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Smoke in Cabin
Started out for weekend yesterday. Started gen set turned frig and cruise airs on. Pulled out of barn hooked tow car to coach. Shut down gen and high idiled detriot and turned (OTR) coach air on. Smelled hot wiring, opened gauge panel and saw slight smoke drifting out. Lost all 12 volt meters on panel. Satellite radio, back up camera also went down. AC worked on panel though inverter for frig. Hooked to shore power (50amp) went back over and all panel was dead including AC. Cruise airs and frige was still working on shore power. This a total electric coach. (6) 1 year old 8d batteries. Some were low on water. Have Electric Guru coming Tuesday and will check into problem. Have new Magnum Energy inverter (2500 watt) on the way just in case.
So far still love the bus!
More of saga to follow.
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6 Replies
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Glen.
As a precaution I would urge you shut all power in or to the coach off. Shut down your 120 volt power, your inverters and your battery master switches to make sure there is no potential ignition source for a fire.
From your limited description it sounds as though the problem lies with the DC electrical circuits, but unless you are 100% certain of that and can isolate all of those circuits from the coach you are better off to just shut it all down. I include the chassis master switches in that as well as the house. Even though they are two separate DC systems you cannot afford the risk.
Be safe.
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Thanks for the info. Kept it plugged in overnight with 1 Cruise Air working. Dc switch and bus master switch off. Will put in back in the barn today, turn everything off and wait for the cavalry, Tuesday.
Got it insured, Thank God!
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Is the barn insured?
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Now Jon that was funny and yes it’s insured!
Update!
Inverter shorted out , before it was over, smoked a couple old style buss fuses, knocked out all dc gauges in cabin panel and ruined the weekend. That was the smoke I’d seen in panel, the inverter and gauges. No wires thank goodness! Will have to replace DC meter gauges.
Electric Guru put new magnum inverter back in Tuesday and replaced fuses and good to go. Still have to wire switch in cabin panel to control inverter from inside. Meanwhile will turn on and off from bay. This inverter (magnum) has built in battery charger and the old system had 2 separate chargers plus inverter. It took up a lot of space. Will take a look this weekend on return and check it out.
Thanks Justin Griffith.
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I think I am correct (Justin, correct me if I am wrong) in saying what Justin is describing a pair of converters whose purpose is to supply DC power to the coach and to charge the house batteries. The inverter
is not an inverter / charger as most of us are familiar with, but a stand alone inverter.
I am not sure how his inverter guru has set up his new inverter / charger but he has now changed his electrical system to possibly make the converters redundant.
The only suggestion I can make for Justin is that he determines what the battery charging protocol is for his house batteries and to insure the bulk, absorbtion and float voltages are those specified by the battery manufacturer. He now has 3 battery charging sources and they all need to meet the specs for the batteries.
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It was a stand alone inverter with 2 stand alone chargers for (6) 8d batteries installed when converted back in 1991/1992. Took all this out and installed 1 magnum inverter /charger ME 2512. Haven’t seen install but will take a look when I get back.
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