Learned something about inverters the hard way ....

[Ray Davis]

Jeff, Off would indeed work, if I didn't want to keep my batteries charged. At several thousand dollars for a set of coach batteries, I don't want these puppies going down, and I'm not close enough to monitor closely.

Ray

[Jon Wehrenberg]

If I had to park my bus in a remote location for extended periods I would put the whole thing to "sleep".

I would fully charge the batteries and then turn everything off inlcuding the batteries, going so far as to disconnect cables if necessary.

I would support the chassis on stands and at the very least dump the air in the air bags so only the weight of the axle is on the tires. I would open all the doors in cabinets and refrigerator, open the roof vents, crack some windows, and make sure the water and waste tanks are empty, and water pressure is zero.

Then, until I knew for sure I would check battery voltages daily, then weekly just to know I won't return to dead batteries. Once I was confident the batteries would hold voltages OK, then once a month would likely be sufficient to check up on things.

I would not run the engine until I was ready to drive somewhere, but I would run the generator to recharge the batteries and bring them up to full charge each month. I would treat the fuel with a stabilizer for fuel in storage.

Bottom line however is having a bus close at hand and always hooked up to 50 amps is priceless and I would do whatever it takes to do that. There is too much value, both real and emotional to keep a bus at a remote location.

[Ray Davis]

Unfortunately, there are reasons that won't work in my specific case, or at least some of the suggestions won't work well.

Nearby indoor storage is impossible. It basically is almost non-existent anywhere near by me. The one site that does have indoor storage is completely full and want's on the order of $600 per month for that storage. Other semi-close storage options (within 30-45 miles) are valet only.

I was lucky to find individual RV storage garages out in Lake Perris, which is exactly a one hour drive for me at $300 per month.

The power is an issue, but they have agreed to let me pay for 50A power to be installed, but they will not charge me more for it's use.

I did try the generator one time. Within 10 seconds the CO2 alarm was screaming etc. These garages are only 14 foot wide, and the ceiling is probably only 10 foot overhead, if that much)

So, for me the best solution, at least for now, is get 50A individual power circuit installed, so I am not worried about a shared 15A plug. I do try to get out about every two weeks, max. About every month to 6 weeks, if I haven't been out on a trip, I take the bus out and drive it.

I guess another suggestion might be to shut the bus down completely, but get a couple external tender/trickle chargers, one for the coach, and one for the chassis. At least, if they power goes down, I won't have things trying to invert itself into oblivion. The seems effectively what I've done now anyway, as in the Charge position, if power goes out, it will simply stop charging, and not discharge the batteries.

Ray

[Jeff Bayley]

Jeff, Off would indeed work, if I didn't want to keep my batteries charged. At several thousand dollars for a set of coach batteries, I don't want these puppies going down, and I'm not close enough to monitor closely.

Ray

Ray- I just meant to turn off ONE of the inverter/chargers and leave the other one on 5 amps or so. That way you reduce the overall draw on the 15 amp circuit in case the other bone head puts a heavier draw on it at least your part would be lower overall. You batteries can float with just one inverter on.

[Ray Davis]

Sorry Jeff, I misunderstood. Indeed, that's what I did to get the batteries back up and charged.

They are both back on in the charge mode now, but limited so that things cannot overcharge, thus blowing the circuit.

Ray

[Jeff Bayley]

Ok, but I still think turning one to the off position and leaving only one on the charge or on position (the one running the fridge if you care to leave that on), makes less load. I found out when I was using my 3,500 watt aux generator for over night dry camping as many of you know I use to sleep w/o fear of a generator fire. No matter what I did to adjust the inverters down it kept tripping the fuse on the small generator until I finally turned one of the inverters to "off". That lightened the overall load sufficient to make it hold and work.

[Jeff Bayley]

I'm throwing this up here so POG'ers have two chances to see what could have been an electrical fire in case the other thread I started calling for Roayle help get's glossed over: I don't think there's anything we can do to avoid this particular wire fry but wanted to share it none the less. Since I can't provide a wealth of difficult technical answers, I'm limited to contributing what bafoon stuff I can in an effort to try and pull my weight.

Here's the link to see the pictures and explanation: http://forum.prevostownersgroup.com/...ed=1#post53392