Battery Basics ??

[phorner]

I agree. It doesn't make sense to provide a battery disconnect to preserve the batteries and then wire something directly to them.... unless it's a battery charger.

[garyde]

Here is what I know. The two yellow wires and their companion black wires, from the battery, come up to two insulated threaded posts on the side wall above the batteries below the voltage regulator. They land on these posts and smaller yellow wires(2) & 2 black wires, leave from these posts and go somewhere.
The battery charger has a red circuit breaker the wires pass thru before landing on the battery.
I will have to check my schematics and do some more investigating.

[phorner]

Thanks for tracking those wires down. After talking to Liberty, they confirmed that there were extra yellow wires, but would need to see the coach to determine exactly how mine is set up.

They also confirmed that they install battery chargers to address this problem.

I have made an appointment to have mine checked out. And I'm waiting for my new battery charger to arrive.

I'll keep ya posted....

[hhoppe]

Paul: I have real good luck with DELTRAN Battery Tenders I use a single 24V Battery Tender on my Chassis Battery's. I use a 12V BT on my house battery's. They come on at a certain discharge point, charge to full charge and shut off. They work well when all my inverters and disconnect switches are shut off and the bus is in storage. If you are parked and want to maintain the charge in chassis batteries the 24V BT will do the trick. They should overcome your small discharge problem from those tramp yellow wires you have.
Be sure and use your tester to find the correct two posts in combination that are 24V in your four 12V battery group.

http://batterytender.com/advanced_se...24V+&x=16&y=15

[phorner]

Thanks, Harry. Since we live in the coach full-time, we never have it in "storage" mode.

However, I do want to keep the chassis batteries up, just in case we have a sudden urge for a new neighborhood once in a while!

Shouldn't be a problem when we're travelling, since the bus will be running every week or so. But every once in a while, we settle in for a month or more. Especially here in Florida for the winter months, where we don't actually have a winter......

[Gary & Peggy Stevens]

Paul: I have real good luck with DELTRAN Battery Tenders I use a single 24V Battery Tender on my Chassis Battery's.
http://batterytender.com/advanced_se...24V+&x=16&y=15

Harry I looked at the Deltran Battery tender that you use, and Noticed this: "DO NOT USE WITH AVIATION OR TRUE GEL BATTERIES".

I assume you don't have the newer GEL Batteries in your new Liberty? Just thought I would bring it to your attention.

Gary S.

[phorner]

Well, my battery charger has arrived and I'm looking forward to installing it. But, that will have to wait 'till after Thanksgiving, 'cause I got a whole lotta eatin' planned!

Now that I have this wonderful new accessory to help me subsidize Florida Power and Light to an even greater degree, any tips regarding installation?

I know, I could ask Lew to hold the red wire in one hand and the black in the other to make sure I'm getting voltage from the charger, but I'm afraid that he would have to interrupt his tending of his new sod farm.

I simply attach to the (correct) 2 batteries and plug it in?

[truk4u]

Paul,

The hook up is not as simple as you think! You end up with a floating ground in order to get 24v. I made a drawing that I can send you, providing your battery set up is similar to mine.

You can use the sample drawing that came with the Guest, but you are dealing with parallel/series, not just a simple series hook up between 2 batteries as they illustrate.

If you want help, let me know.

[phorner]

I would greatly appreciate any help that's offered! The last thing that I want to do is create an electrical fire hazard or destroy a battery or two.

I'm not sure if our busses are all configured the same or not, but since the chassis batteries are part of the shell, hopefully they are, at least in the same model years...

A diagram would be great!

[truk4u]

Paul,

Better yet, we're heading to Port St Lucie from the Keys this weekend, are you there now?