Voltage, well regulated, please...

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Darl,

If you assume the breaker is open and you can't reset it, just for purposes of confirming it is the breaker, turn the master off, join the cables from each side of the breaker (now everything is unprotected, but thats OK temporarily), and with the master back on, you should be able to get 24V in the rear box, and it should start.

Then you can replace the breaker.

In the category of useless information, on my old coach I had a large breaker for the OTR air system that tripped. I pushed on all the breakers as I am sure you did and I still had no luck so I opened the electric boxes and started checking for voltage. I came to the big breaker and found it was open despite having pushed hard on it. So I pushed until my thumb hurt and it still did not reset. That's when I got the screwdriver and was able to push with the force of two hands.

The breaker was failing so after it tripped a couple more times I got a replacement from Prevost. The replacement had a different reset button and was easier to reset. You may find this to be the case with the replacement you order.

[truk4u]

So if there is no 24v between the master and the CB, your master switch is open! What is the voltage at the Jumper Lug?

If there is 24v at the lug that means there's 24v at the master switch.
If you don't have 24v coming out of the master to the CB, bad Master.

If you have 12.8 at the lug, you have some serious battery cable issues and the paralel/series hookup is suspect.

Drawing2_1.jpg

[JIM KELLER]

Tom, With that drawing I think you need some chalk and a blackboard to do a seminar at our next Rally. Right up there at the front of the class with Jon !

[Darl-Wilson]

Tom and Jon, I checked this out last night and, with your new suggestions,again this morning. The maximum reading I got was 12.8V. The breakers are OK but I only get the same 12.8V across them. Same with the master and from battery to negative on jumper lug. The main check that I think I should have been making (and stupidly didn't check earlier)is simply to see is I am getting 28V out of my battery bank. This is also 12.8V. There is an equalizer that has a 28V lug, a -lug, and a 12V lug. 12V measures 12.8 but the 28V yields a .59. One cable from the equalizer was placed on a negative battery post. When changed to a positive battery post the equalizer read properly except no 28V. I still do not have 28V anywhere in the engine/battery compartment, including the starter. Tom, I think you are on to something when you wrote about the battery cable issues. When this problem 1st occurred the road service company sent out a guy with a 1976 Chev 1/2 ton PU with a battery jumper connection hanging out of the grill. I told him there was no way this was going to get the bus started and I had ordered a commercial truck service truck. He insisted that he could get me started. When it didn't work he called back to his boss who had him remove the battery cables and charge each battery separately. Of course this didn't work either. The second company, with a similar setup but with 4 12V batteries was unable to jump start with the batteries so he jumped it from the starter.

Other than the cable I described above that was apparently mistakenly placed on a - post there is nothing obviously wrong with the cables. Of course there has to be if the batteries are fully charged and connected properly and only check out a 12.8V.

As it stands right now I may not be able to get back on this until Saturday. My whole family, wife, kids, and grandkids are leaving about 4:30am tomorrow for 2 weeks in Puerto Vallarta. Saying everything is in disarray is an understatement!

I am going to get into my Prevost schematics and thoroughly check out the cable configuration on the batteries. I suspect everyone that has helped me on this has wondered if I did something wrong. At this point I think I amy have overlooked the obvious. More to come. Thanks everyone! I'll keep you updated.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Darl....the following is a direct quote from post #34....

"Here is the procedure I would use to check this, and why.....

I assume your batteries are up to their desired voltage and are connected according to the Prevost diagram. Obviously this is essential to insure you get the right voltages to the 12V and 24V circuits....."

Perhaps rule number one should be to never leave anyone without Prevost specific experience and knowledge alone with your coach, and after anyone touches your coach verify what they did and if it was right.

[truk4u]

Yep, they really screwed up your batteries and you didn't tell us they had been unhooked by Bubba who probably never even heard of parallel/series. Do you have the Prevost diagram showing the 4 batteries and cable placement? If not, let us know and we can put one up here on the board.

To eliminate any further potential in damaging the equalizer, just unhook the ground cable at the equalizer until all this gets sorted out. You won't need the equalizer for now.

Jim - No way, that's Jon's forte

[Danss]

Since Darl is taking a break from his agony I have several questions. I now have the 2611A Guest Battery charger. Truk, I believe you said You may could send me a diagram on how to hookup. Also what is approx. location of the plug for the block heater which I believe I can plug charger into (not sure I understand this) I know as much about electricity as I do Brain surgery, so please be gentle with me. Thanks, Dan

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Dan, you could be shocked to find out how much you know!

[Joe Cannarozzi]

The diagram on the left is how the chassis batteries are wired.
24 volts can be achieved both ways but our start batts. are as the left pic. is.

[Danss]

Charger has 2 plus wires and 2 negative wires. Can youd escribe how they hookup on your diagram? Thanks, Dan