Jerry
Forum Replies Created
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I carry two 20 ton bottle jacks in one of the bays all the time. Even if I have a problem on the road and I or someone else has to crawl underneath the coach, it can be safely supported.
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Good info Peter,
I know a lot of you say don’t leave a charger on, but mine has been on the whole time, and maintains the batteries perfectly. Vantare says leave it on, and it comes on anytime the Ignition is off. No problems with batteries……….knock on wood!
The outlet it is plugged into is only hot when the bus is plugged in or Gen running.
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Peter.
The Marinco 28220 is a good charger for our chassis batteries. I have one installed on my coach. As I understand it,this charger has diodes in the battery leads that prevent the alternator from backfeeding power into the charger. I haven’t specifically confirmed that to be true from Marinco but Roger at Signature Coach told me that was in fact the case. This is the same charger that he retrofits to his customer’s coaches. So, if the diodes are truly there, there would be no need to ever turn off the charger or even turn it off when running the engine.
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We looked at both and realized that the 45′ was the right choice for us. It rides better and is very maneuverable. That 5′ gives you much more room inside (in our case, double vanities and a private toilet room). We do not have slides, and do just fine without. We wanted a good floor plan that would work while we were underway. Good luck in your quest, and welcome to the family!
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Our PC security system has obviously failed. We have been hacked again.
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I bought the coach in 2015 as I stated. The batteries are original and are the Mastervolt brand. I have 3 batteries and 4 inverters (Outbacks). What turned out to be the biggest issue was that there were multiple, and I mean many loose connections in the battery bank. One battery had every connection inside it at the bus bar very loose. The other two had several that were somewhat loose. This was causing all kinds of issues during charging, and even after charging, that would trip the entire battery bank off line in a safety shutdown. Even if the coach was hooked to shore power, the entire coach would shut down. Without batteries, the inverters won’t run, and you need them or else no power.
As you can imagine, it is a rather large issue when everything dumps, and even though it may be able to be reset, it has to be done manually. A couple of nights this past spring, it dumped out either 8 or 9 times each night. I was not a happy camper.
Jeff Rowe did many diagnostic runs, and Liberty finally figured it out during the late summer. They pulled all the batteries out, removed the top covers and went through all the connections on each. Then they had Mastervolt’s tech person log into the coach and run diagnostics on everything. I stayed one extra night at Liberty to make sure everything stayed up and the next morning, they checked it all again. They also did some firmware updates. Since then I have had no issues. I have been keeping a very close eye on temps and voltages on each battery. They are all now very close in both voltage and temperature.
Liberty used the same Mastervolt system, with the usual updates due to production changes etc. until they switched to the Volta 58 volt system. I have heard from numerous people that that system has also had growing pains.
I just don’t see the need to switch from AGM to Li. Run your generator when needed, or plug into shore power and leave well enough alone. You will likely not get the amount of run time you think you will by switching over to LI. I was told it would cost several thousand dollars to rebuild or replace each of my batteries when it becomes necessary. AGM’s are way cheaper than that! And as has been said, the next person to look at your coach may not want them. Then you have another different problem.
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We have been with DTV since 1996. In the beginning it was good service. Of course until 2013 our service was at one location. Being on the road full time, we have experienced issues. I agree, it got much worse once AT&T took over. The experienced techs were too expensive to keep. The cross over from phone to satellite had a tremendous learning curve. Or so we were told.
What has ALWAYS helped us in our dealings with DTV is not to ask for a supervisor.
Ask for CUSTOMER RETENTION ! That’s not only good for solving problems but you can always get credits and discounts from them while you are at it.Be sure you get a case number for reference too. That will save you from going over the same ground.
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Very clever Jon!
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That’s not a bad idea for a spare to carry with you. Ive had a seal go out on one of mine, forcing me to get a rebuilt one in a flat, featureless state. Cost me a premium, plus they had to do a work around to get the standard valve configuration to come close enough to mount properly.
Once I got it back east, had all of them (including the refurbed one) replaced with proper setups.
Having a rebuild kit with me could have allowed the work to be done in the field.
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I’ll confirm that he brings his computer with him. I know he said he would hook his computer up and check all three sensors prior to swapping out, but I basically said bring all three and install them. No reason to not swap them all out. They are all the same age, I am paying for him to get in there, they have all three in stock, might as well swap them all out with new. Dont want to get down the road and have an issue with one of the other two.
This is Allison and not a certified service/dealer/parts supplier. The one dealer/parts/service center nearby ran me through hoops today. First wanted the serial number to see if they had the parts I was asking about. Then didnt return my call to the service team. Finally drove up there and checked again on the parts, still no good, they needed the serial number… Service guy comes out and tells me he doesn’t have any one available today. Then comes back a couple seconds later.. “Oh and we actually dont have any field allison techs, so we couldn’t help you out anyways”…
Once I get the serial number, call them back about the parts and the guy doesn’t even look them up. Tells me he doesn’t cally sensors in stock. Just filters and seals. Im thinking the figured if I towed the coach the 15 miles up the road and let them have it for a couple weeks, they would be able to get the parts in by then?
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Andy
This is your 1st bus, is it the 1st RV you’ve owned too?
You sound like a smart guy. To me I would think most of your experience is all theory.
Do you chat with David and Gil on POG, you guys could talk tech for day’s.
Later
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As long as power is coming in, I may just change out the whole fixture to LED. Amazon has some very reasonable alternatives. But if there are LED bulbs that simply plug & play, that would be great too!
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I had my tag brake relay valve stick and caused a major air loss. By the time I got a new one and it installed it quit leaking. I opened the old relay valve and did not see anyting unusual. Maybe yours was leaking like mine. My tag relay is located just above the tag axel.
I attached my phone to a stick and used the video camera to track down the leak without needing to get under the coach.
Dan
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Jerry,
If it ever happens again the starting point is to try to pin point the area it comes from. The fact you heard it outside and in the area of the tag axle is a huge clue that suggested the 3 port Norgren on the frame. The fact it was accessory air was another huge clue, ruling out other things in that area such as relay valves.
I cannot think of any converter installed accessory air devices that might be located in that area so without getting beneath the coach you can play with the tag axle lift valve or manually operate the level low to help focus on the problem.
I did not ask, but when the accessory pressure went down did anything else catch your eye such as the rear settling down?
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Most of the time when R14 is changed you have to turn the cap or top part to have fittings be turned the right way , just make sure no dirt gets in or around the washer