phorner
05-02-2011, 05:42 PM
OK, it was one of those days.....
On my way north, dodging the tornadoes and otherwise nasty weather along I-95 last Wednesday, I fire up the bus to exit the rest area (where we were watching the radar to see if we should move or stay put) my inverter panels start flashing in an "overcharging" condition warning. Now, when this happens, in case it hasn't happened to you, the inverters shut down.
No fridge.
No lights.
No TOILET!
No nuttin' :mad:
So, I says to the better half "no worries dear, I'll simply disconnect the errant alternator (ours has a separate 12 volt alternator to charge the house batteries) and I'll just fire up the generator and turn on the battery chargers. We ALWAYS have a back-up plan"
So, after disconnecting the alternator (which, by the way, is new but that's another story altogether) down the highway we go.
Until I glance at the generator panel and see that it's running hot... not what I wanted to see.
So.... I shut down the generator to avoid a major, and perhaps costly, problem.
And guess what??
Now I have NO WAY TO CHARGE THE HOUSE BATTERIES!!!
My nice, new, Lifeline batteries are now in danger of being fully depleted if I leave the inverters on while driving. Not good. I certainly don't want to draw my BRAND NEW batteries down to nothing. So, I shut the inverters off to save the batteries from early death.
So, I'm back to:
No fridge
No lights
NO TOILET.... unless I very sparingly use the inverters. But, unless and until I get plugged in, no way to charge the house batteries.
Did I mention that by now I'm trying to figure all this out in a parking lot??
Well, we found a destination with 50 amp service and all was eventually well.
The problem with the over heating was that the blower wasn't working for the remote radiator. At least, THAT was an easy find.
So, checked the breaker on top of the Kohler generator.... but it wasn't tripped.
I figure it's gotta be a broken belt... and it is a bit of a chore to access. Empty out the bay, remove the shelving, remove the access panel behind the radiator and... the belt is fine. Not good. So, is it now the motor or something else??
A quick check for voltage at the motor shows nada... no power getting to the motor. Bad breaker??
Well I give a call to Liberty Coach and end up discussing my predicament with Bill Dougherty. He knew my bus as if it were built yesterday and still in front of him.
Bill patiently talked me through some diagnostics dealing with the Liberty battery WatchDog system. When I by-passed the system, the blower worked. Bill also had me jumper a couple of terminals inside the WatchDog control box to see if we could make the blower work and sure enough it did. As it turned out, the problem was in a poor or corroded connection between the ribbon wire connector and the battery WatchDog control box.
Once reconnected and reset, the system was back to fully operational. I took the opportunity to change the blower motor belt since everything was exposed and it would never be easier to do.
A big THANK YOU to Bill Dougherty of Liberty Coach - Chicago for taking the time to patiently guide me through the diagnostic process. I learned a lot in the process!
So, I guess the moral is, keep in mind that on a Liberty conversion, the battery WatchDog system is complex and may control an aspect of generator operation that is not immediately apparent. I would not have guessed that the radiator blower is energized via that system. I was under the impression that it was powered directly from the generator through the generator mounted circuit breaker.
Now I get to tackle that alternator..... :mad:
On my way north, dodging the tornadoes and otherwise nasty weather along I-95 last Wednesday, I fire up the bus to exit the rest area (where we were watching the radar to see if we should move or stay put) my inverter panels start flashing in an "overcharging" condition warning. Now, when this happens, in case it hasn't happened to you, the inverters shut down.
No fridge.
No lights.
No TOILET!
No nuttin' :mad:
So, I says to the better half "no worries dear, I'll simply disconnect the errant alternator (ours has a separate 12 volt alternator to charge the house batteries) and I'll just fire up the generator and turn on the battery chargers. We ALWAYS have a back-up plan"
So, after disconnecting the alternator (which, by the way, is new but that's another story altogether) down the highway we go.
Until I glance at the generator panel and see that it's running hot... not what I wanted to see.
So.... I shut down the generator to avoid a major, and perhaps costly, problem.
And guess what??
Now I have NO WAY TO CHARGE THE HOUSE BATTERIES!!!
My nice, new, Lifeline batteries are now in danger of being fully depleted if I leave the inverters on while driving. Not good. I certainly don't want to draw my BRAND NEW batteries down to nothing. So, I shut the inverters off to save the batteries from early death.
So, I'm back to:
No fridge
No lights
NO TOILET.... unless I very sparingly use the inverters. But, unless and until I get plugged in, no way to charge the house batteries.
Did I mention that by now I'm trying to figure all this out in a parking lot??
Well, we found a destination with 50 amp service and all was eventually well.
The problem with the over heating was that the blower wasn't working for the remote radiator. At least, THAT was an easy find.
So, checked the breaker on top of the Kohler generator.... but it wasn't tripped.
I figure it's gotta be a broken belt... and it is a bit of a chore to access. Empty out the bay, remove the shelving, remove the access panel behind the radiator and... the belt is fine. Not good. So, is it now the motor or something else??
A quick check for voltage at the motor shows nada... no power getting to the motor. Bad breaker??
Well I give a call to Liberty Coach and end up discussing my predicament with Bill Dougherty. He knew my bus as if it were built yesterday and still in front of him.
Bill patiently talked me through some diagnostics dealing with the Liberty battery WatchDog system. When I by-passed the system, the blower worked. Bill also had me jumper a couple of terminals inside the WatchDog control box to see if we could make the blower work and sure enough it did. As it turned out, the problem was in a poor or corroded connection between the ribbon wire connector and the battery WatchDog control box.
Once reconnected and reset, the system was back to fully operational. I took the opportunity to change the blower motor belt since everything was exposed and it would never be easier to do.
A big THANK YOU to Bill Dougherty of Liberty Coach - Chicago for taking the time to patiently guide me through the diagnostic process. I learned a lot in the process!
So, I guess the moral is, keep in mind that on a Liberty conversion, the battery WatchDog system is complex and may control an aspect of generator operation that is not immediately apparent. I would not have guessed that the radiator blower is energized via that system. I was under the impression that it was powered directly from the generator through the generator mounted circuit breaker.
Now I get to tackle that alternator..... :mad: