Chuck & Katrina
Forum Replies Created
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Charging cycle counts would not be as easy as it might appear.
My coach inverters (Outback) appear to always go into bulk when power to them is restored. So if I start with batteries that have been in float, at the end of the day of driving and use shore power or the generator my batteries which have seen 27.7 volts all day, are going to go into bulk charge.
As soon as they cycle down from bulk to absorb to float, they go into “silent” mode which means the float charge is turned off, and when the voltage drops to some point below 25.6 float charge is restored at around 26.8 the inverters go back to “silent” mold.
Keep in mind when reading this an LiFePo4 battery voltage starts to drop off rapidly when it gets below 25 volts so the SOC at 25.6 is actually very low.
But until inverter input power is removed and then restored I do not think my batteries are seeing a full charge/discharge/charge cycle.
I have spent quite a bit of time measuring useful battery life of my Li batteries because I need to know what to expect in the real world. If I let my inverters go through the full three stages of charging, then with all the loads I normally have when dry camping (such as overnight in a rest area) with the generator off, I have at least 19 hours before the Li batteries reach the voltage where the voltage curve is almost vertical.
If I begin the same test after the voltage in silent mode is sitting at 25.6 which would be a fully charged AGM voltage, my Li batteries are at 50% or less SOC and I will reach shut down in 8 hours or less.
I have never measured SOC after the batteries have been charged by the alternator when driving all day. They are not at 100% SOC, but are near it. I probably have ample stored power to dry camp 12 to 15 hours.
It is likely I will never know because I use shore and generator power almost 100% of the time when I am not driving and if I assume whenever silent mode goes back to float voltage it is a charge cycle, and it resumes at more than 50% SOC, it appears I will have a 13,000 charge cycle life on my batteries.
The stated life of 500 cycles of AGM batteries could be true if they were always drawn down to the point where they are virtually dead before recharging, but I cannot believe you would get less than 1000 cycles unless they were consistently drawn down to almost no voltage.
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
My schematic showing in rear. Just replaced 3 way and no change, so as Jon mentioned probably the 5 way in rear. Appears to be drivable since it airs up and level. Thanks guys.
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
It is fiberglass with kevlar reinforcement in corners.
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
Jon, all you have to do one time pass through one of the automated toll booths, no live person, such as IN and you’ll have an E-Pass. Stop, get out of the bus because you can’t reach the freaking buttons, pay with a credit card, get back in the bus and move on to the next one.
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
Expecting 15′ of snow in the mountains just west of Palm Springs at Big Bear.
Although we’ll get about .5 inch of rain, the mountains will be beautiful tomorrow morning!
We’ve got to fill up our aquifers!
Safe travels,
Mark2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
I was thinking about building some coach work garages at the I75-I10 intersection . Maybe a condo set up ? We could have one with a community pit for underbelly service or even a upgrade in the unit itself . I think the cost would come in around 150k@ .
Who knows with the way things are going we might need to park these Dinosaur’s for a while till we figure out how to convert them to Air Power or something .
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
If you drive thru fast enough, the air displacement blast will part them wider .-))
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
We had a similar problem. It was caused by lock alignment. the tabs on the rectangular box had bent. I opened it up and fixed it in 10 mins. Details here:
/threaddetails.asp?Category=Chassis&ThreadID=6297
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
Assuming all other light functions work my first attempt to determine what they are for is to look at the wiring to them, look for a number on the wires, and see if any of the other rear lights have a similar number.
Prevost numbers wires and if you pull up any electrical diagrams on the Prevost Car web site (under parts and maintenance) that might also help.
If those lights are for any of the real light functions the wires will be tied into the wires on the other lights with stop or parking functions being my guess.
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
If you reroute the crankcase breather preturbo it acts as a crankcase scavange and will pull vacuum. Increased power and mpg.
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
Black button controls one direction, Yellow controls other direction. Direction is determined by how the wires were connected. For example: If yellow is up direction and you change the wires, then yellow becomes down.
Having said that: Once the direction of the buttons are determined, press the down button in until it clicks/locks in. Push you shade control button on your coach panel, the blind will start going down. When the shade reaches the bottom (where you want it to stop) push the button on the shade to release it (it will or should pop out), you bottom travel is now set. Do the opposite with other color button on the shade motor to set the top limit.
Where the problem comes in, is as the blind motor ages the set buttons tend to stick in and not pop out when you want to set the up or down position. Most of the time if you play with it enough you can get it to work.
Chuck
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
https://advancetruckpartsusa.com/products/23503510-low-coolant-level-probe-detroit-diesel
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
It is 2 stroke, and yes a I have all the usual clicks when switch is turned on and warning lights. I hadn’t thought about the tachometer pre-start sweep but I will go look at that
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
Dadej, I wondered the same thing when I saw it my coach.
“They” say that it keeps it grounded. Actually, I thought the rubber tires would do that.
I have 60,500 miles on my coach and strap, it’s still touching the ground, not sure how many miles they last.
Safe travels,
Mark
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
Mom and dad with their group maybe late 70’s their 1st bus 1948 MCI Silver Sides 671 detroit 4 speed on tree no synchromesh no power steering, later came 1980 Liberty 96 wide 40 long, your right buses are in the blood 2nd generation
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL