[Ronald]

Thanks for your reply, yes it is the switch that turns green when it is on (Sunmullian switch). I have checked all of the fuses in the first bay visually and they also have a green light which is lit when they are ok and they are all lit green. I don’t know if this helps any , but when it works correctly I can also turn on the headlights or marker lights and this would turn on the dash lights and panel lights. This no longer turns on the dash lights/panel lights. I’m at a standstill. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Eric

[Ronald]

Like I said David, depending on the number of conversions of a particular type we may or may not be able to have the individual converters do seminars.

However, again depending on the numbers we may be able to identify more seasoned owners of specific converters to be available to offer assistance or even do a seminar.

That is one of the reasons we really want to get to the point where we have very large numbers of rally goers because the converters will be able to justify the cost to do dedicated service and assistance.

[Ronald]

Generally speaking, a trailer used to transport a vehicle quickly becomes yet another receptacle to haul more and more “stuff”. It’s bad enough when the towed vehicle alone becomes additional storage. And, it’s hard enough to find an overnight stop as it is without adding length and increasing the turning radius.

You will be surprised at how little you actually need while on the road.

But, if you just gotta have it……enjoy your trailer.

[Ronald]

Prevost Houston said looked like I had 2 leaking a couple weeks ago when in for fluid changes. Didn’t have seals in stock or would have done um then. What do you think about doing um all while there?

[Ronald]

So, if the bag limit is 100 psi, and as you’ve stated before there are no pressure regulators going to the bags, we are all exceeding the bag specs when we have the leveling system set to maximum height, and well before hitting that pot hole or driving down the washboard road or when we lift the tag axle.

Mine, like many others, is set to 115. That works well except I can’t raise the tag or preevnt the rear from some serious squatting when trying to lift the tag. Maybe, 120, 125 or more might help that. More than one Prevost person has told me it is a common issue with converted coaches and I’m not overweight. Okay, maybe I am, but my coach isn’t.

So confusing…

[Ronald]

Thanks Tom,

I kinda figured that Allstate wasn’t the company to have insurance with…but I kinda wanted a starting point. I assumed that there were specialty companies that insured Prevost’s ….just didn’t know where to go. Once I get the coach picked out, I’ll reach out to you to get coverage sources. I guess the time to get coverage is the day after I put a deposit down? And I used to think that people who owned big boats were some of the nicest people on the planet…live and learn! You folks are overwhelming me with your kindness.

Brian

[Ronald]

Vanner does make battery chargers, although I’ve never heard of one being installed in a Prevost conversions. The Vanner product most, and all later model Prevost’s, have is a battery equalizer. It’s sole purpose is to equally draw 12V from 2 halves of a 24V battery bank.

Asking what charges the house batteries while driving and only having alternator power is difficult to answer. This is likely the biggest area of electrical difference between converters. Here are the options for alternator only supplied power and all are likely to be found on one conversion or another:

• No charging of the house bank.
• A dedicated alternator for house batteries.
• House battery charging through a isolation diode or relay. (unless your house bank is 24V the 12V would be derived from the Vanner equalizer and be current limited. This is probably not a good idea given the possible 12V house battery bank load.)

BTW, if I was buying new inverter/chargers I would buy Magnums. Easy to use, relatively simple, and a good reliability history.

[Ronald]

Relay 99 is the relay that supplies power to the clutch.

Relay 78 supplies a ground for low speed and Relay 79 supplies ground for high speed. You will also have a relays to support high speed operation with Dash Air and low speed operation with a retarder.

Testing the clutch is easy. Take a spare relay and break off the terminal blade #85. Now you can insert this into 78 or 79. When in either 78 or 79 and with the key on (engine off) there should be clutch resistance felt when trying to move the fan blade. Or start the engine and the fan should be running in low speed or high speed, depending on whether the relay was inserted in 78 or 79. If putting it in 78 and then 79 does not engage the fan, check relay 99 or circuit breaker 130 (on a 98 XL shell).

Prevost and Detroit where brillant engineering this circuit. The relays are actually energized when the fan is off. That way if a relay’s coil fails the fan will always be on rather than never on. If you buy new relays, they should be the ones with protective diodes in them. Some use resistors for protection and Prevost has sold these as replacements. They probably work fine, but ones with diodes are still available.

I bought replacement relays with diodes from onlinecomponents.com for $2.10 each. There is a minimum purchase requirement or surcharge. The part number is TE Connectivity / AMP 1432795-1

[Ronald]

This is not a slam on Aquahot, but a recognition of fact.

The Webasto on my coaches is tied directly into the engine coolant system. I have the option through valving to heat the engine, the house, or both. The Webasto supplies heated coolant through heat exchangers in the coach for heating as well as through the HW tank to provide hot water.

Every Aquahot has a Webasto as its heat source. So in terms of mechanical the Webasto is a device that must be maintained regardless of which system is used.

But in addition to the Webasto, the Aquahot system uses its own coolant so an Aquahot has its ownpumps for the various zones plus controls for the Aquahot functions. There is a little more to service with the Aquahot.

I don’t think either one can do anything more or less than the other one, and the difference is apparently how heat is transferred.

[Ronald]

On the scale of things to worry about when buying a coach I would put the electrical system near the bottom of the list. It is not that I won’t think about it, it is just that I have never heard anyone on any forum say I love my brand of conversion, but I wish it had an electrical system like the other brand.

They all work, and apparently they all work well. Every one of us has to manage power even when on 50 amp shore power, to the best of my knowledge every one of us can run everything we want on our generators with no thought given to power management. We all have inverters (except for some very early coaches), and we all have batteries.

But where we differ is in the details so the important stuff like the floor plan, the converter, the AC systems, the engine, slides, length, model, etc all rank far higher on the list of stuff than the electrical systems.

The only time the electrical system rises to the top of the list of things to consider is right after we trip the shore power, or drain the batteries, or cannot get power to the refrigerator after the inverter quits.

[Ronald]

Andre, be sure to go to Tom Sawyer, a very nice experience to say the least.

If in doubt about the river conditions just give them a call the day before.

Reservations are not required, but even in the off season the front row fills up by night fall. A simple phone call will reserve you a place. No prepayment necessary. There is a coach section and a fifth wheel section. If the coach section is full ask about the fifth wheel section.

The roads in the park are very dusty because of the fine river silt deposited during flooding. Be smart and drive slowly and without OTR running. Don’t follow anyone else in, wait and hang back some.

JIM

[Ronald]

Ah excuse me, my blinds are working just fine. All up or all down. We always used to keep the blinds down while driving to keep the heat out, but now with the real OTR, we could care less because the window heat is no longer a factor.

I now have learned how to restring a blind, so that’s not so scary anymore, but it’s not an easy job.

[Ronald]

I for one think it is baloney, but with that said, I have not had a dyno done on my bus. The normal run is not that long, so I would be hard pressed to think that would ruin tires. If they are worried, blow a couple of fans on them, that should help to keep the temps down.

What part of the country are you talking about?

[Ronald]

I have a 3g Ipad with the standard GPS that came with it. I use to have a “pay as you go” sim card and payed $14.50 a month for data. Now I run my ipad off my iphone hotspot and I’m saving some money.

[Ronald]

Nice set of 5 trumpet train horns and location, location, location.

We’ll have to do a train horn blow off at the next rally.

AL