Alternator/Regulator failure

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Originally Posted by jack14r

Its in warranty,I bet it would be cheaper to buy it than the fuel to drive to have it replaced,but I want to visit the place for possible future maintenance.It might take 10 minutes to change it out,the regulator must be the weak link,from talking to the service people they replace them on a regular basis.

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Jack, sorry to hear you are having problems with the coach. Sounds like you have located the issue.

I wish you would have sent us a note letting us know that you were attending the Lions Club Horse Show?? The NC Ag center is only about a 45 minute drive from our farm. Sorry we missed you and please do let us know when you will be in the area again. The Blue Ridge Show perhaps? Our granddaughter (only 10) showed in two Academy classes in Arden earlier this month and won them both! Needless to say she was a happy little girl.

Debi and Bob-05

Jack, I called Prevost and got a regulator sent to my house 2nd day air. About $180.00 for the regulator I believe.
Jim, from what I remember, I turned my on board charger on one afternoon and walked away. The next day I discovered I had boiled my batteries.
Refilled the cells. Started the engine and the voltage was low. While driving, I ran the charger to attempt to maintain voltage.
So, somehow I blew the regulator. It may have been a surge when starting with bad batteries, or from charging too long while boiling my batteries.

I don't know when Prevost made the switch to the current regulator. I still have the old cast metal housing regulator.

When my alternator died I considered replacing both, but in the last few years a number of owners have had failures of the new style and I am not sure in this case that new is better.

The old style regulator is still available, and for those who wish to get up close and personal the internals are also available for repairing rather than replacing.

I would consider giving John Kincaid john.kincaid@volvo.com a call at Jacksonville Prevost. John is the service manager in Jax, really great guy and will go the extra mile to help his customers. he has been great to me and always gets things done.

John Kincaid
Prevost Jacksonville
Service Manager
800-874-7740 phone
904-886-0092 fax
john.kincaid@volvo.com

I had a appointment with Burke Christian Tours in Maiden,NC and they were great.The service manager is Sonny and the technician was Dave(I knew him from Featherlite in Mocksville,NC).As I said it should be a ten minute job and it was except we talked for awhile about coaches etc.They have 38 Prevost seated coaches and several larger vans that they use for tours.The billing office will submit the paperwork and defective part to Prevost and they should send me a check because I actually paid for the part and labor.Dave is a great resource for me because he is in NC and has worked on almost every brand of coach,he did quite a lot of work on my Marathon when he was at Featherlite a few years ago.I would recommend them to any coach owner,just make sure that you have the directions or a good GPS,they are a little off the beaten path.

Jack,

I have had work done on my old coach at Holiday Tours in Randleman. Marzel is the gate keeper and a nice person to deal with. David is the shop foreman. They do good work and I would not hesitate to take my coach back any time I need maintenance work that I can't do myself - which leaves lots of room for return trips. Their hourly rate is exceptional as well. I am allowed to remain with the coach, go down in the pit and take a look for myself. Almost like going to Bus College!

Randleman is just down US 220 from Greensboro. Easy in and out. The bus driveway is the second driveway. I used the first driveway and they still didn't get upset with me.

Hope you get your problem corrected without too much headache.

We just made a 3000 mile trip and had to buy 6 new chassie batteries. They seem to be over charge, swelled up, but 12 volt guage was only showing a little over 12 volts and 24 was about 26. My husband read in book to check equalizer to reset, but can't find resets they are talking about. He has read posts here and is going to see if can test regulator. 91 Liberty. Thanks in advance for any, as there were hidden costs on this trip. Did see 2 nice Prevosts, 1 around Canmore Alberta and 1 in B.C.
Judi Brown
Oh all most forgot, Can any one tell us where these resets are.

Hi Judy. With a voltmeter test your Vanner and your Alternator regulator.

Judi,

I think there is information on the POG home page about electrical systems and it tells how to trouble shoot electrical stuff like alternators, regulators and equalizers.

Before you buy batteries or get any age on a new set you want to be sure everything is working or you can convert a set of batteries into junk.

As to the reset on equalizers, going by memory here, at one time the Vanner equalizers did not have a circuit breaker on them. Around your vintage or maybe a little later they began installing resetable breakers in the bottom of the equalizer. If it tripped it could be reset. It was located about the center bottom of the equalizer.

Your batteries should read a lot of voltages depending on whether they are being charged, at rest with no loads or at rest with loads. Also you likely have multiple ways to charge the batteries such as the engine driven alternator, converters or inverters depending on how your coach was set up, and maybe a built in battery charger. All of those items need to be checked. It is no big deal but important.

If you are coming to OKC I think Skiffer may have the electrical systems seminar on the agenda.

Thanks Jon.
We are not putting in any new batteries till find problem. The $800.00 in
new ones to get home are toast. The green light on dash stays on and he
says he noticed when running lights were on it dropped below 12 volts. Are there 2 alternators on there, 1 for 12 and 1 for 24 volt . The reason I ask
we had a MCI and it was at the back of the motor and the Prevost has 1 at the front right side and is not oil cooled, Haven't looked at back yet.
Again thanks for any help.
Judi Brown