Generator start battery

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Oh no Tom, not near complicated enough for the big stainless bus.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

I believe Ken has it right. Rather than make it complicated just hook it up the way the old one was. K I S S.

Tom is clearly exhibiting a little envy. And Mel nailed him. I love it.

[truk4u]

Yes Mel, just set inside and wait for your auto poop extractor to quit working, then you can go out in the rain and spend the next 2 days trying to figure out how to relieve the Bling Mobile of mass quantities of Jdub's favorite liquid!

Pulling those levers (that always work if maintained) is such a degrading, time consuming, difficult process that taxes the muscles in your arms and back!

[jelmore]

All done here. You all go ahead and chat.

With the new isolator in, batteries and inverters on, shore power off, +12V side reads 12.6V and the generator battery side reads 12.3V. Vanner says they expect a .5V drop.

With shore power on and the chargers at the beginning of their cycle, the +12V side reads 14.2V and the other side is 13.9V.

Jon, like you said, all the power sources are connected on a Liberty.

Excellent. Thanks all. (Harry, glad this happened to you!)

[hhoppe]

Jim; When I returned from the POG rally in Spearfish we spent a night in Sparks Marina RV park in Reno. They were having a Bus and Bikers rally there. The big Liberty semi truck and Troy Moody and some other Liberty techs. were there. Upon inspection of my bus they saw I had put a battery switch ahead of my generator battery. I explained I did not want the " Watchdog " system starting my generator while the bus was in indoor storage. They said I could unplug the group of wires below the watchdog control box while in storage. That allows the generator battery to be charged while in storage along with the other house batteries. They had a Solenoid Water Valve on hand to make a replcement I needed and helped with some other items needing repair. I told them we better see that big repair truck and crew at our Oklahoma Rally next October. Us Liberty owners need to keep the pressure on them to do it. Skiff and Jon are you reading this. The Bus n Bikers group had quite a few newer busses. They looked like the high money boys with new toys. Glad you got your problem solved.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Harry,

While it is nice to have the repair truck, I am of the opinion that teaching the owners how to operate their Liberty would be significantly more important. I feel strongly that most owners do not know the operation of a lot of their systems, and as such often do not even know when something is wrong.

Before anyone can request service, they first have to know they have a problem and a lack of understanding of the coach often prevents that.

[jelmore]

Yep, unplug the Watchdog and all is manual, yet everything charges just fine. Our is working as it should on autostart and not. Or, just turn off the Auto Start in the electrical panel if you don't want it to automatically start.

Now, I just noticed another issue. I've got a call in to Tony at Liberty awaiting his response. I started the generator while dry camping and noticed that the house batteries, at the beginning of the inverter/charger cycle were NOT charging the house batteries at 14.5 volts as they should. I talked to Lifeline Batteries and they said that as soon as AC is supplied to the inverters, either as shore power or generator power, the normal 14.5 volts should show up for the first hour of charging (Freedom Combi 25 inverters). That is NOT happening, so I suspect a transfer switch failure. What I see with the generator running would be more like a smaller alternator charge. I don't really get it . . . yet.

Is this related? . . . a few moths ago, I started the generator while plugged into shore power (probably should not?). Everything seemed fine until I unplugged the shore power cord. It was an extension cord, not the cord reel. One of the plug prongs was fried. It didn't short and trip a breaker, it just burned and kind of melted. Maybe a transfer switch problem? I don't know, but I'm working on it.

I'll start a new thread when I learn something, for posterity.

[garyde]

Hi Harry. Did Liberty solve your inverter problem, or was it your alternator?
Also, did you find the controller for your bedroom blinds and have
you learned why they all 3 blew fuses at the same time?
Hi Jim. If you plug in a 30 amp cord or less to shore power, you have to turn off Inverter # 1 in your coach and monitor your loads to keep them below your cord size or c ircuit size at shore power.
Also, if you have new batteries, did the people who installed them check your inverter's charge settings? You may be on the wrong setting.

[jelmore]

Gary, that was a 50 amp cord. And, I'm the one in charge of those inverter settings! I'll reread the instructions and check them again. But it seems if the generator is supplying house power, then that power should also be running the chargers just as if the bus was on shore power. But, I don't know how Liberty has those things connected. I won't speculate.

[jelmore]

Hi Harry. Did Liberty solve your inverter problem, or was it your alternator?
Also, did you find the controller for your bedroom blinds and have
you learned why they all 3 blew fuses at the same time?

Harry -- I've been all through my blinds and know them well now, and the people that made them for Liberty. If you have any questions, I might have answers. If you have other solutions, let me know! Thanks.