Suggestion for a battery tender

[Sebulba]

Charge the batteries to full charge disconnet the cable and you will fine for 4 months with no draw from the batteries, I am not a big fan of battery maintainers on lead acid batteries all they do is keep the voltage up .I replaced a NAPA G-27 battery the green lights said it was ok lol it wouldn't even start a lawn mower if you tried much less the generator

Thanks, I thought ofusing the disconnect switch.  Essentially the same as disconnecting the batteries, I think.  When I have used that in the past, the DDEC seemed to not start.  What I mean is the display is dead and I don't have turn signals and some other things didn't work until I started the bus again.

I attributed this behavior to disconnecting the battery.  So, am trying not to do that any more than needed.

My diagnosis may be faulty, but that's what I came up with.

Input?

Seb

[luvrbus]

The DDEC has a tiny draw even with the disconnet off.the DDEC has it's own battery also,I disconnet all the cable then when ready hook those back and fire it off after months of setting   

[Sebulba]

The DDEC has a tiny draw even with the disconnet off.the DDEC has it's own battery also,I disconnet all the cable then when ready hook those back and fire it off after months of setting

OK, interesting. 

I wonder why the DDEC had problems after battery disconnect?  Could the DDEC battery be bad?

I can clarify why I was disconnecting the battery.  When we bought the bus a month ago it came with no locks or keys, so when we stopped at a store or left the bus for some reason I would use the battery shut off as a theft deterrent.  Since then I have gotten door locks and keys, so am no longer doing that. 

Since not using the battery disconnect, the DDEC always works.  It seems that there was a connection between using the shutoff and the DDEC not functioning.

Another thought.  I would turn the battery disconnect switch on and then start the bus like a minute or 2 later.  Could it be that I should have waited longer after turning the switch on to allow for boot up?

Thoughts?

Thanks

Seb   

[Jim Blackwood]

Seb, your bus will have a bypass of the main disconnect that powers the Vanner for battery equalization. Check it by looking for a tiny spark when the battery cables are reconnected. To disconnect entirely you need to pull both the B+ and B- cables (the short bridge cable can stay)

I have yet to decode the complete functions of the Vanner but apparently MCI felt it was required.

Jim

[luvrbus]

Disconnet the bridge cables too it seems to work better  than leaving 2 batteries tied together

[sledhead]

I put a latching relay switch on the 24v side and nothing would go through
( total disconect ) and never had a problem with the DDEC or the vanner having no power when the disconect was used
I did the same thing for the house side as well

on the MCI

dave