aqua-Hot system. Also, reading here on HVAC thread, someone mentioned that it has fewer parts and cheaper to maintain. I’ve had no trouble with our Aqua-Hot, the Wabasto is just a different system.
The new Marathon 2014 floorplans have just been released so that will keep me busy.
Reading about the Millennium coaches, they put their generator radiator on the roof whereas Marathon puts in the front grill.
Twenty eight weeks to build one, that’s a lot of man hours!
MM.
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We are like Jon pretty much pole to pole… the only concern that I have where I would like the auto gen feature is should we lose shore power during the day or during the middle of the night when we are sleeping and the inverters kick in to keep the AC going and we don’t realize it or get back before the batteries hit a level that will damage them. My Auto gen isn’t currently working… it’s on the list to fixed.
How does everyone else handle this? We have a dog on board with us at all timesThanks
Bill
In our case we have a (standard) power interruption feature that is enabled the same way as the auto-start feature. Losing incoming power starts the generator immediately, after the generator start sequence purging delay. The A/Cs will have dropped out when (pole) power breaker tripped or power was lost upstream for whatever reason, but will start again, with the A/C start sequence delay stagger that was programmed in before, so that the compressor loads from all (four) Cruise-Airs are not dumped on the generator at once.
We have experienced this a few times when the pole breaker was tripped, for whatever reason (including, I am married). We do not have/run the A/Cs on inverters, however.
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