Isolation, Charging and Inverting....

[Dieselbird01]

Originally Posted by AvianMan

Snip:

[*]When I bought the bus, the PO said he wasn't sure if the inverter worked or not, or how to tell. There is a power button on the overhead area right behind the driver, but it always appears to be off. When the engine was running recently, I discovered that the light was illuminated on that panel, indicating that the inverter was operating. When I turned off the engine, the light went off on the inverter.

It appears that some FC's have an "Inverter Relay" in the overhead front load center that can optionally be wired to pick up only when the ignition is on or can be wired to pick up whenever the 12-volt master is on.

If your coach has that relay, it looks pretty simple to rewire the relay so that the inverter can be used without having to have the engine running.

It seems backwards that someone decided to use 4 batteries for cranking the engine and just 2 batteries for coach power but maybe there's a good reason?

Also, if you have an icemaker, it's most likely supposed to be able to run off the inverter when generator/shore power isn't available.

Here's an example of how to rewire the inverter relay on an 87 FC (see the dashed line):

[AvianMan]

Originally Posted by Randy Dupree

If it works why throw it away?
Its not the latest and greatest,but your coach is an oldie too.

Very true....and one can really begin to get deep into the wallet if replacing things that work!

However, I do need to verify that it works....so far I know that it powers the light in the power button.... I'd also like to run some lower wattage items without running the generator. This doesn't seem to operate like that

[AvianMan]

From reading the manual, it looks like Blue Bird intended to have 4 start batteries and 2 house batteries (and not all FC's had the two additional house batteries). Of course, if they were linked together I suppose it wouldn't matter where the 4 resided or where the 2 resided.

Thanks for the insight on rewiring the relay. I will take a look at my manual and see if I have a similar relay in my 86.

What I would really like to do is find a good point to test the inverter to see if it is putting out anything at all.

Originally Posted by Dieselbird01

It appears that some FC's have an "Inverter Relay" in the overhead front load center that can optionally be wired to pick up only when the ignition is on or can be wired to pick up whenever the 12-volt master is on.

If your coach has that relay, it looks pretty simple to rewire the relay so that the inverter can be used without having to have the engine running.

It seems backwards that someone decided to use 4 batteries for cranking the engine and just 2 batteries for coach power but maybe there's a good reason?

Also, if you have an icemaker, it's most likely supposed to be able to run off the inverter when generator/shore power isn't available.

Here's an example of how to rewire the inverter relay on an 87 FC (see the dashed line):

[Dieselbird01]

Originally Posted by AvianMan

From reading the manual, it looks like Blue Bird intended to have 4 start batteries and 2 house batteries (and not all FC's had the two additional house batteries). Of course, if they were linked together I suppose it wouldn't matter where the 4 resided or where the 2 resided.

Thanks for the insight on rewiring the relay. I will take a look at my manual and see if I have a similar relay in my 86.

What I would really like to do is find a good point to test the inverter to see if it is putting out anything at all.

I could be wrong, but I don't think 86 FC's came from the factory with split battery systems - I think all the batteries were used as coach/engine batteries whether you had 4 or 6 of them. Splitting them into 4 coach and 2 engine would seem to be a better choice to me.