Starter battery ?

bevans6 · July 15, 2014, 02:22:12 PM

My generator (Yamaha 3000 watt inverter) is in the front half of the AC condenser bay, and the four 6 volt golf cart batteries are where the AC condenser fan used to be (cut out the fan housing and installed a floor). Lots of ventilation. Directly rear of that I built a wall along the length of the first luggage bay to section off about 2 feet along the drivers side. On the front wall of the bay is an automatic transfer switch to switch between external power and generator power, and the external Marinco plug is on the outside of the bus right there. Mounted to the new plywood internal wall is the battery A/B combiner switch, the Magnum inverter, the inverter AC distribution panel and the big DC fuse, and the Vanner battery equalizer. I run a 24 volt house system for the inverter and use the Vanner to equalize for the 12 volt house loads. The battery combiner switch lets me bridge the house batteries to the start batteries and the alternator. Up inside the bus is the non-inverter AC distribution panel ( used to be a DC converter/charger but I took the charger section out and just use it as a distribution point now) and the DC distribution for the house, along with the Magnum control panel. I use home-run wiring for all the house DC, with the fuse section from the old converter and a ground bus bar. Works great, if I do say so myself!

Brian

lostagain · July 15, 2014, 03:03:47 PM

Dave, my 4 golf cart batts are on a tray in the pass side rear corner of the engine compartment. The inverter is at the rear pass side of the rear cargo bay. My 2 group 31 start batts are in the original start batt compartment. The generator is on the driver's side of the rear bay.

JC

thomasinnv · July 15, 2014, 05:40:58 PM

The problem I see with connecting two chargers together to get the higher output voltage is that if one of the batteries is discharged more than another, the batteries will never get equal charging. The lower battery might never get fully charged or the other batteries might get over charged. If nothing is being tapped off of the middle of the bank it might never be an issue, but if a center tap is being used it could definitely be an issue. Also if one battery failed you could potentially damage the rest of the bank.

JMW and to each his own.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Dave5Cs · July 15, 2014, 07:14:24 PM

Brian thanks, you gave me some good ideas. I put in a plywood wall also 18 inches in but I use it for the generator battery, transfer switch, and storage for extra Delo 100, filters a few air bags, grease etc. But i could move that back to the passenger side rear engine compartment although then I would have to put a lock on all rear and rear side doors, lol
I could put the Batteries in there and maybe the inverter would fit in its own compartment there also.

JC, thank you also, but my generator is staying where it is only because it is pretty big 15KW 3 cylinder Kohler and would not fit back there. I would have to build a platform over the muffler which is there as well, air filters, big transmission filter and the inverter would still be to far away from batteries.
for a 4024 the loss in power would be extreme. The engine heat is probably not real good for it either from what the manual says.

Derrick that is a good point and until I have the inverter hooked up with the vanner in the loop I will keep the two sets of 2 6volts un linked and charging with 2 charger maintainers, because I do have a 12 volt tap coming off 2 of them and the whole bank is 24 volt.

Thanks Guys Dave

bevans6 · July 16, 2014, 07:08:55 AM

Derrick you are absolutely correct, but it's no different than my Magnum charging four six volt batteries in series at 24 volts. You always have that issue, even a normal 12 volt battery has it since it is nothing but six two volt batteries in series. The way I did it by leaving the cable connecting the two batteries in place I am basically using each charger to charge one battery, so I get the same result you do. I don't know a way around the batteries in series issue, if one is weak or loses a cell it is a problem. I lost a cell in one of my start batteries on my last trip, had to run 1600 km before I got to a place where I could swap out the batteries. Nothing to do when that happens, I just disconnected the starts and ran everything off the house batteries for a day and a half. Which is a great advertisement for a 24 volt house bank, I happen to think!

Brian

Dave5Cs · July 16, 2014, 07:14:32 AM

If the battery switch is turned off how often do you guys charge your start bats if the coach is parked for awhile?

Dave

lvmci · July 16, 2014, 07:20:37 AM

Hi Dave, typically the battery maintainers will top off the charge and then start up again after a 1 volt drop, lvmci

Dave5Cs · July 16, 2014, 07:25:28 AM

I have the bus converter that I have to turn on. I have maintainers on the house only. In the past I was turning them on once a week and it seemed to keep them up and don't know how old they were when we bought the bus. We have had it for about 3 years and then last weekend they were done. Now with new ones I just shut off the batteries when not using the bus and check them every few days.

Dave

Oonrahnjay · July 16, 2014, 07:32:10 AM

Quote from: Dave5Cs on July 16, 2014, 07:14:32 AMIf the battery switch is turned off how often do you guys charge your start bats if the coach is parked for awhile? Dave

If you're plugged in (shore power), you can just plug your maintainer(s) into a house 120 socket. Or, if you're running the gennie or charging off solar for hot water, house battery charging, etc. ditto.

Dave5Cs · July 16, 2014, 07:37:55 AM

OK let me splain again Lucy!....

I don't have a maintainer on the start bats. I have a converter that came with the bus and is the big box in the bay. I have a switch in the bus that says coach Batteries on the switch panel. Every week I turn that on to give a sprits to them for a few hours and then off for another week. We are plugged into the house when parked.
I will check into a couple more maintainers i guess.

bevans6 · July 16, 2014, 07:54:33 AM

Charging for a few hours a week is just fine, no issues with that. Maintainers are just a bit more automatic.

Brian

Oonrahnjay · July 16, 2014, 10:17:36 AM

Quote from: bevans6 on July 16, 2014, 07:54:33 AMCharging for a few hours a week is just fine, no issues with that. Maintainers are just a bit more automatic. Brian

I only put my "maintainers" (Stanley "smart chargers") physically on the batteries when I'm doing a checkup charge. If I park the bus, turn off the master switch, and put the little chargers on each battery after the bus has sat for 2-3-4 weeks, they'll usually go to "float charging" in 8-12 minutes. Then I unplug them, take them off the start batteries, and put them away (and generally use them for other things from time to time).

Dave, I don't know exactly how you connect your batteries together (if I understand it right, you let the two banks equalize a charge). I don't know enough to know exactly how that balances the start batteries to get exactly right up to 100% charge, but if it works, it works (and I'm happy with anything that works!)