[John]

You CANNOT store a coach for an extended period of time without shore power unless it is completely shut down.

The coaches have “phantom” loads that are always working behind the scenes and unless you have some means of identifying and turning every single power consuming device off the only solution is shore power to maintain the batteries, or a total coach shut down. The loads are such things as tank level sensors, burglar alarms, clocks and numerous other loads. Turning the batteries off in a coach is usually no big deal, but because of how some of our coaches are set up, such as the inverters, it is important to follow the procedure the converter recommends.

Even after a complete shut down be aware that from time to time the batteries need to be charged because over time they lose a small amount of voltage. The benefit of good (new) batteries is there is unlikely to be a bad battery that can quickly pull down and ruin the other batteries.

[Davy]

Jon, understood that there are small phantom loads on the house batteries even when 12/24 volt breakers and inverters are disconnected. But a good bank should definitely last longer than 2 days on those phantom loads.

Lets say the phantom loads add up to 1Amp at 12V, using 50% of capacity would support the phantom load for 600 hours or about 25 days. I’m still looking for storage with shore power, but for the time being I have to make this work. If the new bank runs down quickly as well, I’ll have to hunt down the not so phantom load.

[David]

Trust me………turn off the whole coach. Put it to sleep. Then there are no loads. Yes you have to follow very specific steps to turn off certain devices such as the inverters (and generator auto-start device such as on my coach). It is not that difficult and once you know the process it goes quick. Yes you have to do certain things when you power it back up such as reset all the clocks, but measure the risk versus reward. If you mess up and do not catch your batteries to recharge them before they get discharged you just shortened the life of your batteries. So the risk is going to be an early repurchase of new batteries, as opposed to protecting the batteries from a discharge.

I know the battery folks want to sell batteries, but we want you to save money so you can buy a new bus. The economy needs your help.

[Georges]

threegreens Proper care is very important. I bought my coach in december and the house batteries were 2 years old. But the previous owner didn’t care for them and they were no good! Soo I had to replace them. Rick

[Archived]

Jon and I may not totally agree on all issues(sorry Jon), but his comments on batteries is right on. I always keep mine plugged in when not in use. Mine is a “power hog” and I think most of our high end coaches are high power users. My batteries are less than three years old and have been pampered. I feel good to have a battery voltage above 12 volts when I awake in the morning after a night of boon docking.

Good luck on any term storage without being plugged in or shutdown.

Let us know of your experiences.

Hector

[Fred]

Actually I agree with Hector almost 100% of the time, but since he picks on me I have to give him a hard time.

[David]

Gerald,

Just be careful not to kill those new batteries and as Jon has pointed out, put it to sleep if you have to leave it for extended periods without power.

[Gerald]

Just to make sure we are all talking about the same thing.

We have 6 large battery disconnect switches on our coach. Two to disconnect the inverters from the house bank, one for the 24V house loads, one for the 12V house loads, one for the 24V chassis loads and one for the 12V chassis loads.

I turn all 6 disconnect switches off whenever I leave the coach without shorepower for more than a few hours. I consider that coach fully shutdown.

Yes, there are still a few phantom loads on the house and chassis banks (e.g. DDEC controller on chassis bank). But these loads should be manageable for a healthy battery bank. The chassis bank last at least a couple of weeks despite its set of phantom loads. I’d expect a healthy house bank to last as long as well. Note there is nothing running other than the “phantom” loads.

Are you guys saying that I have to fully remove the house bank (wiring) to store the bus for 2 weeks. Why have disconnect switches then at all?

[Larry & Diane]

The correct procedure should come from owners of a 1999 Marathon, but what is universal is that if you shut down the devices that have a specific shutdown procedure, such as inverters, and then shut down all house battery batteries via whatever disconnect switches Marathon has provided for that the house should be put to sleep.

The chassis shutdown is the same, and the chassis is put to sleep.

I believe on your coach, even with the chassis master swtiches turned off the DDEC has circuits that come direct from the batteries, by-passing all switches. That maintains the memory in the DDEC but draws only a very modest load. On all my coaches so far, even with the chassis switches left on I go several months before my voltage drops to a point where I want to charge the chassis. For remote unattended storage I would turn off the chassis disconnects also, although I doubt if that will impact you.

One word of caution……and this comes from experience with a pre-owned coach. It is not uncommon for owners to want some device or feature not provided by their converter. In my case a previous owner added a circuit to my chassis that was direct to the batteries and the load it imposed on the chassis batteries drained them in several days. You may not have such a modification, but after you put your coach to sleep, monitor the battery voltage very frequently until you acertain your batteries are maintaining their voltage in storage.

[Archived]

I’m going out on a limb here and admit I never shut off my disconnects unless I am working on something. Any time the bus is parked more than overnight it’s plugged in. I do turn off the TV, the laser printer and the computer. I see no reason to go beyond that based on never having a fire or other problems at home when I may be gone for months at a time without turning off my house.

The bus disconnect switches are a knife type switch and will progressively loosen the electrical contacts each time they are used. If that is indeed the case as I believe, the switches themselves will become a potential area of increased heat due to lose contacts. Lose contacts are undisputedly the main cause of burnt wires, contacts and fires in high amperage applications.

Most wear on electrical circuit boards and other components take place during initial startup as the components reach normal operating temperatures. As further justification do you really want to enter your coach and not find a cold adult beverage in the refrigerator?

Even with the superior construction, larger wires and other components on my Royale, the stated insurance value would allow me to a purchase a Liberty with lots of shiny stuff if I’m wrong.

[Don]

One of the great things about PC and other sources on information on bus conversions is the variety of the advice given. The source material is often very good as I can always learn a better way, often here and a few other places, I glean some good information.

In the winter I do not hang it on the plug (all the time) for a number of reasons. One it presents a fire hazard (the possibility exists, even remote as it is, I feel it is still possible). Our inverter over-charged our batteries at one time, which proved to be an expensive proposition, so I no longer do it.

Batteries much like the woman I married, are of a fickle nature and require a lot of attention from time to time. I have had much more success using “battery tenders” for extended periods. They put out a 2amp charge and when the batteries reach their optimum temperature and charge, they simply stop charging and begin the maintaining process.

So here it is, for what it is worth.

What I do is kill all the power to the bus and its relative systems. At certain times during the storage periods, I will plug it in for several days at a time and allow it to recharge what the parasitic battery drains have pulled down, and then pull the plug. During extreme periods of cold, I put an electric heater in there with the batteries and alongside the water-pump to prevent freezing.

If you believe you can park one and leave it there, unplugged for any period of time without battery drain, then in my opinion, you are going to have problems. Hope this helps?

BCO