Liberty Coach Shut Down

[garyde]

I have been leaving my Coach plugged in here at home but eventually I want to turn everything off. Now I know to unplug the Watchdog and turn off the remote Heart Inverter displays in the Coach before turning off the 12 volt and the 24 volt switches & Inverters. Do I leave the Inverters on to maintain batterys?

I turned off the two breakers for inverter charging at the breaker panel and my batteries ran down.( I had left the 12V & 24 V switches still on)

What is the correct procedure to turn off the Coach when Storing and also when still plugged in?

Those of you who own Liberty,s , let me know your procedure. There is no Shut down instructions in the Liberty Book.

[MangoMike]

Gary,

When I'm plugged in I leave everything on. Which means I don't turn off the 12v breakers and leave the 2 circuit breakers for the inverters on to keep the batteries charged up, plus I always leave the refigerator running as I believe it prolongs life. I don't unplug the watchdog, but make sure that the start switches on the panel aren't on so it's not activated. I installed a seperate charger for the bus batteries that is also left on.

Since mine is a little more vintage than yours Liberty may have changed storage procedures.

Mike

[Jon Wehrenberg]

When I got mine I asked Frank about shut down, and he indicated he would prefer that you do not shut down, but leave power to the coach when it is stored.

[dalej]

Gary your post title scared me a bit, Liberty coach shut down. My first thought was another one bit the dust. Was glad to read on.

When I put our bus in the barn, I just turn the refrigerator, hot water heaters and the water pump off, ours can sit for 2-3 months at a time without use.:(

[Coloradobus]

We leave our coach plugged in. Hotwater heaters, water pump off, frig on.
In the tag door bay curbside, we have 3 breakers I trip to the DDEC and ATEC, so they don't suck the life out of the 12 volt side of the chassis batteries. This way, the coach can stay garaged for months, if time doesn't permit a monthly 50 miles spin around the block.
It has taken owning 3 busses, one Country Coach and two Marathons and countless questions about flat chassis batteries, for someone finally last year at Prevost to show us these breakers. It takes about 3 weeks for the DDEC and ATEC brains to drain away the batteries.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Something must be different in our shells or what the converters do. I NEVER turn off the bus batteries or DDEC, and it can sit for months with only the normal battery drain of a few hundredths of a volt per day.

Two coaches have been that way.

Like Dale, on the first coach I did turn off the house batteries, but that did not have inverters as we know them or computers.

[garyde]

I have 1- 12volt Switch, 1-24 Volt Switch, 2- Inverter Switches and a By-pass Switch for Computer to Keep it energized I guess.
One of the things that bother me is the Fan that runs 24/7 in the inverter bay. I just replaced it because the original one stopped working. I am thinking about putting it on a t-stat. The other issue has to do with Compressors, I have a air compressor which cycles from time to time. It may be the awning compressor or the Aux. Compressor. I don't really know because they are hidden in the middle of the Coach. I am turning things off to try and identify whats going on.

So I am guessing by the responses, for the sake of the batteries, it is best to leave the 12 volt, 24 volt and the 2 -Inverters on. And turn off all loads at the Circuit Breaker Panel inside.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

I've told you guys before that if I don't know the answer I will make things up, so take the following with a grain of salt.

The bus shutoff is uncomplicated. Turn off the big black switch and turn off the smaller DDEC switch and the bus is dead. You will no longer be able to operate any bus systems or devices.

I cannot tell you the sequence or procedure for turning off the house portion of my Liberty, but I suspect the inverter fan (120V on mine) has its own switch, mine is next to the bed, but once the inverters are shut down, and all battery switches are turned off the house is dead, and that includes aux compressors and anything else in the house portion, including the "computers" (PLCs?).

At that point there should be zero loads on the batteries and they should maintain their charge for a long storage time. On my coach, if my batteries are allowed to discharge completely there is a standby battery that can be employed to power up the "computers" so the generator can go through it's start sequence (assuming its battery is charged) and charge up all batteries via the onboard house and bus charging systems.

Since I may be all wrong on the above a call to Liberty is in order to find out the specifics as they relate to your coach.

[win42]

Question? I leave my bus on shore power in storage. 1. I have a four part 12V "Battery Tender" on each of the 4 pairs of 6V golf cart batteries for the house. That system takes care of itself.

2. I put a 24v " Battery Tender " on the 24V part of the chassis batteries, that's working fine. My thinking was the 12v portion of these 4 batteries would receive charging from the 24V charger. In checking the 12V output last night it was at 11V. Do I need to put a 12V "Battery Tender'" on the 12V section of the chassis batteries? When engine is running, there are two alternators supplying these batteries. One 24V ALT & One 12v Alt. It makes sense two chargers are required. If you can understand what I'm getting at please answer the question.

I fought chassis batteries going down too low to re-start the engine to and from POG2. I put a meter on the + outlet of the 24V alternator and no reading.
After removing the alternator and taking it to our local motor shop, they checked it out and it worked fine. [B]THE REASON I GOT NO READING WHEN I CHECKED IT, I PUT THE PRODE ON THE BOLT HOLDING THE CABLE TO THE + CONNECTION POST, AS YOU WOULD DO ON A BATTERY. WRONG! THE BOLT IS ISOLATED IN THAT CONNECTION AND IF YOU LOOK VERY CLOSE AT THE TINY PRINT ON THE HEAD OF THE BOLT IT TELLS YOU THAT. /B]

$75 Lewbucks later I re-installed the alternator and it was charging fine.

The Mystery is still not solved as to why the batteries went down while on the road. The problem may still be with me. There is a regulator built in to the alternator. It may be intermittingly stopping the charging cycle when the batteries reach the their peak and not coming back on when they are discharged below 24V. I guess time will tell. I'm open to any other explanations offered. Meantime I think I'll order a regulator to carry with me.
I survived the problem on the trip by starting the generator every so often and letting the battery charger keep the engine batteries up. Owning a Prevost is so much fun ??
Harry
1989 XL Royale

[Jeff Bayley]

First, I have a Royal not a Liberty so I may be "interlopping" on the Liberty bunch here. I'm not certain if that is a POG no no but I'm new and randomly checking threads to see what I can learn and so far I'm learning a lot (I'm a first time motor home owner with 2.5 years into two different Prevost 1) Angola and 2) Royale. Have both still with the Angola in need of an engine that I'm shopping around for (any suggestions welcome. email me PLEASE).

Anyway, on the battery and voltage stuff, I seem to be getting poor performance on my house batteries even thought they are not that old and maybe I should be shutting off the 12 volt switch in the rear of the coach. I never turn this off when dry camping. Should I ? I'm not even certain if my house side still works or not or what this turns off. I didn't get an owners manual with my bus. Amazing what else I'm probabley ignorant of as well. I knew those switches were back there but I got the sense they were a security measure of something. Duh ? or is that correct somewhat also?

Regarding the fans running on the inverters, I understand that one of the posts was in reference (I think) to the ventilation fan but what about the fans that run on the inverters all the time by default? I have trace 2500's. (1997 Vintage). The inverters themselves are using power just being on in an "idle" so to speak are they not ? When dry camping, is it recommened to turn off the inverter all together ( the one that is not running the fridge) in order to conserve battery power ovenight ? I think I tried this once but haven't kept up the practice. I also THINK the "Search" mode on the inverter remote is supposed to turn the inverter off until such time when it is called on to invert. Comments ?

I'll hunt around the other sub headings and threads to see if there are some other posting regarding this or anyone that knows the site inside and out that wishes to point me in the right direction is welcomed advise also.

[truk4u]

Harry,
Your fortunate, the Marathon only charges the chassis batteries from the 24V alternator, not the generator. I also added the 24V Battery Tender to the chassis batteries, but like Jon, if I didn't use the Battery Tender, mine would set for months and lose very little voltage.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Jeff, don't worry about jumping in, and especially don't think this is a Liberty site. Ole Harry that posted ahead of you is a Royale owner.

If you are having trouble with batteries (house or bus) there are two things that are important. The first is to test them individually. If one is bad all the others are affected. If they test good, and you are still draining them when you should not be the probability is you have loads on them you do not know about. You need to find those loads and determine if they should be on, and if not either disconnect them or turn them off.

Harry, if your alternator voltage regulator is functioning properly, you will know it. Turn on the key and read the voltage with all chargers off and the bus engine shut down. Then start the bus. The engine running voltage should be around 13.5 or 27. The voltage regulator will not "wait" for battery voltage to drop to some low value, but will constantly be maintaining the voltage listed above. All the voltage regulator is doing is opening and closing the field circuit on the alternator to maintain the voltage. If the circuit is open, no voltage is produced by the alternator, and if the circuit remains closed, the alternator will produce excessive voltage capable of damaging the coach.

As far as inverter fans, I can't tell you what other converters are doing, but my Liberty has fans internal to the inverters. But in addition to those which cycle on or off with an internal thermostat, I have a manually controlled fan, that I leave on constantly to protect the inverters in the event the internal fan fails.

[win42]

Jon: Ole Harry? Ole? You got your nerve calling people ole. You were around when Moby Dick was a minnow. Your probably Lewpops older brother. Eeewe that was a low punch.

Anyway Ole Jon please give me a read again and see if you agree that while shut down and on shore power I should add a 12V "Battery Tender" to the 12V connection on the chassis batteries to balance them. That is what's happening when the engine is running with 12 & 24 V alternators feeding them.

My problem of not being able to start after a run is complicated by the dash battery meter showing 27 V while running and 22V after shutdown and won't start. Run the geneator for 30 Min with the charger on and Walla it will start. I still suspect intermittant problem with the Alt. regulator. Thanks for outlining it's function, but it still could stop working intermittantly couldn't it. What else? Batteries are new. Come on with that enlarged brain of yours make it groan and come up with the answer. My next run will be in two weeks.
Thx
Young & Vibrante Harry

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Harry,

Forget the alternator.

First find out why your batteries are down to 22V.

After being fully charged, and the surface voltage disipated, your resting battery voltage should read about 25.4 volts. At 22 volts they are effectively dead.

Check each individually, and if they check OK find out what the load is that is pulling them down.

Your battery tender usage is akin to taking an aspirin for a brain tumor.

[garyde]

Number one; All Coaches are different but inverters and batteries are the same. Managing Inverters can be frustrating. As far as I know, the only way you can stop your batteries from dischargng when dry camping is to pull the wires off the batteries. Even if you turned the inverters off, the parasitic loads are still there. Depending on the percentage of charge your battery has, it will need re -charging within 8 hours by Generator, your engine, or shore power. The recommendation is to not let your batteries go down past 50 - 60 Percent before recharging. I had the Heart Inverter Rep change the readings on my previous coach displays to percentage readings instead of Amp Hours so I could monitor better the discharge rate. The Inverters ony shut down after they reach Float stage and that only happens when you are charging by Gen., Engine or Shore. Hope that helps.