Harry
Forum Replies Created
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Sorry for the delay in responses lately. The last 5 days have been a not-so-fun blur. It seems like it lasted a month, and I still do not have power at my house. Why do you think I have been stressing and going after helping people be power-grid independent in their motor coaches? The answer is simple…I wish I was myself!
1) Are Li batteries as fragile in extreme heat and cold conditions as the AGM’s ?
2) Ben mentioned charge sources. Do either of You think that solar will ever be a viable supplemental source for coach’s and Li. ?
My responses to Rocky’s questions:
1) Lithium Iron Phosphate is only fragile in the following sense. They do not like to be charged or discharged in below freezing temps. The way to fix that is seal off and insulate where they are located. In extreme situations, there are thermal blanket installations which would take care of the issue. They have an extreme tolerance for heat. The operating range is 4 degrees F up to 175 degrees F.
Lifeline operating temp range is -40F to 160F according to the battery manual.
The optimum operating temperature for the lead-acid battery is 25*C (77*F). Elevated temperature reduces longevity. As a guideline, every 8°C (15°F) rise in temperature cuts the battery life in half. A VRLA, which would last for 10 years at 25°C (77°F), would only be good for 5 years if operated at 33°C (92°F), to quote Battery University website.
I do not remember what the operating temp range of the oxide-type lithium batteries like those of Volta. If Jack is on the forum, maybe he has the answer to that one.
2) I love solar. We have been installing solar on coaches now for 20 years. Now that most refrigerators are so efficient, being half the load they used to be, LED lighting being a 1/5th the lighting load, combined with the efficient AC’s we are using now on production coaches, I see solar making a larger and larger difference in self-sustainability, and further reduced gen run time. Unless you want to be able to add a pretty good area of portable panels up and connnect to the bus, we are not at the point of complete self-sustaining yet, but it is improving. The efficiency of solar panels is about 25 percent now. I see that going up in the near future.
I remember in the days of LP refrigerators and water heaters. In those times, solar would easily take care of the lighting loads on coaches, making true cord-free living possible. Then came all electric coaches, and the cord-free era got reduced to maybe overnight and generator use the rest of the time. We are getting back now to the “good ol’ days” of extended cord-free being possible. Just my thoughts.
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We are hunkered down here in Sarasota. Windows covered. Finished up by flashlight at 10pm yesterday. Wind is significant currently and dumping rain! Neighbor across the street is still attempting to put some plywood on his exposed windows. Will move to friends new, generated office/warehouse facility later today.
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Rocky, Thanks for your support and suggestions. I afraid you’re right though the Vantare and Liberty are very different. The generator feeds directly to a rotary transfer switch Gen -Normal- UTL, then directly into the Trace. The operator manual of the trace unit refers to the internal auto switch from shore to gen power. All is good until the gen is on and then there is no power on the one Trace unit.
Ray
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Ray,
Contact Inverter Services or Tradewinds regarding the relay. They’re PC Advertisers.
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BDuplan and Jon: That is a good idea. How can I check the 120volts at the inverter? I’ve got the notion that Liberty has routed each 120volt leg through the inverter, so there should be a place where the 120volts in is hooked up and a place there 120volts out is hooked up. Is that inside the inverter? Should I take the cover off to see those connection points and check the voltage there?
Tom: Good point on how the on/off switches on the inverters and the remotes should be set. As illogical as it seemed to me and inspite of there being NO placarding on the inverter telling an ordinary pleb how the switch should be configured when remotes are used. Fortunately however, that was one of the things I remember from the orientation Jeff Rowe gave me when I picked up the then new to us coach.
BDuplan, I took your link. Lots of interesting information there. But someone has absconded with the pictures. Thanks for the help.
To the others who have responded: I’ve found a used unit from a reliable source. I’m leaning towards swapping that out with the apparently failed one. Once I’ve done this comprehensive 120volt test, I should be close to a final decision. Thanks again for the help!!!!!
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Raymond,
If it is setup like a liberty ? It could be the timer relay. On liberty’s there are two relay timers in the transfer switch panel. And they are interchangeable. So if Your shore power works , they can be swapped to get Your generator going. Mine are Gen / Left and Shore / Right . There was a thread a while back , Search engine should bring it up. Search timer relay.
I also have a little white circuit breaker switch on the generator that is very hard to see. Mine slides out of the bay east and west. Leaving the generator portion back in the bay. Square box on top back behind engine there is a CB on the side. Have had this thing 5 years and did not find that until a month ago. While looking the bay over contemplating a gen bay rebuild of the insulation. If any foam or dust from it is falling down. I have read of others that have ruined their gen windings by continuing to run their gen after the foam starts deteriorating. I hope that is not the case for You.
Liberty and Vantare are probably two totally different animals. Just trying to help. It sucks to be out of power. Hope You get it going soon. Hopefully someone with Vantare knowledge will chime in soon to help You.This is what My timer relays look like.
Bsafe,
Rocky -
Well Dick, what’s up?
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Just my experience with an MKX: I owned one for a couple of years, towed it thousands of miles. I could not keep rubber on the front of the thing….went through a new set of Michelins (front ones) in less than 20K miles….oooohhhh. I called Ford, talked to the local Ford dealer, called Blue Ox….never could figure out what the heck was going on.
I found a nice 2014 Honda CRV (the last year that can be towed) and have extremely pleased with it….no problems. I suppose I’ll never know exactly what the deal was on the MKX….other than that problem, we loved the car.
Good luck with your choice…ty
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I read with amazement the posts relating to the satisfactory use of cruise-airs in the desert southwest (maybe the H’s are better insulated). I have owned 2 coaches, both XL’s, one a 40 with 3 cruise airs and dash air, one a 45 with 4 cruise airs and OTR. I have found the cruise airs in either coach incapable of proper cooling under extreme conditions. Can’t address the ability to cooling with roof a/c’s. I would NEVER again own a coach with cruise airs without OTR.
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Windows 7 had something called Windows Essentials available as a download. It had some sort of editing program, IIRC. Might have been for making a “movie” out of still pics. But, Windows 10 might have something in it or available for download. Linda
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Thanks Mark
That is what I thought was going on. And use the generator with the same system if needed?
Li batteries. They are nice. How many amh do you have in yhr Li s?
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Further to the update… this makes me so correctly proud of my friends… Thank you for all of your kind thoughts…
We have a Sunday School Class that I teach along with two other fellows with whom I rotate…. we have about 150 in the class… Yesterday, we held a conference call among the teachers and the SS Class Director and discussed each class member of whom we are aware and their issues as well as their ability to be self-supportive in their responses to their individual needs after this flood….
We have six whose homes flooded and other needs. We assigned out responsibilities and are providing assistance in specific situations. It is working well even after only 24 hours… We will consumate the plans in Sunday’s Sunday School session… can’t think of a better way to spend a SS class…
Additionally…I hope you will take heart in the response of this small group …. with the Lord’s help, we have also agreed as a class to rebulid one of the member’s homes entirely. This will be a large undertaking and the member himself will lead in the construction but we will provide additional labor and, of course, the financial ability to accomplish the task… God is Good…
That is thrilling to me…
Pres
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I have four or five friends in the Houston area. All of them, except one couple, said they were high enough they didn’t expect the flooding to impact their homes although they were “flood bound” and couldn’t get out; probably like being “snow bound” up north. The last one though knew late last week or over the weekend they were going to be “sacrificed” to protect a dam. This morning they posted they’ve been told the first floor of their home has three feet of water. Much to my surprise, they were able to rent an apartment as they expect getting back to normal will take a while. They also have a daughter in the Houston whose house hasn’t been directly impacted.
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TrigGuy, I’ve done that in Seattle, but it was about 15 years ago. I suspect many gun stores or ranges near a border would be willing to help. There may also be an option of shipping it to yourself to a local private mailbox, but I haven’t really looked into that yet.
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Those look like engine codes Monty, not transmission.
For you 5 speed guys, would DDEC code 16, Coolant Level Sensor, prevent a no shift for the tranny? If so, he could jumper the coolant sensor and see if that corrects it.