2010 Liberty Coach

[edsaylor]

Liberty is the first converter to have a true 2010 model H3-45 in stock. It is a tripple slide with two slides in the bedroom. Looking at the pictures on their web site, I could not see the compartment for OTR. I called and confirmed that the tripple slide does NOT have OTR, because of weight. I was told they have 8 batteries and 4 inverters, which will run all 4 cruise airs, plus an evaporator in the compartment under the driver seat to cool the cockpit area, and that it does a good job. Personally, I would rather have the OTR than an extra bedroom slide. I really enjoy the OTR when travelling in hot weather.

[Jerry Winchester]

It's good Liberty had really cleaned up their interior and had opted for more subtle artistic features.

I know Jon has this pattern cut into his window shades so it creates the same late afternoon mosaic on his carpet.

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It really works with the casino chic motif.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

JDUB, Has it ever occurred to you that some of us want coaches that look like bordellos and have a little decorative flair, than rather austere coaches that have the ambiance of a prison cafeteria?

Ed, Undoubtedly eliminating the OTR, and then explaining it by saying it saves weight seems just a little questionable. But what do I know. The four extra batteries are gong to weigh around 640 pounds. I would guess two more inverters are going add another 80, and with the heavy copper cables I would guess 20 more. If I were to guess the Prevost OTR system components would not weigh much more if at all.

But....I can understand why OTR doesn't make sense. All of our OTR air flow in a conversion has to be balanced and directed properly to avoid hot and cold spots. Typically it is ducted to flow up across the windows, and is vented in various places across the front for the driver and passenger. If 3/4 of the coach is taken up with slides and ducting cannot be feasible for OTR in the slide areas it just about limits OTR as being practical unless it is ducted up and across the ceiling, something that may bring about other issues.

I just hope the AC units are not Cruise Airs because their performance when sucking heated air from the road surface is just plain lousy.

But to run four AC units from inverters raises another concern. At 24 volts each AC unit will pull around 65 amps. The total is 260 amps if all four are running. So going down the road it is likely that with other loads the house batteries will actually be discharging assuming the bus has a 270 amp alternator. If it has dual alternators that issue goes away, but then the weight argument about OTR looms again. Those big alternators are about 120 pounds.

With three and possibly four slides the converters, all of them, not just Liberty have some serious design challenges, weight being the first consideration, but having appropriate systems to replace OTR certainly comes into play. As floor space increases so does the number of AC units really needed to handle the loads.

[GDeen]

JDUB, Has it ever occurred to you that some of us want coaches that look like bordellos and have a little decorative flair, than rather austere coaches that have the ambiance of a prison cafeteria?

Ed, Undoubtedly eliminating the OTR, and then explaining it by saying it saves weight seems just a little questionable. But what do I know. The four extra batteries are gong to weigh around 640 pounds. I would guess two more inverters are going add another 80, and with the heavy copper cables I would guess 20 more. If I were to guess the Prevost OTR system components would not weigh much more if at all.

But....I can understand why OTR doesn't make sense. All of our OTR air flow in a conversion has to be balanced and directed properly to avoid hot and cold spots. Typically it is ducted to flow up across the windows, and is vented in various places across the front for the driver and passenger. If 3/4 of the coach is taken up with slides and ducting cannot be feasible for OTR in the slide areas it just about limits OTR as being practical unless it is ducted up and across the ceiling, something that may bring about other issues.

I just hope the AC units are not Cruise Airs because their performance when sucking heated air from the road surface is just plain lousy.

But to run four AC units from inverters raises another concern. At 24 volts each AC unit will pull around 65 amps. The total is 260 amps if all four are running. So going down the road it is likely that with other loads the house batteries will actually be discharging assuming the bus has a 270 amp alternator. If it has dual alternators that issue goes away, but then the weight argument about OTR looms again. Those big alternators are about 120 pounds.

With three and possibly four slides the converters, all of them, not just Liberty have some serious design challenges, weight being the first consideration, but having appropriate systems to replace OTR certainly comes into play. As floor space increases so does the number of AC units really needed to handle the loads.

Makes me proud to own a simple no slide OTR equipped prison bus.....

[tdelorme]

"Makes me proud to own a simple no slide OTR equipped prison bus....."

Yea, and I'm happy (for now) with the bordello equiped with OTR Air.

Buy the way, do all the prison buses have the mood lights that change colors like JDUB's does? I've heard that the Chicken Ranch has that same lighting. I guess I should check with Loc to confirm.

[edsaylor]

Jon: I thought that the extra batteries and inverters would weigh something close to OTR, but did not want to dispute what I was being told. I have to admit that I really like the double slide Prevost with a King size bed and the extra room in the living/dining area and the bedroom for moving around. I think added slides are pretty much a waste as all you gain is a little more walk room. No extra room for more furniture. Also, a slide over the outside entertainment center looks like a real pain to me. I guess different likes and opinions are important. Thats why they build conversions without OTR and with plastic shields!!!

[GDeen]

"Makes me proud to own a simple no slide OTR equipped prison bus....."

Yea, and I'm happy (for now) with the bordello equiped with OTR Air.

Buy the way, do all the prison buses have the mood lights that change colors like JDUB's does? I've heard that the Chicken Ranch has that same lighting. I guess I should check with Loc to confirm.

My prison bus does indeed have the ceiling mood lights - I didn't show you that? My right brain musta still been overloaded from my tour of your new Liberty Chez Paree.


When are you and Jan going to stop through Austin so I can return the favor of a great meal??

[Coloradobus]

Per the specs on our coach;

Standard 40ft shell.................................24,610lbs
Std.shell w/90 gal aux tank......................25,427lbs
Std shell w/OTR no aux tank....................25,345lbs
Std shell w/OTR+90gal aux tank...............26,162lbs

Our 6 soon to have Lifeline 8D's weigh in at 972lbs
OTR doesn't seem weigh as much as other items added, but it may be enough to tilt the scale beyond GVWR on a new coach. Some newer Marathons have NO washer/dryer stack.

[nrhareiner]

Jon,

As you say each of the AC units would pull 65 amps, then if you ran all four when bus needed to charge chassis batteries, that would be very hard on the alternator. This would be especially true without dual alternators. I could see problems with the alternators, or batteries.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

I don't have any information about the Liberty and was just doing a brain dump. I am glad to see COBus has confirmed the OTR and the addition of 4 batteries and 2 inverters weight about the same so my theory wasn't too far off.

The big alternator will indeed be putting out max amperage if it is not supplemented with a second alternator to help with the heavy lifting, and that is going to really generate some heat. I presume the oil cooling will be adequate, but nevertheless anytime someting is worked to 100% of its capability its life is going to be compromised.

Most of the time I doubt if 4 AC units will be run, but still even if 2 or three are being run 50% or more of the alternator capacity is going to be dedicated just to AC units and it ignores other load such as the refrigerator. That is a case where it makes a whole lot of sense to just fire up the generator. At that point nothing on the coach is being pushed anywhere near the limits.

At some point I would like to see the specs on the coach. Knowing Liberty I highly doubt if they would push the limits like that.