Battery Prices

[Larry W]

While at the NASCAR races in Las Vegas last week I called Batteries Plus in Vegas and asked for the best deal deal on 5 new Lifeline 8D's. I was quoted a very good price including frieght. They delieved the batteries to me, set them in place and hauled the old ones away. I did the all the wiring but made a good drawing of the cable hookups before hand. If you need batteries and are going through Vegas give Batteries Plus a call.

[truk4u]

Larry,

Tell us what you paid. Battery prices are through the roof. I talked to Lifeline a few weeks ago and an 8d AGM is now 749.00 retail.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Considering the alternatives currently available are they really worth the money?

Everyone is aware of the compromises we make with these campers.

How many batteries do you have Tom, 6 maybe 8? That is way too much doe for the function they provide.

I picked up 8 new wet cell interstates with the carry straps missing and a few scratches for 20 bucks each, delivered. I know they do not preform nearly as well but they work adequately and I know I will get at least a few years from them. For the cost of one AMG I can get 4 more sets.

Sorry for gloating I could not help it.

[truk4u]

I don't need any Joe, I was checking the price for a friend.

[Petervs]

So Joe, those $20 Interstate batteries, were they new, or some old batteries taken out of a Winnebago after 6 years? Hard to believe a price like that.

Unless maybe they were stolen out of a Liberty coach somewhere, but I have never heard of that happening.

[BrianE]

I was wondering why it suddenly got dark last night. :eek:

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Interstate Batteries
16220 S. Crawford
Tinley Park, Ill.
60478

708 333 2580

Pete my good man:

I understand your skepticism.

They were new deep cycle RV/Marine, slightly damaged, a few small scratches and the carry straps missing. Factory 2nds.

Why don't you give them a call and see when they are going to get in another pallet of them if you find my story so hard to believe.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Joe,

Having lots of battery power is a luxury. Our old coach had decent battery power, and it was a propane coach so our refrigerator did not use much power and our heat when dry camping was propane furnaces.. The net result is we didn't need anywhere near the battery storage the coaches today use.

We probably have as much key off power consumption in our current coach as we used while we were using while we were sitting around in our living room on the old one watching TV. We have various clocks, alarms monitors, the satellite, and the house sized refrigerator going on batteries now and we still haven't turned on the lights. Even the inverters use power.

The problem is as the customers buying our conversions wanted more and more, the converters provided all the electric devices we tend to not even think about when we consider the draw on our batteries, and they have provided lots of battery capacity to handle that stuff.

[Jerry Winchester]

Geeze that sucks. I paid $316 each for the Lifeline 8D AGM batteries I bought from Batteries Plus that I put in the ole Royale the year before I sold it.

However, the Marathon takes 4D batteries, so I wonder what those bad boys cost? The ones we have are in good shape, but I did have the host at an RV park come running out last week and tell me that my batteries had fallen out of the rack.

Marathon mounts the batteries in the small area forward of the engine compartment and the bottom 3 are flat and the top 3 are angled. He made the jackass sound when I told him it was built like that. But I did thank him for being nice enough to care that I had a problem.

[Gary & Peggy Stevens]

May I ask a question please? Can you, or are you suppose to, Run the Equalization Cycle, through the Trace invertors on your house batteries? I have 6 of the Lifeline 8D GPL ?? battereis, 2 years old in the system now.

If you are, do I need to have the bus out side with the bay doors open, and the wood covers off, and etc.etc? Oh and I have (2) Trace 4000 W Invertors, if you need to know that.

When I was in between 50amp power, in my barn, ( didn't have power ) my batteries only lasted 10hours, and there was minimum draw on them.

Remember I have only been motorhoming for 2 weeks, so I am trying to soak all of the information you guys give me like a sponge. But it ain't easy, SOAKING I MEAN ? :)

[Petervs]

Hi Gary,
When the batteries are new and have full capacity, they allow you to run on them for a long time. How long depends on what is running in the coach obviously. But as the batteries age, they do not just stop working instantly, rather they just have less and less capacity. Lifeline says they are good for about 500 charge/discharge cycles if I remember right.

I had my bus 5 years before I decided to replace the batteries and they were a year or two old when I got the bus. They were great all up until the last 6 months or so. Then time of usefulness was reduced by a factor of 3 or 4.

Put in the new ones and we are back to long runs between charges.

We can typically "dry camp" for 2 days on the batteries alone, assuming the outside temps are not extreme. This means running the fridge all the time, lights and TV in the evening, and misc stuff all during the days, and in our case usually the Webasto heater in the evenings and nights.

When the batteries needed replacing, we would have to fire up the generator after 10 hours or so. Our biggest indicator was to park overnight after driving in the afternoon. Run on batteries all evening and night, then wake up and there would not be enough energy in the batteries for the inverters to run the coffeepot. Now we can do that 2 days in a row without charging, no problem.

We have 6 4D batteries on the house side.

I have never run the equalize cycle. I think that is only for wet cells, but could be wrong.

[garyde]

I had wet cell batteries in my last coach and the xantrex control panel had the ability to equalize the batteries but you have to stay with the coach during the process and keep plenty of air circulation around the batteries because they will gas off. If you have wet cell type, you want to verify the batteries are still good before attempting to balance them.

[Larry W]

Battery Prices
Had been shopping for batteries for about 3 months. 8d Lifeline prices I found ran from $650 and on up to close to $800. Batteries Plus in Las Vegas price for 5 8D's last week was $499 each. Batteries Plus 65 miles from home quoted me $750 each. Found MK's at Battery Stuff in OR for $490 plus frieght.
Equalization
The Lifeline battery manual that came with my new batteries states that if the batteries need to be equalized the first step is to bring them to full charge and then charge at 15.2 volts for 8 hours. Question is how does one know when they need equalizing? I did equalize the wet cell batteries on the plastic coach I used to own and never really saw much difference.

[mikedee]

Call MK direct in So Cal.

They delivered 6, Type 8D AGMs to me for about 320.00 Ea. with tax. This was about 6-9 months ago. I sold my 6 Lifeline to the scrap yard for $110.00. I have been totally happy with the batteries and company.

[truk4u]

Gary - DO NOT equalize unless there wet cell......

Peter - OK, what's the secret? Even with 6 fresh 4 d's out of the box in my Marathon running the basics as you stated, I would be at 50%, 12.2 volts in about 12 hrs. I have about the same thing going on with my CC and my house is 12v running on 6 8 d's. How in the world do you get 2 days out of them. Solar panels maybe?

I didn't even run the framulator!:p

[Gary & Peggy Stevens]

I got this info off of the Lifeline web. "There are a lot of different opinions about battery charging and we hope this will help clear up any confusion that our customers have. AGM batteries are still technically a lead acid battery and they charge very similar to a wet cell. Regardless of what some rumors portray, AGM batteries are not as sensitive as once believed. They often get confused with Gel Batteries, which are very sensitive to voltage and they need a special charger. Lifeline AGM batteries can also be equalized to regain capacity if need be (instructions for equalizing is listed below)"
http://www.lifelinebatteries.com/charging_procedures.php

So I am still confused if I should equalize or not. Will follow up next directly to Lifeline, and let everyone know what I found out.

Thanks

[Petervs]

Hi Tom,
No solar panels, well a small one that keeps the generator battery full, only.

We run the house batteries down to 10.9 volts. That is considered a full discharge. Everything works fine up to that point.

Lifeline recommends fully charging and fully discharging. Of course, we might not be down that low if it is a shorter time, and then you fire up the bus to go somewhere, and the alternator charges the house right back up form a partial discharge, This happens all the time, and i do not worry about it.

If you recharge at 12.3 volts, well we would be there in 10 hours or less too I suppose. I do not use the generator auto start. It should be renamed "Auto Startle" and I do not like being startled.

[merle&louise]

Peter,

I remember hearing someone say that when the batteries get down to 12.0v that you have a dead battery. Obviously that is incorrect since you run yours down to 10.9 v. I have been running mine down to 12.2 and then starting the generator. It takes about 18 hours to run mine down to 12.2; using the refrigerator, lights, TV, coffee pot, etc. I have 6 AGM 8Ds for the house that were new in January 2006.

[dalej]

Peter I know this goes againt what people say but I opperate our batts the same way as you. I don't have any fancy bells that go off when I hit 12.2 but use them until I notice things running slower. I then check the volts and it is usually in the 10.5 to 11.5 range. I just put new batteries in last week. The last time was April of 1999. We use 4 8D's

[rbeecher]

Peter,

I remember hearing someone say that when the batteries get down to 12.0v that you have a dead battery. Obviously that is incorrect since you run yours down to 10.9 v. I have been running mine down to 12.2 and then starting the generator. It takes about 18 hours to run mine down to 12.2; using the refrigerator, lights, TV, coffee pot, etc. I have 6 AGM 8Ds for the house that were new in January 2006.

Tuga,

Didn't we hear that from Nick from Centurion? in his Kerrville tech session? I can check my notes at the house tonight. I paid attention to that part because the dip switches on the VOGUE are/were set at 13 something. The '02 Marathon has an alarm go off at 10.9 and a minute or two later, but not until after we have been awakened from a dead sleep at 3 a.m.:eek:, the auto gen kicks in.

Richard Beecher
2002 Marathon XLII 45
1996 VOGUE XL 40 FOR SALE

[merle&louise]

Richard,

I think that you are correct. Nick did say that when a battery gets to 12.0 volts it is dead. From the results Peter and Dale have posted it looks like Nick is a little off.

Can you turn that auto start generator feature off? I have read more negative posts about that feature than anything else. I think that I would prefer monitoring the Link 2000 inverter monitor and just starting the generator when necessary. I visually check mine before bed and first thing in the morning everyday.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

12.2 is that magic 50% discharged threshold that many say is so important not to go below, but that is at RESTING VOLTAGE. So in theory if they are under load can be run below that point because they will get back to that if the draw is eliminated and allowed to rest. I think Truk said that is what Marathon told him

Dale and Peter I'm wondering if you shut down the ALL draw when you deep cycle as you do and let the batts. rest for a while before immediately recharging I wonder where they would get back to.

I suppose it would depend on how large the draw on them. If the draw is significant 10.9 might just get back to 12+ if allowed to rest W/O recharging? It would make a good experiment.

[Petervs]

Lifeline battery says 10.5 volts is fully discharged, and at that point you charge them back up.

I see no reason to worry about going down to that range.

The battery is just a chemical reaction moving electrons around.

[truk4u]

It's all about cycles! Here's Lifelines take...

For maximum battery life in deep cycle applications, do not discharge the battery bank below 50%. Continually discharging the bank 100% will shorten the battery life. The open circuit voltages listed below approximates the various States of Charge (SOC).

100% SOC 12.80 volts or greater
75% SOC 12.55 volts
50% SOC 12.20 volts
25% SOC 11.75 volts
0% SOC 10.50 volts

I had various discussions with Marathon and Lifeline at the time. Lifeline advises the above. Marathon had the Genmate set at about 11.3 and said that's what they have been doing for years with good success.

I did both, 11.3 and 12.2, but found that my sat dish dropped off line at about 12volts, so I just kept it set for 12.2. Over the course of 4 - 5 years, who knows what effect the lower discharge rate will bring.

No big deal... The lower the discharge rate I do, the longer the gen has to run to charge back up to float.

Peter, I think some solar may be in my future.;)

[Gary & Peggy Stevens]

Well I spoke with a salesman @ Lifeline about their batteries. The actual mfg. date code is stamped into the Black Plastic Top of the battery

Here is how the date code works, at least on LifeLine Batteries. I am guessing it does not matter if they are 4d or 8d?

My batteries are stamped with (4) BJJ EH , BJJ CH, BJJ CD for a total of 6 GPL8DL house batteries.

On the Battery Code BJJ Means Nothing
First Letter Stands for the Year A=01, B=02, etc.
Second Letter Stands for the Month A=Jan, B=Feb. etc.

So 4 of my batteries ending in EH, are mfg. Aug.2005. 1 is Aug 2003, and 1 is April 2003.

Looks like 6 batteries are in my future, one of these days. :(

Gary S.

[rbeecher]

Richard,

I think that you are correct. Nick did say that when a battery gets to 12.0 volts it is dead. From the results Peter and Dale have posted it looks like Nick is a little off.

Can you turn that auto start generator feature off? I have read more negative posts about that feature than anything else. I think that I would prefer monitoring the Link 2000 inverter monitor and just starting the generator when necessary. I visually check mine before bed and first thing in the morning everyday.

Tuga,

I might stretch this reply out a bit but this subject has me perplexed so here goes.

On the Marathon the inverters have a menu option select feature where you can go in to change the gen settings. I learned this one day while doing some work in the yard and lo and behold the power had gone off. I could hear the generator TRYING to start. The key word is trying. I called Marathon Florida and I was sent back to the inverter panel to check the settings which is when I finally succeeded in convincing them the gen would either not start or would start, run for maybe 20 seconds, and shut off. The problem was finally traced to a couple of very small coolant hose leaks up near the radiator behind the bumper. Replace hoses, six month long issue resolved. The Marathon uses a Kohler which has a built in fail safe to guard against low coolant and possible overheating and shuts the gen down.

Your comment about the potential negative side of the auto start feature intrigues me and I hope many who have the feature jump in here. Let's say you are plugged into shore power somewhere and the power goes out, and stays off, for days maybe even, before you are near the coach and realize what has happened. You have the auto gen option turned off for whatever reason and now what happens to the coach while it is sitting there for days?

Now of course many of us have our coaches stored indoors or at least some of the time which begs the question, if you can't set the auto gen start to on because your bus is stored indoors, do you have someone checking on the bus constantly or at least everyday?

I am very curious as to everyone's thoughts on this subject. Maybe I just need a better education.

Richard Beecher
2002 Marathon XLII 45
1996 VOGUE XL 40 FOR SALE

[MangoMike]

Beechcraft,

I leave the auto start on all the time. In fact if I'm sleeping and hear it start, I just smile and role over realizing that I won't be faced with super low batteries in the morning. Of course I'm a white noise freak so the sound soothes me. I don't think it made my brother happy this summer at Oshkosh who was in tent next to the bus.

The bus barn is co-habitated during the day, so if it starts (which it never has) they're instructed to call the Jerk Chicken hotline to let me know there's a problem.

MIke

[rbeecher]

Ok, Mangroves,

Since you are a Marathon owner, let me ask if an alarm sounds up at the dash when your volts drop down, have you experienced that yet? It's alot of fun at 3 a.m. especially when you can't get the gen to start!

And what was your brother doing sleeping in a tent while you were all comfy in the bus? In fact, if he is your brother and that is the way you treat him, what was he doing there with you at all? He just likes sleeping in tents? Or you snore too loud?

Richard Beecher
2002 Marathon XLII 45
1996 VOGUE XL 40 FOR SALE

[Jerry Winchester]

I must be missing this alarm thing. I just notice that the generator starts. No fanfare or warning.

But I also warn people who are working on the coach that if they inadvertantly unplug it or turn the power off, it will start by itself and if it is stored inside and happens at night, it won't be a good thing.

I have hear all the auto start horror stories, but I like the fact that I don't have to watch the voltage like a hawk. And unless Jack14r is pulling my chain, disabling the auto start is pretty straight forward from the inverter panel.

[Gary & Peggy Stevens]

I was told to NEVER leave the AutoStart Generator Feature On, IF it is going to be stored inside. Better to have the Ice melt in the bin, than have Gen. Soot and smoke all over the inside and outside of the bus. Impossible to remove the smoke from leather and walls.

It is a simple push of the Gen buttons (Green on my bus) on the Trace Panel in my overhead. Place the Underscore mark in the panel, under the feature you want, by simply pushing the Gen Button. Mine goes thru EQ, On, Auto, Off.

Now if we were parked outside, I would turn the Auto Gen Start Feature On. :cool:

I am learning, it is just taking a little longer than most of you guys. :)

Gary S.

[MangoMike]

The only time I get an alarm from the dash if shore power dies. None if the battery voltage is low.

If my bus barn was unattended I would disable the auto start.

And Gary is right, turning off he auto start is just a couple of push buttons away.

I think my brothers tent philosophy has something do with having sex.

Mangrove.

[truk4u]

Richard,

When dry camping, I turn mine on and leave it on so it can do it's job. If your bus is stored outside and plugged in, I would leave the auto-gen on in case of a power failure. The transfer switch will take it back to shore power when the juice comes back on and the gen should shut down after the batteries are charged or whatever parameter is set. My Marathon and the CC are timed for the run time, about 3 hrs.

[rbeecher]

The only time I get an alarm from the dash if shore power dies. None if the battery voltage is low.

If my bus barn was unattended I would disable the auto start.

And Gary is right, turning off he auto start is just a couple of push buttons away.

I think my brothers tent philosophy has something do with having sex.

Mangrove.

Mango,

Thanks for straightening me out on the tent thing, that explanation is a bit of a shocker for a good catholic who is one of twelve kids though:D

Richard

[rbeecher]

Richard,

When dry camping, I turn mine on and leave it on so it can do it's job. If your bus is stored outside and plugged in, I would leave the auto-gen on in case of a power failure. The transfer switch will take it back to shore power when the juice comes back on and the gen should shut down after the batteries are charged or whatever parameter is set. My Marathon and the CC are timed for the run time, about 3 hrs.


Gary, truk, JDUB, MM,

I am with all of you guys on this and how it all works, I just need to figure out the alarm thing. I find it hard to believe Marathon would install an alarm that wakes you up in the middle of the morning.

Thanks for the input.

Richard Beecher
2002 Marathon XLII 45
1996 VOGUE XL 40 FOR SALE

[Jerry Winchester]

Richard,

You need to know that the tent wasn't about Mike's brother having sex, it was that he didn't want to be in the coach when Mike cranked up the hot monkey sex. I even have to be careful when parked next to him that I keep the white noise up at night so it doesn't bother me.

[JIM KELLER]

Richard,

When dry camping, I turn mine on and leave it on so it can do it's job. If your bus is stored outside and plugged in, I would leave the auto-gen on in case of a power failure. The transfer switch will take it back to shore power when the juice comes back on and the gen should shut down after the batteries are charged or whatever parameter is set. My Marathon and the CC are timed for the run time, about 3 hrs.

Tom, FYI our auto gen's are activated by a low battery condition only. They will not start based on a power failure. Try it sometime. Pull the plug and see if anything happens. My understanding is Country Coach requested this configuration on the board.

[merle&louise]

Richard,

You need to know that the tent wasn't about Mike's brother having sex, it was that he didn't want to be in the coach when Mike cranked up the hot monkey sex. I even have to be careful when parked next to him that I keep the white noise up at night so it doesn't bother me.

JDUB,

If you remember I was parked next to the Mango Mobile @ Oshkosh last year. I could feel the ground shaking every night; no wonder Paul (Mike's brother) wanted to sleep in the tent. :eek: I guess the Beach Boys got him all worked up.

[Petervs]

Hi Richard,

My 94 Marathon has a blinking red light with a fairly soft beeper on the dash that goes off it the battery voltage is too low to run the inverter. The light says "refer off". Telling you the refrigerator has no power anymore. That is the only alarm. If you leave the autogen on it will of course prevent this from happening.

This happens at about 10.5 volts.

It is too soft to wake me up at that distance. Maybe in a 40 foot coach it would wake you.....


We park ours indoors, unattended when not in use, plugged in to shore power, refrigerator empty but running. If the power fails for a few days the batteries will run it a long time, several days at least if no one opens the door, and then it will stop. But with no food inside, it soes not matter. We also turn off the engine start battery switches near the engine to keep those fully charged.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Our aftermarket unit has an adjustable thermostat in it to keep cabin temps. from getting too high while stored or if leaving the dogs behind. Just gotta make sure we leave 1 or 2 cruise airs on and set.

[MangoMike]

Mango,

Thanks for straightening me out on the tent thing, that explanation is a bit of a shocker for a good catholic who is one of twelve kids though:D

Richard

Beecher,

Sounds like your parents spent too much time in the tent. ;)

mm

...and I want to thank Tuga and JDUB for keeping the board posted on my extracurricular nocturnal activities.

[rbeecher]

Hi Richard,

My 94 Marathon has a blinking red light with a fairly soft beeper on the dash that goes off it the battery voltage is too low to run the inverter. The light says "refer off". Telling you the refrigerator has no power anymore. That is the only alarm. If you leave the autogen on it will of course prevent this from happening.

This happens at about 10.5 volts.

It is too soft to wake me up at that distance. Maybe in a 40 foot coach it would wake you.....


We park ours indoors, unattended when not in use, plugged in to shore power, refrigerator empty but running. If the power fails for a few days the batteries will run it a long time, several days at least if no one opens the door, and then it will stop. But with no food inside, it soes not matter. We also turn off the engine start battery switches near the engine to keep those fully charged.
Peter,

I am going to fix the problem, I'll just close the door to the bedroom and bathroom, that should do it.

Seriously, I think our beeper must be louder than yours.

Richard Beecher
2002 Marathon XLII 45
1996 VOGUE XL 40 FOR SALE

[Ray Davis]

Richard,

I have to assume our coaches are very similar. Where is this lo-battery alarm located? I've never heard one, but I've never yet boondocked enough that I may have set it off.

I've left my coach un-plugged for at least 2 days, fridge running, and coach is just fine. Currently auto-start is always off, because 99% of the time, my coach is in an enclosed hangar.

I do get a warning chime when shore power is removed.


Ray

[rbeecher]

Hi Ray,

The alarm is coming from the area on (in) the dash where the shore power chime is located. The low battery alarm sounds like a slightly muted version of the shore power alarm. I can leave our coach off for 2 days plus with the fridge running as well.

Right now I can't go do a test because I won't be anywhere near the bus for a month.

Richard
2002 Marathon XLII 45
1996 VOGUE XL 40 FOR SALE

[Petervs]

If you think an alarm buzzer is too loud, just track it down and wrap some insulation around it.

I drove a Cadillac once and thought the turn signal clicking was way too loud and annoying, the salesman said they did that on purpose because most of their customers were older and hard of hearing, this way they would remember that they had turned them on.

Needless to say I did not buy one. And they were trying to attract a younger clientel then even. Amazing.

[truk4u]

Jim Keller,

That's what I meant Jim, when unplugged, eventually the auto-start will kick in when the house batteries get low. I didn't mean the gen would auto-start when unhooking shore power.

This stuff is a lot easier face to face!:p

[rbeecher]

If you think an alarm buzzer is too loud, just track it down and wrap some insulation around it.

I drove a Cadillac once and thought the turn signal clicking was way too loud and annoying, the salesman said they did that on purpose because most of their customers were older and hard of hearing, this way they would remember that they had turned them on.

Needless to say I did not buy one. And they were trying to attract a younger clientel then even. Amazing.

Peter, Good suggestion.

I've owned two Cadillacs in my life, a '67 DeVille sedan I bought for $200 bucks in 1982 and an '05 CTS V with the ZO6 engine which GM bought back because they couldn't fix it. I can't wait for the new 550HP CTS V to come out! You can't hear the turn signal with a loud exhaust.:D

Richard Beecher
2002 Marathon XLII 45
1996 VOGUE XL 40 FOR SALE

[garyde]

I drove a Cadillac once and thought the turn signal clicking was way too loud and annoying, the salesman said they did that on purpose because most of their customers were older and hard of hearing, this way they would remember that they had turned them on.

Needless to say I did not buy one. And they were trying to attract a younger clientel then even. Amazing.

I learned how to drive and took my Drivers License test at 16 in a 1956 Coupe Deville. Pink with black top and a lot of chrome!
In the last few years, I have had the desire to find and purchase a mid 70's to late 70's Deville or Fleetwood but haven't found the right one.

[JIM KELLER]

Jim Keller,

That's what I meant Jim, when unplugged, eventually the auto-start will kick in when the house batteries get low. I didn't mean the gen would auto-start when unhooking shore power.

This stuff is a lot easier face to face!:p

Although the Gen Con 9232 board in our Coaches has the ability to start the generator if shore power stops. After many conversations with Larry Westhaver last year I learned of this option. My board took a polarity surge and required a repair. He told me a jumper wire and relocation of the a.c. power plug is all that would be required. I am thinking about updating to this option. Down here in Florida if your Bus lost power in a campsite while you were away for the day Temps could be pretty high inside when you returned.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

The Liberty coaches have auto start as well as a generator start if shore power is disconnected.

The real need to start if power is disconnected is if you have dogs on board when you go out for the day. We did not have that feature on our old coach and we came back to the coach to find some workers that were doing some power washing near our coach had turned off the power and never turned it back on when they were done.

If we were to ever bring our pups with us that would be on anytime we were gone.

BTW, Jim....us Liberty guys don't worry about it being hot in our coach. We turn on the Cruise Airs, but to bring the temps down right away we fire up the engine and run the OTR for a while also. A few minutes of that and it will be cool enough to require sweat shirts.:D

[JIM KELLER]

The Liberty coaches have auto start as well as a generator start if shore power is disconnected.

The real need to start if power is disconnected is if you have dogs on board when you go out for the day. We did not have that feature on our old coach and we came back to the coach to find some workers that were doing some power washing near our coach had turned off the power and never turned it back on when they were done.

If we were to ever bring our pups with us that would be on anytime we were gone.

BTW, Jim....us Liberty guys don't worry about it being hot in our coach. We turn on the Cruise Airs, but to bring the temps down right away we fire up the engine and run the OTR for a while also. A few minutes of that and it will be cool enough to require sweat shirts.:D
FYI Jon, Us Country Coach guys could also turn on the ROOF AIRS and fire up the engine and run the Country Coach OTR AIR to drop the inside temps to below freezing. BTW do you need some more Tool Books at Severville ?

[Jon Wehrenberg]

You keep telling yourself that Jim....you know mine is bigger than yours.;)

(I'm talking about BTUs in the OTR AC system for all the lurkers with dirty minds.)

Yes on the books. You da man.

[JIM KELLER]

Jon, That low ambient temperature you speak of. Is that before or after you get the water hose out and cool down the pavement under the Cruise Airs so they will operate efficiently ?

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Ouch.......that really hurt.

[gmcbuffalo]

Jim
That is one good idea to try. Thanks.
GregM