Installing New House Batteries

[DKO]

​I have purchased eight new 4D AGM batteries for my bus. Mine are way passed replacement time. I wish I knew more than I know about this but several of you here and on other forums have helped me so much. I hope to know and understand quite a bit more after these batteries are installed. They were delivered this morning so the time has come.

I am planning to tackle the job one morning this week. I am near Miami, Oklahoma and the temps are supposed to be very high most of the week​ but it would be very difficult to carry the extra batteries around so I will probably wade in about Wednesday morning.

Any tips or things I need to know or do during this change?

I will take lots of pictures and draw a good diagram before hand. Everything is labeled from the last battery change (before I owned it) but I will double check each label​.

It is a Vantare conversion and it has an inverter bypass switch for each inverter.



I know that when it is switched to Utility it does Not charge the batteries at all. If I do that, is that all I need to do? Should I disconnect from shore power too? I do not think it is necessary but I certainly am not an expert. I would like to leave the shore power on with the air running in the 100 degree heat but if I need to shut it all down I will.


Access to the batteries is behind this wall in my first bay. They are surrounded in the second bay  by my mid-door steps, aquahot and inverters. They can not be accessed any other way but here.

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Here are six of them...

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​According to the records from the last battery change this X brace removes. It has a bolt at all four positions so I assume that is a straight forward task.

These six look like removing and replacing them will require some muscle but it is doable. It is the final two that have me puzzled. They are located down low a few inches to the right of the bottom right battery. There are wires and hoses between the battery rack that holds the six and the two other batterties. I do not have a clue how I will lift those out.

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The wall in front of them comes off but it has bracing the does not remove and it has a wall on the other side with something mounted up high on it. That wall can not be removed. You can see the carpeted edge of that interior wall.​

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Here is a picture from Bay 2 on the other side of those two batteries. They are right on the other side of the inverter and that gray wall. The aquahot is just to the right in this picture.

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​Any ideas or suggestions will be appreciated.

Thank you and God bless,

DKO​

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[Sean]

...
I know that when it is switched to Utility it does Not charge the batteries at all. If I do that, is that all I need to do? Should I disconnect from shore power too?

Without seeing how they wired the bypass, it is impossible to say for certain.  That said, if you measure the voltage at the AC input to the inverter with the switch in the bypass position and it shows zero, you should be fine.

...
These six look like removing and replacing them will require some muscle but it is doable.

I recommend you get a small automotive floor jack if you don't already have one.  It will really help to get the upper ones into the tray.

It is the final two that have me puzzled. They are located down low a few inches to the right of the bottom right battery. There are wires and hoses between the battery rack that holds the six and the two other batterties. I do not have a clue how I will lift those out.

Most likely, once you remove the ones right in front of you, the other two will slide over on the rack.  It will require some muscle or some creative levering.

Midway down this page:
http://digitalmastery.com/a-whirlwind-week-of-bus-work-and-workshop-travel/
is a video of me replacing the 8D batteries in a Liberty conversion, which has a very similar battery arrangement to the Vantare.  You can see here how the floor jack comes in handy, and how levering the batteries with a small pry bar helps.

That blog, BTW, belongs to our good friends Ben and Karen who live in their Liberty Prevost, at the moment, but are converting a vintage Flxible.  Karen shot the video while Ben and I were crammed in the bay doing the swap.  She kindly edited out my colorful language

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[Sean]

Duplicate post due to network error.  Removed.  --Sean

[DKO]

Thanks, Sean. I respect your advice greatly. I hope you are right about the two batteries to the right. They look impossible to remove to be honest but I know they will come out.

DKO

[DKO]

I won't do it this time but when the next battery change comes around 5 years or so from now I hope to know enough about this to simplify this system. I never dry camp so all I need inverters for is to keep the fridge and a few electrical outlets for computers and chargers while moving down the road. Seems to me I ought to be able to go down to a lot less batteries and maybe even one inverter. I know there is resale to think about but I am planning on keeping this bus long term.

DKO

[DKO]

I have decided on the advice of many folks that it is best to unhook everything while making the battery change because of the way Vantare wires everything. I am very apprehensive about reprogramming the inverters but I am trying to learn all that I can.

Any help is appreciated...

DKO

[Sean]

... I am very apprehensive about reprogramming the inverters but I am trying to learn all that I can.
...

The inverters will lose their settings when the DC side is disconnected, which you need to do to replace batteries no matter what.  That has nothing at all to do with the AC bypass.

Scroll through every setting menu before you start and write down all the existing settings.  Then just put them all back to those values when you are done.  You may need to adjust the battery charging settings when you replace the batteries anyway -- use the settings recommended by the manufacturer of your new batteries.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[DKO]

I was outside at 5:30 Wednesday morning preparing to change the eight 4D batteries in the BoggsMobile. I turned all the power off at 6:05 and climbed in and set to work. At 11:20 I turned all the power back on and nothing has exploded yet...

Another Vantare owner on the Prevost forum really went out of his way to help me understand and program the inverters. That was a huge help. The tip from Sean about using a floor jack was priceless. Thank you, Sean.

I had about 2 hours in prep work the other day removing panels, brackets, hold downs and gathering and taping tools. I worked 5 hours and 15 minutes today and I had two young men that worked a total of 30 minutes each helping me man handle the batteries. That is a total of about 8 hours and 15 minutes and I worked about one hour Thursday to button everything back up. It was 96 degrees at noon on Wednesday so I decided I would finish in the cool of the next morning.

When these were replaced by professionals in 2002 the previous owners were billed for nine hours. I will be right there at nine and I am certainly NOT a professional. Before I started looking at this job closely I thought they might have padded their hours just a tad but I understand all the effort and time a lot better now.

Vantare certainly did not do me any favors in the way these are installed but this coach has a mid door so that made it pretty difficult to do any better. I can not see any other place for eight batteries.

Here are some pictures....

Before




Six of the batteries go in this rack...


The old batteries out




Using the jack to install the top row..


Finished

[David Anderson]

That is one monster battery bank you have there   Good thing you only have to do this about every 5/6 years.

David