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Paul,
One concern I have in reading through this thread. I think there were two misunderstandings in your posts, which I'd like to try to clarify.
As Jon has pointed out, most draw items, like clock, radio etc, should all be driven off the house batteries, NOT your coach/chassis batteries.
Basically the coach/chassis batteries should ONLY be used to start the bus, and nothing else.
The other important thing to understand is that unless you've added a charger back in your engine bay, the ONLY time the chassis batteries are being charged is when your engine is running. Default condition on these busses is that there is NO charger on the chassis batteries.
Plugging in to shore power will NOT charge your chassis batteries.
Ray
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Paul,
Not to beat a dead horse, I'm just trying to help, but if you have a dead cell or two the charges will charge like crazy and never get to the float. I mentioned this before and asked if you load tested them while they were removed, but you didn't say anything. Also, if your chassis batteries are AGM, make sure your charger is not Equalizing, bad thing to do.
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Tom, do you think that there are those who use AGM in the chassis? I don't think I have seen that before.
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Dale,
That is a question for Paul to answer. I know of several coaches now where the owners have gone to AGM.
Tom is on the money about equalizing and that is why I am asking about it and suggesting close monitoring of the system. I am still really bothered by those parasitic loads. They spell trouble.
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The chassis batteries are standard wet cell batteries. Although I don't have the equipment to load test them, my charger is a digital, high frequency model that is supposed to give me a fault code if there is a bad cell, short, or similar problem.
Since it went to float charge and there were no fault codes, I'm relatively confident that the batteries are OK.
As I have learned, there is apparently no provision for charging the chassis batteries other than the alternator while the engine is running. Since I didn't"t have the disconnects in the "off" position, this whole episode may just be a case of pilot error in allowing the batteries to drain over a period of about 3 weeks.
However, this adventure did allow me to find some badly damaged cable ends which have been replaced and I've decided to add a charger for the chassis batteries. The ultimate result will hopefully be a more reliable coach which is better understood (and better maintained) by the owner.
Haven't given up yet!!
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Paul,
This is important......it would not matter if you had the battery disconnects for the chassis "off".
We are trying to tell you that those wires connected to your batteries ARE NOT going through the disconnect switches, and until you leave them disconnected, or find out what they are for, and you can be assured they are not pulling power you can almost bet that even if you turn off the battery disconnect switches your batteries are still going to end up dead.
Unless you want to leave a charger on them forever.
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Paul, just the thought of the chassis batteries going down unless you throw the disconnect should alarm you a little. As Jon pointed out the chassis batteries could be left in the road ready position for some length of time, like your automobile.
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Dale - Yep, my Marathon had AGM's in the chassis. I wouldn't go to AGM's in the chassis, but someone previous to me did it.
Paul - Since my chassis is the same year as yours, although not a Liberty, when I start up and drive, my chassis alternator puts 14.2 volts into the chassis batteries for about 1 hour and then tapers off to 13.2. My regulator is adjustable and those numbers are recommended by the Lifeline Regulator documents. I mention this only to kind of give you a reference number if your setup is similar. As I mentioned, I just installed a Quest 3 stage charger for the chassis batteries, although like Jon, mine stays up without any measurable loss over time, but I'm anal about keeping them topped off. I have a digital dash in the CC and it seems to like all the juice it can get at startup. If you want pictures, let me know. Sounds like your batteries are good if it went to float, but I don't understand how your charger can check a cell without putting a load on it. Lots of new stuff out there, so I'm probably behind the curve.
Hang in there....;)
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Jon. I will review those yellow wires tomorrow and let you know what they are energizing. My thought about Pauls batteries going dead may have to do with the burnt connections. He would not have been getting a charge when the engine was running with loose or bad connections. The burnt ends confirm he had a load heat up on the ends which means he had a tremendous amount of load heating up at the terminals. This may have been going on for quite some time. Therefore the batteries were dead because they were not getting charged.
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Gary,
Your coach is new enough to be able to possibly trace how some things came about. Attaching anything directly to the batteries, and thus by-passing the power disconnect switches is bad practice and dangerous if those attachments are unfused.
Not knowing the history behind those kinds of things almost mandates that the owner investigates and finds out where they go just to be sure there is a good reason behind why they are there. One thing that I can envision as making sense for wires directly to batteries would be an owner installed charger, but other than that I'm at a loss to think of anything that wouldn't be better coming from one of the DC posts inside the front or rear electrical boxes (with a fuse or circuit breaker in close proximity).
