Any recommended Competent Prevost service centers in Arizona?

[503rdPIR]

We are at Hoover Dam in Nevada and began having electrical problems in the coach. When we plug into shore power we do not have power in the coach and the inverters on the control panel show no voltage or amperage numbers. The only way we can get power is by starting the engine and letting it run. There is a switch(?) box in the first port bay that has the shore power breaker on it. I took the side cover off of the box and found 3 transfer(?) switches inside all of which had part numbers on them LC1 D5011. One of them would activate or "set" when the engine would start up but would "unset" when the engine was turned off. By letting the engine run for awhile with little load on the inside of the coach I was finally able to shut off the engine and have the switch which may be a transfer switch(?) to remain set and we have shore power to the coach. If I try to run the generator I get the same result as with the shore power hooked up without the engine running - no power to the coach and the power panel shows no volts or amps. Now that I finally have power the inverters show red light reading that do not fluctuate at all - .they just show voltage at a steady unwavering 26 volts and one has a steady unwavering amperage of 10 and the other at less than 5. I called Liberty(we have a 2001 XL II) and they suspected bad house batteries or inverters. Does anyone have any recommendations for a RV service center east of Las Vegas? Nothing is available in Vegas for 2 weeks at Johnny Walker and I cringe at the idea of fighting that CA traffic toget to the Prevost center in Torrance and we are heading east anyway. Any thoughts on a service center would be greatly appreciated. THanks in advance for any suggestions.

[Gil_J]

It sounds like your coach does not have inverter by-pass switches. If it does, you should be able to use them.

If your house battery voltage is too low your inverters will not power up. Your symptoms suggest thids may be your problem. By starting your engine you are able to get enough charge on the batteried for the inverter/chargers to pass AC power. Where your inverters dead before starting the engine? If they were, where you dry camping and running on your inverters? What error are your inverters reporting?

If you need batteries you shouldn't have too much trouble finding a good RV shop or renewable energy shop that can replace your batteries. I would also think WW Williams in Vegas could do the job. In a quick Google search, I'd call this shop. They say they do battery exchange and inverter work.

http://www.happyhalsmobilerv.com/services/

[503rdPIR]

Gil,
We were hooked up to shore power and everything was working in the coach and we woke up in the AM and the power was off. The transfer switch was clicking on and out b it would not set. Finally after pushing it in and holding it I got it to reset if that is the correct term. Everything was fine until we unhooked and travelled to the next RV park where we hooked up to shore power and had no power in the coach and no voltage or amp readings on the control panel in the coach as far as line voltage or load current. Pressing in on the transfer switch and holding it did not solve the problem, only starting the engine would cause the switch to function immediately and make power inside the coach available. But turning off the engine led to the switch opening and a loss of shore power. Only after letting the engine run for about 30 minutes were we able to shut the engine off and have the transfer switch remain closed and functional. I am totally clueless regarding the purpose and functionality of the switches in the "power" bay, but there is one 12 volt and two 24 volt switches in the second port bay. Are these the bypass switches that you mentioned and does turning them from on to off successfully bypass the batteries? Thank you for your thoughts. Also, when the engine was running the readouts or red lights associated with the inverters were fluctuating and changing values as far as D.C. Voltage and D.C. Amps were concerned and even flashing overload if that helps in identifying the problem.
Duh, I just checked the power bay and realized there are a total of 4 manual switches - one for 12 volt, one for 24 volt, and one switch for each of the inverters.

[Gil_J]

You need to determine what the house battery voltage is. To do this you will need to turn off both inverters, shore power, the generator, and the engine. Absent all charging and not allowing the inverters to drain the batteries, you will need to read the battery bank voltage. You can read the DC voltage at the inverter remotes or the DC cables attached to the inverters, if you have a voltmeter. You can also measure it at the equalizer or battery bank, if either are accessible.

Reading the voltage 30 minutes after shutting everything off should be enough time to read the voltage affects of a bad battery. You should expect a voltage of at least 25V.

I'm not sure what Liberty used those contactors (transfer switches) for. I suspect to prevent power to the coach until they check it. Liberty doesn't generally provide electrical drawings, so there's little chance you have drawings. I suspect the contactor energizing coil is 24V and your batteries are to blame.

If the DC voltage was well below 25V, you can try to eliminate a bad battery, if you can't get them replaced soon. Some battery installations are too hard to access to attempt to eliminate a bad battery, unless you really have to.

The DC switches have to stay on. The 24V house switches connect the batteries to the inverters. If there are no switches labeled inverter by-pass or similar, you don't have them.

You should turn down your inverter's charge current if you have a bad battery. This will help reduce the possibility of charger damage.

[Prodriver]

I used Paul in Las Vegas to fix my coach problems and it was all the Batteries were cooked. 702-303-5074 mobile RV repair

[Gil_J]

Great news! Back to enjoying your travels. You might want to make sure your chargers are properly configured.

[503rdPIR]

Thanks for all of the information and advice. We are in the process of installing new batteries and hope to be back on the road in a few days.

[Joe Camper]

Very interesting thread. Never thought a failure like that would or could sneek up that quickly. Or maybe it diddn't.

Looking back was the meters showing oddly leading up? The chargers running gradually harder.

Next time u might catch it earlier.

It gave u the emotional roller coaster ride. U went from wonderful to very in doubt to happy again in real short order and that's always good. How many batteries does yours have?

[503rdPIR]

Our coach has a total of 4 house batteries - they are SLIA8Ds and the mobile RV guy I was dealing with either ordered or received the wrong batteries so we are stuck in Las Vegas and awaiting a fix and I am beginning to doubt the diagnosis as he told me the batteries would be in an installed no llater than today. I'm definitely questioning the competence of the first RV guy that I dealt with (happyhalsmobilerv.com). I have another fellow coming by tomorrow that is highly recommended by all who reside in this RV park to diagnose and hopefully correct the problem. The person's first name is Paul. maybe the same person previously mentioned in this thread.
I'm too inexperienced to have noticed any early symptoms of possible failure, but thanks Joe for the heads up on my need to learn how to pay attention to other things that may lead to pending failure of some system. I admit to being dumb as a rock and appreciate all pf the feedback.

[Gil_J]

So sorry to hear you are still having problems. Changing batteries is one of the easier electrical fixes we have. Too bad to hear the first mobile RV guy couldn't help. I doubt many stock 8D Lifelines given their costs and buyer's demands for fresh dates. The furthest they would have shipped from is CA.