So, it was one of those days…
Last Wednesday, while heading north and dodging tornadoes and rough weather along I-95, I started up the bus to leave the rest area (where we were keeping an eye on the radar to decide whether to stay or go). Suddenly, my inverter panels began flashing an “overcharging” warning. For those who haven’t experienced this, when this happens, the inverters shut down.
No fridge.
No lights.
No TOILET!
Nothing at all.
I told the better half, “Don’t worry, dear, I’ll just disconnect the problematic alternator (we have a separate 12-volt alternator for the house batteries) and fire up the generator to turn on the battery chargers. We always have a backup plan.”
After disconnecting the alternator (which, by the way, is new, but that’s another story), off we went down the highway.
Until I glanced at the generator panel and saw it running hot… not what I wanted to see.
So, I shut down the generator to avoid a major, potentially costly problem.
And guess what?
Now I had NO WAY TO CHARGE THE HOUSE BATTERIES!
My brand-new Lifeline batteries were at risk of being fully depleted if I left the inverters on while driving. I definitely didn’t want to drain my BRAND NEW batteries. So, I turned off the inverters to save them from an early death.
So, back to:
No fridge
No lights
NO TOILET… unless I used the inverters very sparingly. And without being plugged in, no way to charge the house batteries.
Did I mention I was trying to figure all this out in a parking lot?
We eventually found a destination with 50 amp service, and everything was okay in the end.
The overheating issue turned out to be a non-working blower for the remote radiator. At least that was an easy fix.
I checked the breaker on top of the Kohler generator… but it wasn’t tripped.
I figured it had to be a broken belt… and accessing it is a bit of a chore. I had to empty the bay, remove the shelving, take off the access panel behind the radiator, and… the belt was fine. Not good. So, was it the motor or something else?
A quick check for voltage at the motor showed nada… no power getting to the motor. Bad breaker?
I called Liberty Coach and discussed the issue with Bill Dougherty. He knew my bus as if it were just built.
Bill patiently walked me through some diagnostics related to the Liberty battery WatchDog system. By-passing the system made the blower work. Bill also had me jumper a couple of terminals inside the WatchDog control box, and sure enough, the blower worked. It turned out the problem was a poor or corroded connection between the ribbon wire connector and the battery WatchDog control box.
Once reconnected and reset, the system was fully operational again. I took the opportunity to replace the blower motor belt while everything was exposed—it was the easiest time to do it.
A big THANK YOU to Bill Dougherty of Liberty Coach – Chicago for guiding me through the diagnostics with such patience. I learned a lot in the process!
So, the lesson here is that on a Liberty conversion, the battery WatchDog system is complex and may control aspects of generator operation that aren’t immediately obvious. I wouldn’t have guessed that the radiator blower is controlled by that system. I thought it was powered directly from the generator through the generator-mounted circuit breaker.
Now, onto tackling that alternator…
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