Tom
Forum Replies Created
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Congrats! The site has been a big help to us and the other 3,000+ members. It is a major undertaking and commitment that Jon and Tom have dedicated to this site. We appreciate all of their knowledge and time spent in this endevour.
Keep up the great work! Hopefully the dues will stay the same 😉
June
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[If this is in the wrong thread, please move it.]
I find this whole discussion about batteries (chassis and house), charging, inverters and their settings, etc. very enlightning.
Jon wrote: “Every time we charge via our inverters we are charging to a 100% level. Our charging voltages typically are specified to be about 28.4 volts for bulk and absorbtion so they always see that from correctly set inverters. Our alternators are set to about 27.7 volts so if we were to solely rely on our alternators we would not be fully charging the batteries and would possibly need an equalization charge”.
So lets say I start out early afternoon, unplug from shore power (presuming now that the coach has been plugged into shore power with the inverters charging the AGM Lifelines I bought from Tom, they are FULLY charged), and head south. Refrigerator running, lights on once in a while, water pump runs when the toilet gets flushed, etc. We run until about 10pm, stop in a rest area and now we’re on 120 volt power from inverters only (DD quiet for the night). No generator. More lights, more water, maybe the microwave, and off to bed we go.
I’m thinking that based on what Jon wrote above, when we stopped at 10pm the AGMs probably were NOT fully charged. They were 0.7 volts short of a full load.
The WatchDog is set to fire up the generator when the voltage gets low enough. About 6am we wake up, leave he generator off, hasn’t autostarted, quick shower, and we’re on the road again. Bus alternator (The DN50?) is back charging the house AGMs. But only to 27.7 volts because that’s were the alternator/voltage regular is apparently set at.
Have we done damage to the house AGMs by relying on the bus alternator to charge them, but only to 27.7 volts and not 28.4 which is a full charge?
Even though I’ve been running the bus alternator all day charging the house AGM batteries, upon pulling into a rest area should I fire up the generator to top off the house AGM batteries?
Jon: When you reference the volts of the house AGM batteries, I presume you’re reading the analog (at least that is what I’ve got on my 1999 conversion) “HOUSE” voltage gauge that looks like Liberty installed. Correct?
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There are 2 sight glasses on the side of the black accumulator tank in the condenser compartment. When the system is properly charged, the red ball will be floating in the lower sight glass only.
*Note* don’t hold the door open very long, the condenser is mounted on this compartment door and needs to be closed to have air drawn thru it so as to condense the freon from vapor back into a liquid so as to float the lower red ball in the sight glass of the accumulator.
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Very impressive, but over how many miles and at what speeds?
I have no idea what Prevosts agerage over time for fuel mileage, but I highly doubt it is 10…lol
My guess is over time, and speeds set about 68-70 mph you guys are getting in the high 5’s low 6’s to maybe mid 6’s. But that is a guess as I don’t own one. I only base that over my 500 Cummins in my fiberglass 45′ coach and I avg about 5.4 hand calculated over many thusand miles towing about 6K lbs and cruise set at 68mph. -
Hey now boys, The Marathon pump(s) are the way to go.. There is a 110v pump and then a backup 12v pump. When the engine is running, it automaticaly switches from 110v to 12v. You also have the option to run just the 12v or just the 110v when camping.
And you Liberty boys need to change your diet if you need 40psi push your crap to that one, aluminum tank
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Explain your back up water pump. I understand you have two cheap RV pumps, both running at the same time. the only way you know you need to visit Camping World to deal with a failure is when the second one fails because you don’t know when the first one quits. Or did I misunderstand how the Marathon pumps are set up?
You are correct in that the junction box should not be on the floor, but the cheap back up pump had about 10″ of wire so I took the easy way out. Probably makes little difference because if a pipe lets go it sprays water all over the bay, and it manages to soak all electrical connections regardless of where they are. I had a joint open up on a previous coach and the pump sprayed about 130 gallons of water all around the bay before the pump motor burned up.
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I think the short cycling of the pump may be associated with a number of things and I am not convinced it is the toilet unless you know water is running into the toilet. Big topic with a lot of factors to consider.
As to the toilet that problem of overfilling can possibly be related to the timer on the switch or the adjustment of the water flow that is controlled by a valve at the rear of the toilet.
Jeff, what makes the toilet you suggest better than the Headhunter?
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I would answer the question Dan but your coach is a couple years older than I have knowledge about sorry I can not help you unless I guess, and I don’t want to guess sorry
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For sure… DIRECT TV …
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My apology to everyone that chimed in for the late thank you but I’ve been offline with no hot spot where I was camped. I special thanks to joelselman (no name listed I byline) for suggesting the voltage regulator which I found implausible but there it was (apparently and knock on wood). I’d had multiple generator issued the last 8 weeks. I will be pleasantly surprised if they are finally over but I have this sneaky suspicion that I’ll be posting again about this, or another, issue.
It was the voltage regulator somehow malfunctioning after warming from the ambient heat in the generator bay. I knew for a fact that that the generator was overheating and somewhere along the line I solved the real overheating issue and the baton was passed to the phantom overheating problem from the voltage regulator. My temp gauge was showing overheating and the generator was shutting down. I swapped out the voltage regulator and it’s ran fine today for 8 hours so unless I just got lucky, I think I found it but I would not be surprised if I wind up posting again to say that the issue resurfaced because I have not had a moments peace from the generator I the last 6 weeks. Hopefully it’s solved. Thank you again for all the help. -
I’ll stick my neck out and opine the issue is with one or both accumulators. Don’t fight it Charles. Test them and in a few minutes you will know for sure.
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Riteway, congrats on the new bus. Based on the normal discourse here, I don’t think disrepect was intended. At least I’m choosing to believe that because there is a lot of good natured ribbing on this site. I hope you won’t be chased away. I believe there is at least one other Bruce conversion owner who posts here.
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Btom, 2nd driver storage bay, is the shore line switch ON / and lights ON?
Bedroom switch panel, do you have AUX fault? If yes just reset… -
Spring is the likely time when we will reschedule. Tom, Jeff and I have to look at the various dates and try to pick one that accomodates the greatest number of folks.
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Sorry you had to cancel. If you get interest for the spring, April is best for me followed by May-mid June
Thanks for all the hard work you put into this.
Doug