Replies – Forums – Chad – Page 2

Chad

Member

July 7, 2024 at 7:31 am in reply to: Tired of Cruise airs and basement airs

I guess what I’m asking is this…with full Prevost OTR heating and A/C (not Prevost “dash air”) the OTR evaporator is located in it’s own side compartment on one side of the bus and is connected to the OTR ducts that run the full length of the bus interior…the OTR condenser is also located in it’s own compartment on the other side of the bus. Has anyone removed the Prevost OTR heating and A/C, and installed a mini-split system in it’s place, with the evaporator blowing in to the OTR duct work? My thoughts are that this would eliminate the need (and work) of installing three interior evaporators, no? My cruiseairs are still working so I’m not ready to go this route…yet. My biggest question is the velocity and volume of air needed to push through the entire OTR duct work and whether the existing huge 24 volt fans would be needed…

1984 96" with 8V92TA

(remodeled Liberty Coach)

Greenwood, MO

Chad

Member

November 19, 2023 at 8:43 pm in reply to: Battery rectifier wiring fire

I also am told the replacement is now called an Isostart dual rectifier and sells for $1200. Your comments?

1984 96" with 8V92TA

(remodeled Liberty Coach)

Greenwood, MO

Chad

Member

October 12, 2023 at 5:39 pm in reply to: 12/24 voltage seperation

Every Prevost I know of that has OTR air has a 24v DelcoRemy 50DN alternator, either gear driven or belt driven, mainly to power the OTR air conditioner system with its large 24v evaparator & condenser fans, ac clutch, etc.

The four 12v chassis batteries are connected in both series (24v) and parallel (12v) and utilizies a Vanner equilizer. WHY? See p.4 of this link: https://www.vanner.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Battery-Equalizer-Owners-Manual-7-28-04.pdf

I know nothing about Marathon systems, sorry.

If you say how many alternators and Vanner equalizers there are I can take some guesses.

1984 96" with 8V92TA

(remodeled Liberty Coach)

Greenwood, MO

Chad

Member

October 10, 2023 at 12:36 am in reply to: Renovating a 1984 Liberty Coach

I’ve spent more time shopping mini splits than I care to admit. I picked up a 12k Mr. Cool heat pump a few years ago to use on the bus, but eventually installed that in my shop after I decided to gut the bus. Good thing, because I failed to notice that it was 240v. It works great though. I have an 18k AirCon heat pump mini split arriving tomorrow to install in my apartment, and am going to need one more in that space. I’m thinking about trying one of the floor/ceiling flexible mount units in that application. That’s just to get my lines to penetrate the wall higher than a wall-mount, allowing me to run over the top of a window.

I don’t know if I mentioned it on PC, but I also modified a Midea U-shaped window unit to be a split system, and am going to try that in the bedroom of the bus with the outdoor unit behind the curb side engine door. No heat function though, so I’ll probably go with electric toe kick heaters under the bed. That’s what Liberty did, and I may just reuse those. I really do enjoy tinkering and learning new things!

1984 96" with 8V92TA

(remodeled Liberty Coach)

Greenwood, MO

Chad

Member

October 9, 2023 at 12:20 pm in reply to: Renovating a 1984 Liberty Coach

I considered using a ducted unit in my bus since I freed up an entire bay by deleting the OTR HVAC. I couldn’t find any that were 120v, only 240v. I thought that might limit me in some power situations, although I haven’t really settled on my electrical design. The 240v outdoor units were also too tall for my bays. I’d love to avoid hanging indoor units on the wall, so I’m not ruling anything out just yet. They keep designing new units.

1984 96" with 8V92TA

(remodeled Liberty Coach)

Greenwood, MO

Chad

Member

October 9, 2023 at 8:13 am in reply to: Renovating a 1984 Liberty Coach

Thanks Robert. I have researched the in-duct units, and will review the solar assist models. Ideally, I’d be looking at using the Prevost OTR AC/Heat delivery ducts and not the cruise air duct work. Since the OTR delivery ducts are located along the entire lengths of the both passenger and driver’s sides, and powered (pushed) by those two large DC blower motors, I’m unsure how I would calculate the pressure and volume needed. I was hoping someone had done that work or experimented.

1984 96" with 8V92TA

(remodeled Liberty Coach)

Greenwood, MO

Chad

Member

September 29, 2023 at 10:58 am in reply to: Renovating a 1984 Liberty Coach

While we’re in the engine compartment, I also completely rebuilt the rear electrical panel. Not sure if I posted about that before. I’m also not sure if I did a good job, because I haven’t tried starting the engine since last summer. Sure looks nice though! I’ll have to find better before and after photos for this job, but I completely disassembled the box, soda blasted the parts, painted everything and then used new rubber gasket and latching hardware. I replaced all of the ice cube relays with Bosch-style and switched from the near-end-of-life breakers to modern fuses. I’m very happy with the results of this project. If she starts, that is!

1984 96" with 8V92TA

(remodeled Liberty Coach)

Greenwood, MO

Chad

Member

September 29, 2023 at 10:30 am in reply to: Renovating a 1984 Liberty Coach

I also replaced the plywood covering the top of the engine compartment. It had a lot of rot, I suppose due to years of the Cruisair evaporator freezing and then melting everywhere. No other signs of water penetration back there. I replaced the fiberglass insulation and what I guess is meant as a vapor barrier, using foam board and a nice, thick pond liner. It turned out nice.

In order to get down to bare metal, I had to disassemble the engine air box that runs the width of the bus. Many of the screws holding the interior wood covering to the bus were installed from the outside, and then the air box covered the screw heads. That meant the coolant reservoir and oil tank had to come out. Of course, that was the perfect time to soda blast and repaint all of the sheet metal of the air box. And the oil tank. And the coolant tank. I actually finished that job last summer, and forgot about all of that work until just now.

1984 96" with 8V92TA

(remodeled Liberty Coach)

Greenwood, MO

Chad

Member

September 29, 2023 at 10:15 am in reply to: Renovating a 1984 Liberty Coach

Touring your conversion at Evansville put a little bug in the back of my brain, for sure! That was also the first time I saw a mini-split in a Prevost. I definitely don’t have to guts to make my own slides though.

I added 1/2″ plywood to the walls up to the window level. I sandwiched 1/4″ foam board between the plywood and the framing. That should give me some thermal break and also allow me to securely attach walls, cabinetry, or whatever else anywhere in the bus without having to try to hit a framing member.

1984 96" with 8V92TA

(remodeled Liberty Coach)

Greenwood, MO

Chad

Member

September 28, 2023 at 3:03 pm in reply to: TRACE INVERTERS CAUSING FIRES

I wonder if this has to do with having a single ground-neutral bond (and that not happening). I don’t have the trace inverters any more, but when I set up my new inverter, I made sure I had no neutral-ground bond in my breaker panel, and when I am not on shore power or generator power, I plug in the shore power cord to a dummy 14-50R which has the neutral and ground bonded. This way I am always sure I have exactly 1 bond in any situation.

Also, whenever I have a concern that the shore power is iffy, I don’t connect my shore power cord, but instead connect a 5kW battery charger via 240 or 120v (1/2 the kW on the 120v).

1984 96" with 8V92TA

(remodeled Liberty Coach)

Greenwood, MO

Chad

Member

August 30, 2023 at 3:02 pm in reply to: Renovating a 1984 Liberty Coach

I don’t have any drawings to post yet, but am at a point where I need to decide. It really is a game of inches. My main goals at this point:

1. change from side aisle to center aisle

2. make moving around the bed less of a squeeze

3. make the bathroom less cramped

4. incorporate a larger refrigerator

Everything else is really just a matter of maximizing storage without sacrificing livability. I’m using empty 24″ moving boxes to “build” walls and experiment with different scenarios. I have been surprised by what a difference an inch makes, particularly alongside the toilet or at the foot of the bed.

One thing I am trying to pull off is to make room for bunk beds opposite the bathroom. I would personally use the space for hanging clothes and a large pantry, but having the ability to convert the area to bunks seems worth the planning effort. I won’t own this bus forever.

1984 96" with 8V92TA

(remodeled Liberty Coach)

Greenwood, MO