[tom]

Good deal. It is always good to have options.

[tom]

To a great extent the sense that a Prevost conversion is complex and difficult to understand is because we all initially look at it as a whole. All motor homes both conventional and conversions however are in reality just a bunch of systems and components that share the same space. When we look at these as individual components and systems we begin to realize we just have to understand to isolate each in our minds to more easily learn how and why they work.

Our coaches have gotten progressively more sophisticated as more technological features are incorporated into the coach. But early coaches that have few or no proprietary operating systems are relatively simple and it is only within the last 10 years or so that the operating systems have gone far beyond ease of servicing, Despite that however the components that all come together to make the coach a home on wheels are still easily understood if a person wants to learn them.

I suspect conventional motor homes have evolved in much the same manner with proprietary operating systems for control of the house and chassis functions.

New owners or someone seeking their first Prevost just need to learn some of the basics for each of the systems and when that is done the logic the converters used in creating their coach becomes apparent. From my limited perspective it appears every conversion seems to have similar logic to their systems to make the coach user friendly. While some coaches have systems that might be difficult to repair because of access, most coaches are easily serviced The difficulty is usually because the converters are dealing with limited space so not only is a lot of stuff crammed into a small space, but some components might not even be visible because they are tucked away behind panels or in other open spaces not typically visible.

The real key to understanding the coaches however is to only look at things as separate operating systems and components and not look at the coach as one great big complicated jumble of devices.

[tom]

Last I check the motors were 24V. Somebody jump in if Im wrong but Id start by changing out the batteries that power the motor.

If you open the passenger side of your OTR bay, there will be an access panel on the rear bulkhead that you can unscrew and access the awning board/controller & batteries. There will be two batteries and they will be wired in series to make 24V so make sure you remember to wire them back up correctly.

The batteries can be purchased at Home Depot or a similar store for about $30/ea.

I think there is a breaker in there as well you could check but I would think the awning would not respond at all to your remote if it was tripped. Again, PC, jump in if you know more. Im just trying to get back with him as quick as I can.

A friend of mine had a similar problem on his 02 Liberty where his awning would close about half way and he would have to walk away while the bad batteries had enough charge to roll the awning the rest of the way in. I have also heard of some people hard wiring the motor to a 24v source on the coach and avoiding the batteries all together. People lose track of time and forget how old those batteries could be.

You could verify this with a multimeter at the battery connectors before you went further searching for a broken wire. A broken wire could be checked using that same multimeter as well.

Considering the model of the awning and the known problems, I like to look at mine closed all the time.

There is a manual model, very popular over the air/electric model b/c of its reliablity. However, it will be way cheaper to fix what you have at the moment.

[tom]

I run my cruise aires when needed. So far they have not shut down. On Prevost Service, I was 30 miles north of Goodlettsville when the first evidence of my inside coolant flood occurred. I stopped at a Volvo/Cummings Shop and was told I’d have to go back to Prevost at Goodlettsville. So I called and was very curtly told it was not a Prevost system and they would not work on it.

Well several years ago when returning from OKC, I had an intermittant loss of power. Went toGoodlettsville and their tech spent a couple of hours banging on turdo tudes since that is the primary source of loss of engine power. NOT. Anyway as I left and returned to I-65 the next morning, the same old loss of power occurred. I went home, much lighter in the pocket book and with the same problem. I got home changed the fuel filters and the problem went away. So be advised Prevost may not always have the answer and will work only on the Prevost systems.

[tom]

Hi Jon,

I know that the previous owner added an additive to the fuel with each fill-up. I can’t remember the name but he got it from Walmart, was in a dark gray plastic bottle, he put in half per fill-up and it smelled like the dickens. I have a bottle of it in my coach and should have paid more attention to the name. Where would I go to have the diesel fuel polished as its obviously something I can’t do? As far as running the coach I do not intend for the coach to sit more then 30 days. I’ll always take it out for at least a good hour run anytime we don’t have travel plans.

Sunday night was the first time I ran the generator. I have no experience with them but it handled the refrigerator (I only ran it for the load and to make sure it worked) three air conditioners, lights and pump and it handled them with ease. The pump surprised me? For some reason I thought I’d hear it working and didn’t. I was also surprised by the water pressure, it was every bit as strong as the water pressure at home, which is also on a pump. And using the water in the kitchen and the bath at the same time made no difference. The generator noise took a little getting use too especially at bedtime. I concentrated on the noise it and the air conditioner made and let it help put me to sleep, just takes some getting use too! I thought the generator would make a lot of noise outside but was surprised that its really pretty quiet.

Haven’t figured out the over the road air yet. On my way home from Texas it was freezing me out and I just flipped a large plastic toggle switch to the center position and that was it. Pushing it left is for air and to the right for heat. I thought I just had to flip it to the left and it would come on, but it didn’t. I went outside to check because it’s more noisy than a trip to Boise, but no joy! If there is something else I need to do please let me know?

Harry

[tom]

A big thanks to all of those that helped, especially Fred who continuously made sure everyone had their bag of goodies and knew what was going on.

Hoping someone one got a picture of the Jon Tribute compliments of Fred and Roger complete with Bubbles and tunes by Lawarence Welk and the Lennon Sisters. His flip phone was also in the “off” position.

Oysterfest will be the same time next year, we’ll get it on the Rally Information Link.

[tom]

Even though the registration window responded with “thanks for registering” is there anyway I can see if I am indeed on the list?

Thanks Jon and Tom, looking forward to it.

[tom]

OBDII port ???

[tom]

I am sure the drain time does influence how much old oil remains before refilling with new. Ihave had the opportunity to see my oil pan after a drain and there is little or no sludge or black crud laying in the bottom. That was on my 8V92 when it had about 200,000 miles on the engine, and I had put about 160,000 of them with 5000 mile oil changes.

My oil change process has always been the same and likely may get some criticism, but it has always worked for me. I change my oil between trips at around 5000 mile intervals and do not run the engine prior to draining it. It may sit for a day or a month, and when I get under the coach to service it, I remove the plug and let it drain. Sometimes I grease the entire coach while it is draining, sometimes I then put the plug in and refill it, but sometimes the plug is out overnight at which point I put it back in and refill. So it drains anywhere from 2 hours to overnight, and whatever was up in the engine prior to my draining of oil had a long time to end up in the oil pan.

I know the theory is to run an engine prior to an oil change, but the dirt and crud that accumulates is apparently held in suspension in the oil pretty well. I think the 5000 mile changes are keeping the engine pretty clean and may be overkill but that is OK.

[tom]

Update on unbalanced line voltage:

at 50 amp pole, voltage is at 122V for both leg 1 and leg 2

With 50 amp cord plugged in , inverters on, and no AC load at load center: (all circut breakers off, so inverters not getting AC power)

Line 1 – 104 V, Line 2 -109 V, and all outlets in coach read at 118V

With generator on, inverters on, and no AC load at load center: ( no AC to the inverters, control panel on)

Line 1 – 105 V, Line 2- 107 V, and all outlets in coach read at 116V

With generator on,inverters on ,with load on line 1 @ 12, and load on line 2 @ 25 amps:

Line 1- 105, Line 2 – 107. Outlets still at 116V.

AC to inverters represent the load above, and fridge load on line one through inverters

With no cord, and no generator, Just inverters on:

Line 1 – 110V, Line 2- 114V, (fridge was on Line 1 via inverter drawing 2 amps)

When shut inverters off, and no cord or generator on:

I do not get any reading whatsoever on the panel for voltage. When I mean inverters off, it is turning them off at the control head in the panel.

So it appears that the transfer switch is indeed passing full current to load center, as the outlets reflect the correct voltage.

Appears the generators voltage regulator is set lower than the land line’s 122V, thus the 2 Volt decrease at outlets from cord to gennie readings.

Not quite sure why the Cruiseair will give me a low AC reading when they should be hard wired to the load center. This does not happen all the time, and have never had this happen in a campground or on gennie power. It happens where I store my coach. I am not sure where I sit in line with loads of other coaches, which may drop the voltage at the pole and give me such warning. With my meters at the load center not giving me accurate readings, I don’t know if I am getting less power at the pole when other coaches vary their loads ahead of mine.

I just want the voltage meter to give me an accurate read of the line voltage in my panel.

I am going to take her to Liberty in Stuart in a couple of weeks for them to sort this out.

Looks like I may be needing some new sine wave inverters!!

Lucklily I only live about 70 miles south of them.

Thanks for all the responses, and I will keep you informed when I get her back from Service.

William

[tom]

Jon

I will have to check the voltage at the outlets in the coach. I have checked voltage at 50 amp box and each leg is 120V. I can not say what the voltage is without power but will check this weekend

les

I have the old heart Xantrex inverters and not pure sine wave.

I too am concerned on where the volt meters get their readings. I have a feeling that it may

be related to the inverters .

[tom]

Turn up the volume Dick, you’ll hear the air horn for the ditsy school bus driver.

[tom]

I am living in an XL in the Long Island winter right now. I have put bubble wrap on the inside of the side windows (windshield and “cockpit sides” uncovered) as an extra layer of insulation. The bubble wrap is not visible from the inside (shades drawn) or outside (tinting). The bubble wrap has made a notable difference and I find the bus quite comfortable down into the teens in temp.

I have not lived in it in the summer yet.

[tom]

An alternative is to do what American Fleet in Springfield, MO does and that is to move the engine back. They can often do that as quickly as it takes to disassemble parts of the bedroom to get clearance above the engine.

[tom]

Yes, I think it would be very difficult to re-assemble that one. Seriously, that’s a surprising amount of crap.