[Greg]

Here is Amadas/Featherlite phone number 757-925-2862. They can help you out and give you the straight poop about your electrical system.

Not ever owning a Featherlite, my Marathon would run the A/C’s while parked and didn’t require the key on. Having to have the key on doesn’t make sense, but maybe Diane can jump in here.

The breaker was tripped on the gen and the question would be, why?

Check the date codes on the batteries, if they’re Lifeline, they will have a round sticker with 2 letters and I can tell you the battery age. If they have a 5 letter sticker, they’re old. The only way to test them is to remove the cables and load test each battery, but they need to be charged. If your batteries are reaching the float mode on your inverters, they’re charged and good to go for testing.

[Dean]

My gen set breaker was tripped off and gen would start and run but overheat and shut down. Breaker controls blowers for cooling. I must have switched breaker when I shut down Hot water heater when in bus barn for storage. It is just a learning process on all these coachs with there intricate systems it can be a pain. 3 years for me with bus and learn something every time out.

[Archived]

Hello Tom and Alice,

We have a Vantare one year newer than yours, with what appears to be the same electrical set up.

Just to answer some of the questions:

1. If you have roof top airs, you can run up to 2 (not recommended) from the inverters when the engine is not on. The limiting factor is draw on each inverter. If for any reason the draw approaches or goes over 35 amps, the inverter will shut down due to over load. We frequently run one air for a couple of hours when stopped at rest area for a sort break on long driving distances over night.

2. The generator is supposed to take priority over shore power automatically.

3. It does sound like you have at least one bad battery in one bank.

4. Is your radiator for the genset up front in the “spare tire area” of seated coaches, or in the back near the genset. My coach was one of the few built with the radiator up front, with the generator in the third bay passenger side, and caused almost constant overheating until moved the radiator behind. Since then no problem and over 2000 hours of use since then.

Hope this helps

[Archived]

I also have a 2002 Vantare that I am haveing some elctrical issues with that maybe someone can give me some advice. First off I am in WI and we are still haveing cool nights and I need to run the heat pumps now and then. They will sometimes run all night with no problem and other times they may run 30 to 45 minutes and the breaker in the bedroom panel will blow. That is when I am plugged into shore power.

Also when I unplugged from shore power the other day I touched on of the prongs on the plug and got a shock. The grass had dew on it so I am not sure if that was the reason. The prong that i touched is also a little discolored.

This is my first bus and I have only had it since March so I am on a steep learning curve.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Archived]

Dean,

The transfer switch SHOULD disconnect both power legs and the neutral when on generator power. So, if you touched anything other than the ground pin you should not have gotten a shock. I don’t think the ground is typically switched, nor should it be, through the transfer switch. It could be argued that there should be no current on ground, but when you are on generator power the ground and neutral should be bonded together. It’s possible, in fact likely, that if you touch the ground of the shore power plug when on inverter or generator power you might feel a small shock. Some converters, maybe all of them, install a static strap to help eliminate this minor shock.

[Archived]

Thomas,

I just re-read your original post and was floored to read that you “figured you had an electrical panel with a right and a left side” ???? Good gracious alive… didn’t your “salesman” explain how the coach ‘s electrical system works… such a VERY critical part of the bus… I can’t imagine in my wildest dreams driving along and feeling warm only to discover you have an electrical panel with 2 sides ??? Whoever sold that coach to you ought to be shot !! I don’t mean to come on strong but that is VERY disturbing.

ALL good reputable dealers spend many many hours explaining the systems and usually have you spend a day or so staying in your coach and they bend over backwards to make sure you are relatively comfortable with how things work… they NEVER assume that you can “figure” it out.

Having said that I hope you have it all worked out already… if not be sure to visit with someone who can help you out. I can’t tell you how important that is. Also have your batteries checked properly other than by the selling dealer. I have no clue who your bought your bus from but I know he hasn’t done a good job for you… I wouldn’t be a happy camper !! I just hate to see anyone get screwed.

Please keep us posted… we are on your side Thomas.

Good luck,

Diane

[Larry & Diane]

Thank you for the number for featherlite I’ll give them a call next week. I believe I too experienced overheat of the gen due to the fan not being on due to another issue that was resolved. I have not experienced any further overtemp issues with the gen. My rad for the gen is by the gen. Some of my issues were likely self induced and part of my learning curve. I don’t have any issue with my dealer he has been very helpful and spent more time with me gowing over the issues I ran into. I believe he is telling me what he believes to be correct information and I’m sure there are things he tells me that I forget or did not completely understand as well as I thought I had. Again I believe my dealer is going out of his way to be helpful and I am completely satisfied with him. I’m hopefull that a call to featherlite will clear up some questions for me. Thank you all for your continued support. I wanted to do another dry run this weekend but the forecaster said possible severe storms so we will wait for better weather.

[Archived]

I’m going to look into purchaing a battery tester and would like to know what models others here like.

[Archived]

Hi Thomas & Alice…

Thought I would mention that PC is having their first annual rally in Branson in October… they are a really a knowledgable and fun group consisting of folks from all over the place with every model of Prevost out there…who love to visit and share their experiences with each other.

The first Prevost rally we went to 3 years ago was a memorable experience for us as we were “new” to Prevost. We had owned Newell Coaches and Bluebirds previously… so we thought we knew a lot about rv-ing… huh… did we learn we didn’t know squat… then the learning really began and in a fun way… everyone… well… almost everyone had some great input for us and so many questions were answered…. and the fellowship was great… we have made many great friends and some I can call in a pinch.

Check out the details on the home page (the agenda has been posted) and if you can come you won’t be sorry… I know that everyone would love to meet you both !!

Diane

[Greg]

Typical battery testers are the carbon pile type or the electronic ones currently available. The key is to get one with sufficient capability to handle an 8D house battery. I find an internet search is the best way to sort out what is available. I hope you find all batteries are OK. But even if only one is bad, understand that they have to be changed in sets with the same date codes.

You are now on step one of the Prevost recovery program by recognizing you are better off doing some things yourself.

We may be a little harsh and critical of dealers who may not treat a customer as they should be treated but if you have read the tens of thousands of posts over the years we find no more likely victim than a first time Prevost owner. Some dealers are superb. You will see buyers singing their praises. They back the products they sell.

Some dealers may not back what they sell, but they are honest and will let you know up front you have an as-is sale. They will not pretend they are going to fix problems you have and they will not pretend to know all their is to know about the coach you are buying. But at least you know going into the deal the way it is going to be.

And then there are some dealers that will say and promise anything to get the coach out the door. For a new first time Prevost buyer those dealers in my opinion are the most dangerous sellers to deal with because you may get bad advice or service which is worse than none at all. As a buyer, regardless of what category your dealer falls in it is your responsibility to inspect the coach and learn the coach. If you choose to trust at least recognize you still have to verify.

By testing batteries yourself you are verifying they are new (and good) or they are not.

[Peter]

Jon is right on for load testing, which is the most effective indicator of a battery’s health. An 8D battery is rated for 255 amps and 4D for 200 amps. You’ll likely find testers that fall into the less than 150 amp range and those at 500 amps. If you already have a load tester that can supply a constant 25 amp load, there is a method of calculating battery health. Here’s how Lifeline says to do it; http://www.lifelinebatteries.com/manual.pdf. Of course, this would be time consuming and is only brought up as an option if you already have a smaller load tester.

Another good, but not as effective test, is the overnight voltage test. Make sure the batteries are fully charged after the charger has reached float charge. Turn off the charger and disconnect each battery. Just disconnecting the negative terminal on each battery is fine. This is to ensure there are no DC loads and that a bad battery is isolated from the bank. After 24 hours check the voltage with any good digital voltmeter. All batteries should be very close to one another at 12.8VDC or very near 12.8VDC. For lifeline batteries, 12.8VDC is 100% charged while 12.5VDC is 75% charged. As batteries age they may not maintain full charge for 24 hours with no loads applied. That’s why the most important number is how close one battery is to the next. If one battery falls well short of that number it is likely bad. If all batteries are nearly the same, but well below 12.8VDC, then it’s either time to change the batteries or check the charger. I’m using Lifeline numbers as that is likely what you have. If you don’t, then a fully charged wet cell battery is 12.6VDC.

[Rick & Denise]

I stopped by the coach today and put the new plates on. While there I checked the batteries. They are 4d lifelines. Codes as follows: bat1 679479 bat2 679480 bat3 679480 bat4 677875 bat5 679481 bat6 677871 bat7 677872 bat8 677873.

[Archived]

Thomas,

Those are not the date codes, the date codes will be 2 letters or if they are old, 5 letters. If they are older than 5/08, they will have a 5 letter code branded into the top side of the case. After 5/08, there will be a round white sticker with 2 letters. Any of Lifeline date codes will be letters, not numbers. The numbers you are seeing have a different purpose, of no use to anyone other than Lifeline. I can’t remeber what they told me, maybe batch numbers or serial numbers.

If you’re not sure of the load testing, call me and I’ll help you out.

[Kim]

I prefer Thomas. thanks

I checked again this morning and they all are GPL-4DL 210ah@20.

I found stampings on the side upper edge of: BJJF G with the G a little ways to the right of the BJJF very hard to read as some are very poorly stamped.

I don’t have a load tester yet but measured the voltage of each.

#1 12.97

#2 12.92

#3 12.92

#4 12.91

These are all in a tray marked 12v house which does not make sense to me since both inverters show an input voltage of 24v.

The other tray is marked 24v house with the following voltages:

#5 12.45

#6 12.48

#7 11.91

#8 12.42

So it looks like the one bank has one bad battery and is the bank that the inverter seemed flakey on when trying to turn on an a/c.

Now I need to figure out if I need only replace the 4 in that bank or if I need to replace all 8. It seems like they are split between the two inverters and if that is the case I would expect to replace them in banks. How do I find out the price being offered through our org?

Also if these are valid codes can you tell how old they are?

[Paul]

Thomas,

You batteries are at their end of life. The date code for BJJFG is June 2007.

I have sent you an estimate for new batteries and I would NOT just replace 4, you should do them all.

Call if you need help.

I corrected my previous post calling you Tom, you can call me Tom, Thomas, Truk or the Battery Guy, I don’t care….