6D vs 8D and also how many of either.

Joe
In 2000 the previous owner of my coach converted the inverter battery system over to Three 3000W Combi Freedom inverters on a battery bank of Eight 4D's. One inverter only charges when the generator is on, and the other two work on shore and Generator. I did find out this last month that I can run the Rear and Mid AC off the generator while underway. The Front AC only works off Shore or Generator power. I have never tried running the two AC of the inverters with shore power.

Two years ago I came home one day and went into the bus and everything was dead. Inverters had shutdown and volts was 9-10. I only have a 30 amp circuit to plug into and with chargers and water heaters on (big mistake) the circuit breaker tripped and there she sat until I happen to go in a check things out. So I invested in an autostart for the generator by a company called Ridgecreek. It can start the generator on either volts or temperature with an adjustable run time. Since I don't keep pets in the coach I don't use the temp setting, but I do have voltage set at 12.2 and I run for two hours.

My batteries are 9 years old and need to be replaced. With a reading of 12.7 on the meter it takes me about 30 minutes to drop to 12.0V with all lights on and phantom loads. With only phantom loads ( RV style refer, LEDs, clock radio) I can get 10 hours before AGS kicks in.

My coach sat for 2 years before I got it, so there is question history on the Batteries there and then my shutdown for how long I could not say, plus they are 9 years old.

I am ready for new batteries, but do I need eight 4D's or less or would I be better off with less 8D's, AGM's of course?

GregM



My Batteries are 4D lifeline AGM's and they are at the end of their life.

Truk, My watchdog has a electrical panel below the watchdog(I bet yours does too),I went into that panel and looked for 24+ volts and about 5 terminals from the left and I found it.I then tried various resistors in line with the 24+ volt wire trying to reduce the voltage by 3 volts(21+3=24)a 15K ohm resistor worked perfectly and the generator now starts at 24 volts.My digital Fluke VOM confirms that it happens at 24 volts exactly.I have wired it so if something screws up I can fix it on the road.I will be camping in Lexington,KY next week and I will report on how it goes.

Greg I have not seen 3 inverters until now.

Thanks Jack, I'll check mine out when I get back home and hope I have the same setup.

I finished installing the 6 8D batteries today,Liberty has a custom cabinet that has drawers,stereo receiver,refrigerator and there is also a 42 inch flat screen in the bay.In order to get to the batteries all this as well as the panels behind this must be removed.Once everything is removed the hole is about 24X30 inches and the rack has 2 levels of three batteries,the 160+ pound batteries are not easy to install.We made a ramp out of a 2X8's and were able to push them up the hill to the rack.The cables never seem to stay untangled,and once the batteries are in and wired it is time to install all of the entertainment stuff.I learned a lot about my coach and it all works,including the outside EC.In reality this job is for a very strong man and my friend who helped me is very strong and he even said"this is not a one man job".I will be dry camping next week in Kentucky and with new Lifeline batteries and my modification to the watch dog auto start voltage I should be good to go.

Jack,

I feel your pain on those Liberty batteries! I had to use a transmission jack and floor jack along with some lumber to get those bad boys out and in. I hope I never have to do another set on a Liberty.

Joe my coach originally had three Todd converters in it so I think the previous owners install guys figured it was easier to do three inverters to replace them. And is I type this maybe an little extra profit from a third inverter sale.
GregM

:DHere is an easy way to lift and remove batteries. I replaced mine in about 2 hours on a Saturday.

Attachment 5004

When Liberty added the slide out TV,the slide mechanism extends under the first shelf which has reduced the shelf height by 6 inches.I only have about 2-3 inches above the batteries,which would not allow me the luxury of installing like Gary did.I will get over the soreness soon.

Since my last post I have spent a week dry camping in Kentucky,my resistors worked very well but because of heat in the bay causing their value to change slightly I had to adjust the resistance and I am now using a lower value to start the generator at 23.7 volts.I have determined that about 12.4 meg ohm is approximately the right value based on about 100 degrees in the inverter bay which is where the watchdog is also located.This is an easy modification to make and so far seems to be a perfect way to fool the watchdog.