Remote battery disconnect

[windtrader]

Well, so much fiddling getting the electrical on the bus finally took a toll on the battery bay door rubber. Got me thinking about a remote switch for the main and house battery disconnects. Looks like what is best is a latching relay which is only powered to make the connect/disconnect. Intellitec seems to pretty common but not much on the topic via searching the archives here.

https://www.intellitec.com/assets/pdf/53-00004-000.pdf The 24v 200 amp model handles 1200 amps for starting so it has the right specs but at over 200 bucks seems a bit pricy.

How do you folks have this feature installed?

[eagle19952]

maybe a 1/2 inch combination wrench ?

in 14 years owning my bus i have never touched my battery disconnect.

[windtrader]

Eagle, just to be clear, the disconnects I am referring to are usually used every time the coach is going to sit for more than a day or two. It seems most busnuts use them often to ensure the start batteries do not suffer any drain while parked.

[RJ]

Don -

You can get replacement battery bay door hinge from Luke at US Coach: 1-888-262-2434  Please let him know that I referred you.

I rarely shut off the battery mains, but I used to all the time when it was parked at a storage facility.  Now that it's in my driveway, I don't, primarily because I'm in/out often.  Obviously I shut it down when working on the electrical systems. . .

FWIW & HTH. . .

[eagle19952]

Don -

 Obviously I shut it down when working on the electrical systems. . .

FWIW & HTH. . .

same here.
sorry, but i would be finding why my batteries drained..
that's like saying i have a standby gen set to power a hospital in an emergency ...
but wait...we need to send somebody to switch the disconnects back on...
oh wait, where the heck is this generator...uhm...
i thought you knew...
where is the on call maintenance guy...
why does this crap always happen on New Years Eve...
oh crap the breathing machines aren't working...
now look at the mess we're in...

standby fire suppression sprinkler pumps use 8V92'S IN HUGE 10-100 story buildings...same deal....

[windtrader]

Maybe I have my thinking backwards. Since I have no trickle charger or solar panel installed yet, I'm worried about drawing down the mains while parked/stored. Where it is stored now has no shore power so no way to use a trickle charger. For the price of that disconnect I can install a small solar panel to keep everything topped off. Much better solution. Thank you for your comments. Don

[Jon]

An aspirin for a brain tumor.

If you need a disconnect to prevent unwanted battery draw that is where you should focus your attention. In 27 years I only use the disconnect when working on the electrical system or changing batteries. I can go months without needing a recharge.

[Jim Eh.]

I suffer the same issue Don. My bus is not trip ready so it does nothing but sit. Even when I would bring it into the shop to work on it the batteries would go down to the point the bus would not start after sitting for 4 days+. If I left the I accidentally Vanner on it was more like two days. I know there should be reserve power for the DDEC controller so I was worried about the batteries going dead all the time. In my case, I installed a battery maintainer and all is go as I have access to shore power during storage. I too am looking for a simple (read cheap) way to isolate my batteries in remote locations. Saying this I would utilize a smaller AGM (probably from a JetSki) to keep the ECM powered. My generator has it's own start battery but still would like to use start batteries on board. Plus it would be way easier on the chassis batteries than to have them go dead all the time. I have looked at the electrical draw issues but did not get very far to finding the culprit so I went this route.

[eagle19952]

it seems to me a $200.00 switch would be a further exasperation/potential for more dilemma than solution, which would bring me back to my 1/2 inch wrench until i solved the cause/problem.

good luck.

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Hi Guy's,

I often wanted to fabricate a rod that attaches to the disconnect lever in the start battery bay and travels up through the floor of my bus that I can push or pull to turn off/on the starts from inside the bus.
Someday I will get a roundtoit...

Nick-

[TomC]

Neither my bus or truck has battery disconnects

[windtrader]

You can get replacement battery bay door hinge from Luke at US Coach: 1-888-262-2434  Please let him know that I referred you.

Russ,
On the MCI battery door, can the rubber hinge be replaced without removing the coach side rubber retainer strip? It has a lot of screws holding it in place and naturally they are pretty stuck. I'm hoping there might be a way to get the old one out and lube up and slide in the replacement.

Found this video showing the procedure. Looks fairly simple. lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cpe4duFqPu8

[chessie4905]

Battery chargers connected but not turned on can/ will cause a drain.

[HB of CJ]

Back in about 1972 or before the dawn of time all the fire apparatus with the mighty Bakersfield City Fire Department, (CA) had those black rounded click battery disconnect switches located just under the drivers seat to the left side by the door.

Took two clicks.  Click.  Click.  The master mechanic told us that they were installed because of all the phantom loads placed on the two big 8D batteries.  More electrical stuff was constantly added.  All sorts of stuff.  The switches solved problems.

[Jim Eh.]

I picked up one of those disconnects but I thought I read in a somewhat recent post that a proper sequence to disconnecting the batteries needed to be followed or damage to the Vanner would result? Is this true/correct? It made me a bit gun shy to install it.