[Marius]

This may be of help for anyone wanting an Auto Start for inside tempature and low battery without spending a ton of money. I installed this on my 1999 Royale and once I got the wiring set up it is working fine.

I wrote an article and posted it. I recommened looking over the “Article” section of the site, a lot of good info that has been posted there.

Auto Gen Start (AGS)

[Andre]

thank you…that is something to look into…..What generator was this installed on ? Did you do tap into the switch in the generator compartment directly ?

[Bryan]

It was installed on a Powertech 17.5 and I connected all the wires to the back of the manual start switch.

[Archived]

Well…after some probing around I figured it out….even shot a video to show Jeff what it was doing….

Now it works as it should…..

The problem was the wrong fuse in the converter panel that feeds H1 circuit, the voltage input into the Generator Control box that sits under the Watchdog.

I started testing voltage and knowing that my batteries are full, it did not make sense to see 10.9 V on that H1 (house 1) wire. Traced it back to the fuse panel and I had 12.5V coming into the fuse and only 10.9 V coming out.

Had a 20 amp glass fuse…….Most there were 15 amp ceramic fuses. Dug around, found a 15 amp ceramic, popped it in,…..12.5 in and 12.5V out…..same in the control box.

What it has been doing over the last few days was that when I would engage AutoStart, both lights would come on- red and blue . Normally only the Red one should be on for AutoStart. Regardless of the voltage in the house batteries the generator would start exactly one minute later. It would run continuous until manually shut off……

It all make sense now…..the Watchdog was seeing a faulty 10.9V incoming, giving command to start the Gen off the bat and regardless how long it would run it would still see only the 10.9V and keep it running……

I will now test the actual function when the batteries will get down to 11.5V to make sure it autostarts as it should and shut off 5 hrs later.

Thanks to all for advice. That Magnum Autostart is still a good alternative I think when the Watcdog decides to poop…..

[Mark]

I was having some issues with My Watchdog. I had to By-Pass it to start the Gen. I called Liberty and talked to Troy and ask Him if it would hurt the Gen to run that way. He said No , That it had a Low Oil Cutoff and High Temp Cutoff on the Generator. So I could not Hurt it. , Now I am Confused. I try to watch the Gauges on the Dash for the Gen when I run it a Lot. And Keep the Oil checked and Antifreeze. None of My inside Start Buttons work now. I have to start / Stop from the Bay. What a PITA that is !!!

Rocky

[Ronald]

Troy answered the question, but he failed to tell you the buttons would not work and you would have to manually start it at the generator itself.

The obvious solution is to repair or replace the Watchdog.

[Archived]

Jon,

We are new owner of our 2006 Liberty XLII Coach. I have followed several of your posts and comments leading up to and now following the purchase of our coach. In fact you are one of the main reason I setteled on a Liberrty. It was your comments about the Bus Air that really sold me, particularly because we live in California and travel quite a bit where it is hot. So much for that.

Since I took ownership of the coach I only used the auto start once and it worked just fine. That was shortly after we picked up the coach from Liberty in Stuart FL. I have read you suggested procedure about just manually managing the battery voltage with daily running of the generator. But I have the following problem and being out the type A that I am I am compelled to resolve the issue we are having.

From the Crestron Control screens the generator starts, runs and shuts off fine when I operate it manually. It also works fine on the Power Loss Protection setting which has occurred 3 or 4 time. It does not work on Auto Start when dry camping. As soon as I set it to auto start the Watchdog trips the red reset and displays the Green Power lamp indicator as well as the two Red Over-Temp and Oil Pressure lamp indicators. I am able to reset but then repeats the above when I appempt to set the auto start again either at the local control by the Watchdog control box or at the Crestron screen.

Its Sunday and I can call Liberrty tomorrow but was hoping to get some suggestions as to what trouble shooting steps I can take now?

I highly respect your opinion from having seen and read so many of your comments.

Your reply and guidance is kindly requested

Jon P

[Peter]

Jon, It sounds like a Watchdog issue and I cannot offer any advice how to fix it. However if it were to happen to me I would just start the generator when I am stopped and dry camping and just let it run. That way I lose none of the creature comforts and I am not exposing myself to the frustration of not having the generator start when the batteries need a recharge.

When I am driving there is no need for the generator because the alternator on the engine is taking care of the battery charging and the OTR is keeping you comfortable.

If Jeff Rowe is reading this he may have some advice.

[Peter]

Thank you Jon, I appreciate your comments and I am doing exactly what you have said to do. I did not realize my post went through because I had not pushed the post reply so I also started a new thread which Jeff may see.

Thanks again I will get in touch with Liberty tomorrow.

[Archived]

The watchdog auto start is to low it’s about 22.3 it will wreck the batteries if used to much start at 24.4 or no lower than 24

[Bernard]

Peter’s comments are correct relative to AGM batteries such as Lifeline Batteries. A battery’s life is meassured in the number of charging cycles and if the depth of discharge is substantial, such as 90% a set of batteries may have significantly fewer charging cycles than one that is never allowed to drop below 50% for example.

I do not knpw if the same holds true for Li batteries.

[Archived]

the lithium ion batteries have a processor in them which will not allow the voltage to go below a certain number or above a certain level,the processor will turn off the battery in the case of low voltage and at the high voltage limit it will stop the charge from continuing.The charging process must start before the low limit is reached or the battery will actually turn off and the coach will go to sleep,if this happens one must start the engine and reset the battery relay and breaker.I don’t think that the discharge level will affect the battery life with lithium ion batteries,the number of cycles is recorded in the processor and I understand that they are good for 2000,which would be a long time.Of course the real dilemma is the cost of the replacement batteries which are currently very expensive.

[AL]

Jack,

My understanding is that our Li batteries can be rebuilt at a much cheaper price vs. replacement. Our battieries are expected to last about 10 yrs.

Our coach is set-up for the batteries to go to sleep at a 30% charge and/or the genny will kick on to recharge.

Mark

[Reagan]

JonP has your issue been resolved with auto start function….Mr. Mark as to the rebuild process of the battery, I personally know of no coaches that have had batteries replaced or rebuilt because of age, although we are getting closer to that 10 year mark. The problem I see with rebuilding them is how long is a customer willing to leave their coach shut down for them to be rebuilt…..Also with technology changes, there as it appears need to be some other updates to the system for some of the shut off features….

[Peter]

Jeff,

Peter said to change out the inverters to Magnums and you would no longer need the watchdog. Is that the case with the new Magnums you installed in mine?