visual Help Needed

[LarryB]

I don't have a bus, and during my search for THE BUS, I am trying to understand the Prevost systems. Since I don't have any reference manuals, is there some place I could find basic schematics of the Air system and the Electrical system.
General stuff, block diagram type drawings, would be great.

Thanks for the help, Larry

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Larry,

You can access Prevost pneumatic and electrical information on line through their web site. You wil need a customer number but that is easy to get from them. It will also enable you to buy parts and charge them when you do get the perfect bus.

But as far as sitting down with a cup of coffee and a wiring diagram there are so many you need to actually get serial number specific due to constant changes. The same applies to the pneumatics, but they are less complex.

If you are involved in a search for a bus I would think your efforts would be focussed on determining where to narrow your search. How much do you want to spend? Do you want an XL, XLII, or an H3? Rivets or glue? Slides or not? 40 or 45 feet? solid front axle or IFS? 8V92 or Series 60? OTR or not? Long range fuel? All of these are just the shell. And all are important questions.

When you think you have completed the above decisions, then you have to start narrowing down the converters. Some decisions you make above, help with deciding whose conversion you want. For example, if you want OTR, you have almost ruled out everyone except Liberty and an occasional rare conversion by some others. But going further, do you want a private toilet? Two sofas or a sofa and a chair? Booth or table and chairs? Cruise Airs or roof AC? North / South or East / West bed? Wood or laminates? As you can see there is nothing listed above that requires an understanding of the way systems work.

I will go so far as to say that until you decide which coach is best for you, it is possible you will be overwhelmed by the choices you have to make. We've been owners for a while and have our requirements down to a few that are deal breakers.

We want a 45 foot coach, series 60, non slide, rivets, with a private toilet, OTR, long range tanks and a rear carousel closet.

Those are the the deal breakers. Without them, we have no interest. Thing we want but will give up if we get the above...booth instead of table and chairs, sofa and two chairs, TracStar, Cruise Airs, Webasto (instead of Aquahot), wood and tile instead of carpet, Etc.

Get your bus and we can get you specific diagrams.

[LarryB]

Jon, I do have my priorities and requirements establised. I have located a couple of buses that meet those criteria and I am in 'limbo' due to scheduling conflicts for a few weeks before a deal can be finalized.
I am thinking I need to go to 'ground school' before operating the equipment. I'm neither new to coaches or complicated systems, just new to Prevost, so I think some time reviewing the basics would be a good thing. I for one don't want to be standing around during a PDI wonder what the heck the componets are or their function, I don't want to build the clock, just be able to tell time, at this point.

Thanks for the info on contacting Prevost, I'll give that a try.

Larry

[Will Garner]

LarryB,

One thing you might try is reading all the do-it-yourself articles that are available on the POG Home page. They cover quite a lot of the systems, Prevost and converter. They will give you a base frame of reference from which you can build your knowledge.

Best thing about the articles, they are FREE - not a single lewbuck is needed to steal the knowledge within!

[LarryB]

Carol & Will

You are correct that the article section has a wealth of info. The problem is my old memory is short and I would like to be able to refer to a diagram to refresh my memory.

What I had in mind was like the 'overview' of a system, as one might see with airplanes or perhaps other more complicated equipment.

I did try contacting Prevost through their web site but they need numbers I don't have so, on to plan B, calling them on Monday.

Too anal for my own good, perhaps.

Thanks, Larry

[garyde]

Jon is correct. You should focus in on a more specific coach or your getting just that, a general overview. When I purchased my coach, Liberty spent probably 7 hours over two days going over their systems, not Prevost systems primarily. You would need a lot more time to get acquainted with the Prevost itself. That I've learned here.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Larry,

Since it sounds like you know what coach and systems you want, the next step is still not understanding the systems per se. The next step in my mind is learning your new coach. Not where the wires go, or what makes the bus sit level on the road, but what every switch, knob, and lever does.

Almost everyone can find the ignition key, and for a lot of folks that has been the end of their learning.

To truly get the most out of a coach I believe it is important to know what every control does. The Prevost chassis has numerous controls that are unlike anything found in cars or planes or boats. They need to be learned and understood. In that way you can start the bus, make it comfortable inside, adjust its height or level it, make it go, make it stop, control the rate at which it goes down a hill, check its systems, shift it, and check it for codes.

I think most new owners concern themselves with turn radii, and backing up, but they overlook all that is there to manage and monitor, and to be able to understand when something is not right. As an owner it is not important to know how the bus is creating 125 PSI for the braking and aux systems, as much as it is important to interpret those gauges to know if the compressor is cycling too much and if the leak is a brake system leak, an aux system leak and what the proper response must be.

It will be soon enough that an owner gets involved with the overview of how the systems work, but it more critical to understand when they are working and when they are not working satisfactorily.

The bus is the easy part of ownership. The house has more switches and systems to understand and operate. On most of our coaches it takes a Rhodes (Roads) Scholar just to get something on the TV. With multiple sources such as local TV, cable TV, VCR, DVD, Satellite you not only have to learn how to select the source you want, you have to get it to the TV you intend to watch. Operating the lights is a challenge. But the biggest challenge is figuring out how to keep warm or cool. With heat pumps, toe space heaters, Webasto, Aquahot, Espar, or other heat sources you need to know how to operate and regulate them, and what power source is required for their operation. Ditto for cooling.

Figuring out what is a 120V circuit powered by an inverter, or a 12 or 24V circuit coming off the batteries is important. Learning how to set up inverters for your style of coach use, and what the inverter powers is critical. You will need to know how to monitor the health of your electric systems.

None of the above give you a clue how the systems work, but if you are going to fully enjoy the coach you need to understand not only the switches and knobs and what they do, but how to recognize when stuff is working right and when it is not.

The time to know the inverter chargers are not functioning is before the lights go dim. How they function is less critical than recognizing that they are not functioning.

As you experience the joys of killing a set of batteries, or burning up an aux compressor because it was cycling every five minutes you will get to learn how the systems work. I think most of our coaches were designed and built with a lot of logic, and once you are operating a coach and its systems it is a small step beyond that point to learn why and how those systems operate.

Keep in mind however that until you have your own coach, almost everything you see and read here is specific to a particular converter, or year of shell, or style or type of bus. What is applicable to an XL converted by Liberty is unlikely to apply to an H3 converted by Vantare with the exception of some drive train and braking systems, and they may vary if the spread in years between the two is such that one has ABS and disc brakes and the other is pre-ABS and has drum brakes.

[dalej]

Larry, I wouldn't spend a lot of time analyzing the cart before you get the horse.

You can bank on the fact that a Prevost conversion is the best you can buy. The floor plan is the one thing that you can bank on to make or break the deal.