[Archived]

Joe: I’m pretty much the same as you. I leave the key in the ignition, with it switched off. But a couple of times I have left the key “on” (overnight usually) and have had to use the chassis battery charger to charge the chassis batteries in the morning.

Following the path laid out by Jon Wehrenberg, I’ve had great success keeping the water bay warm by having a full tank of fresh water and leaving the water heater “on” while on shore power. I haven’t found it necessary to turn on the water bay heater that Liberty installed (and that’s down to 10 degrees, sitting outside) … although I’ve tested it a couple of times.

Tom wrote: “If I recall, my 01 Liberty had similar instructions about using the breaker when plugging and unplugging.”

Better take another close look at my Liberty manual.

[Greg]

I think over time we all have developed habits and procedures that work and I am not sure there is any one perfect way to connect, disconnect or manage power in the coach. The only concern we all should have is to consider what impact our actions or failure to act can have.

My coach chassis power management is simple and has worked for 27 years. I turn off the key. That’s it. If the bus is inactive for several months I monitor the chassis battery voltage and if it gets down to about 24.5 or thereabouts I charge to float with a three stage charger and continue to monitor.

My house chassis electric power management is based on my systems. The first coach had converters so if I left the coach powered with shore power and left the converters on my batteries would be cooked, so when I parked the bus in the garage I just shut all power to the house from batteries off. I left the 120VAC circuits on as needed such as outlets in the bay or upstairs if I needed heat. But that was a much simpler coach and nothing like today’s coaches.

My later coaches when parked were powered by shore power and I always left the inverters on to maintain the batteries. I never turned off the house batteries except when replacing them or servicing the whole DC system, Because of the systems I also left outlets on so I would not be cycling the Crestron off and on. If we had items in the refrigerator I left that on also and when I did plug into shore or generator power I did not turn off all the switches mentioned above because their loads were negligible.

But If I was running the house air conditioners or other heavy current draws I made it a point to turn off all those loads before switching to or from any power source such as shore or generator power. I did not want to start a generator or disconnect shore power with loads on them. I cannot speak about conversions other than my Libertys because I don’t know how their electronic systems are set up or how the electrical panel is set up. My procedures have worked for me with no known defects caused by them. I don’t think turning off all power in the coach when connecting or disconnecting is a bad thing either so there are other ways to do switching as long as we understand we do want to avoid switching with heavy loads.

[Archived]

Ditto, I never unhook, hook or switch to generator before unloading the A/C’s or any other high amp loads.

[Andy]

Is harmful for the generator or the appliance?

[Archived]

If I understand the question I think the harm from switching under loads comes from contactors or relays such as in a transfer switch.

When there is a heavy load, especially from motors, switching throws a large electrical arc and over time that damages the contacts due to that arcing. If you notice the large current draw when A/Cs kick on you can imagine how switching electrical sources under load is going to create a pretty large amound of arcing as the contacts open or close.

[Milo]

Thanks Jon. That is what I was looking for.

Greg