[Kirby]

Andy,

You said there are no dumb questions. That is not true, I am living proof of that !

HJ ,

Best wishes for You and Your coach.

Safe Travels,

Rocky

[Kirby]

Andy,

We do appreciate your educational videos–almost as much as we enjoy pictures of Lucy!

[Kirby]

Andy,

Lucy looks good in the pilot’s seat. Good picture.

Reese

[Kirby]

Waiting in Cincinnatti and watching the storm. “You know you live on the coast when you watch the Weather Channel as though it had a plot line”. If neighbors report our house is damaged, we’ll have to head down to Hollywood but we’re hopeful we’ll be lucky. Linda

[Kirby]

I think I explained it on this thread or another, but here is how Liberty routed power to and from your inverter.

Any power to the 120V panel is routed to the inverter input circuits through the battery charger #1 and 2 circuit breakers.

Let’s assume battery charger #1 CB controls power input to the inverter. That model has two inputs and Liberty came from the breaker with 2 3 wire cables, one will be connected to the inverter input which becomes pass through power back to the inverter circuit breakers and the second cable is connected to the battery charger input.

There is a third cable connected to the 120V side of the inverter and that is the power that energizes the circuits that are dead on your coach.

When you do not have shore or generator power the input to the inverter is the battery cables which creates via the inverter the 120VAC to the previously mentioned circuits.

I think the cables connect via wire nuts on that model to wires that are shown as to their purpose so you will not be dealing with any mysteries. My first reaction would be to verify the switch position on the front panel ad if it is in the off position it is as it should be. Then I would open the case and verify the inputs are “hot”. If they are th issue is with the inverter. If they are not hot then you have to find out why you show power to the circuit at the panel, but not at the inverter.

[Kirby]

My little baby sister (50 yrs. old) and her husband live in Boca Raton, FL. I told them to ‘high tail it’ to TN and stay with us if needed.

Mark

[Kirby]

Thanks, I will check it out.

June

[Kirby]

Dick,

I had a panel replaced at Prevost Jacksonville several years ago. One thing that I was curious about was why they had the bus side needing the panel facing the sun. The sun seems hotter in Florida. The answer I got was the solar heat expanded the panel which when cooled off would make the panel “banjo string tight.” Oe problem they ran into and did not divulge to me until it was too late. Prevost shipped two panels, one left and one right side. The left was the side I needed but it suffered a crease during shipping. Probably poor packaging. So the techs went to work using the right side panel on the left side of the coach. What I found out was the predrilled rivet holes were not exactly in the same place on both panels. The techs took lots of “fitting time” then decided to drill new holes in the bus structural frame members, using Clecos, and then riveted them all in place. You can’t tell the switch was made, but being an obsessive/compulsive, type A personality as well as an engineer, I did not like there solution to the problem.

So from this experience I learned that when replacing a panel face the side of the bus you are working on toward the sun.

[Kirby]

Loves in Lufkin is $2.58 today and was $2.45 last week.

[Kirby]

Just looked at my legend. I have zero relays related to radiator fan clutch. I have circuit breaker #130 labeled radiator fan clutch and #131 labeled radiator fan clutch – A/C signal. Nothing about high or low fan speed. The CB’s are both 3 A and they have never popped (well in the past ten years I mean).

[Kirby]

Seems the discussion has drifted a bit but back on Jon’s original question batch to me. Here are my responses:

1) The two companies I am working with (the one we used in our new coach and one I’ve been working with on retrofits) have both been in existance for 10-20 years. The one we used for the new coach system actually puts their product where it would take 4 hours by air just to get to the site to effect repairs or diagnosis of a problem…pretty bullet-proof I would say. The other has products all over the world and in applications rangine from military, marine, off-road heavy industrial equipment. In all these cases if the products were not pretty much bullet-proof, they wouldn’t be in business still. Just food for thought there.

2) The system we install OEM in production has readily available components and some that are less generic, but not subject to high failure in any way (control electronics) and the power contactors are made by several companies/readily available. The company I am serious about for retrofit has all the control equipment contained within each unit’s case, so there are no extra items besides replacing the incompatible parts of the existing system (those that cannot be adjusted to the range these batteries want for charge, float, and autostart).

3) As far as the question of more or less space needed? That depends on the individual goal of the owner. If the end-game for going to Lithium is to get a real boost out of drycamp time, then it should take up no less space. If the goal is simply the longevity feature of the batteries, you could actually go with less Lithium modules and get exactly what you have for drycamp capacity now, with half the space and a quarter the weight. Or go for more powerful and same number of modules for a 2x or greater jump in capacity and still half the weight. That would be an individual choice, which also effects the pricing question you asked as well. If a person were to elect the same number of modules as you have now, but with greater capacity up to twice, then the cost over time at the moment would be 3 times that of what you currently have, 4 times if you buy your Lifeline’s from TRUK lmao (plug). For this cost, and the average Prevost owner/user, the life expectance is 10 (extreme user)-15 years (average user). At that rate, the cost ratio over a 20-year lifetime would be a wash. Let me add this: at the end of life they do not just short out and burst/blow out or get super hot and gas like all lead acid batteries, including AGMs. They have a decay rate curve. At 15 years they would have half of their original capacity, but would still function normally otherwise. You could keep going without detriment to either the batteries or any coach system for several years after this even. I can see customers down the road with lithium batteries 20+ years old being not uncommon. Hell, I see people with 10 year old Lifeline’s now, but they are starting to blow out and crack the case and gas and heat up. The Lithiums that old won’t have close to the capacity they did when new, but they won’t be hot and gassing and burning up either…

4) As to Tom’s comment about having “Lithium batteries increasing the value of the coach, probably not”…While they may not directly increase the value, they will increase net sale price you get because you most likely won’t have to replace the batteries when you sell the coach. You most likely would when selling with AGM’s. When we sell coaches, we replace tires if over 4-5 years old, batteries if over 3-4 years old,etc. Most people give AGMs 4-5 years of total life. When buying a coach, thanks largely in part to the advise of myself and MANY others on this forum, people don’t want to think they have to replace the batteries or tires a year down the road, so they get replaced at sale. With that in mind, you could upgrade today, in 5 years put your coach up for sale, still have 10 years left on the batteries, and not have to replace them, just pass the coach on without reducing the price or taking less for the coach to restock it with AGMs. Does that make sense?

[Kirby]

Rich, call me and we can talk Aqua Hot concerns.

Rudy. 7 one 3. 8 one 8 3234

[Kirby]

Jim. We take this route regularly. 191/20 south to Ashton ID. Turn left on art 47. East side of town turn right onto Hwy 32, signage Driggs/Tetonia. You will come to a T. Turn left onto Hwy 33 heading to Tetonia. Hey 33 turns into Wyo 22. Don’t be afraid of Teton Pass. Second gear up and down. No sweat. Heading towards Jackson turn right head to PineDale and Rock Springs

[Kirby]

Pres

How are you making out. I am hearing stories of tornados in the Houston area. Now seeing much flooding. Hope you guys are on high ground.

[Kirby]

Now hold on just a minute, there is no way you would be standing at the counter under the microwave making a sandwich. We all know who has that joyful responsibility.