| Author |
Message |
Nick Russell (66.82.9.35)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, November 01, 2003 - 2:30 pm: | |
We were leaving Elkhart, Indiana Monday when the alternator seized up on our 1976 MCI-8. No one local had a replacement, and we needed to be in Florida by today, so we improvised. Hooked a 12 volt battery charger to each battery (24 volt system) and plugged the charger into the inverter for our house battery bank. Worked great! We thought we would need to run our generator to keep them charged up, but did not need to. Our house battery bank is 3 8D AGM glass mats with lots of amps, so when we stopped at night in a campground we plugged into shore power and recharged overnight. Arrived in Florida yesterday afternoon with no problems. Instead of the big alternator we now have, we'll replace it with a smaller version, since we no longer have the bus AC system. Thought this tip might help someone else out in a pinch. |
jim mci-9 (209.240.205.60)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 02, 2003 - 6:59 am: | |
sounds like you were lucky.... on the mci-9's the huge alternator is gear driven instead of belt driven.... and not as easy to take out of the system... i removed mine... plated over the hole with a cover... and installed a 24v delco 27si over the right hand rear valve cover... installed a pulley accessory drive on the back of the blower drive....works good for me.... |
Buswarrior (Buswarrior) (64.229.209.150)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 02, 2003 - 10:34 am: | |
Excellent contribution Nick!
Sneaky way to convert 12 volt house into 24 volt chassis to get you down the road!
I hope this eases some folks minds as to the design dilema of whether to choose 12 or 24 volt for the house system.
Most of us 24 volt chassis types are dragging a pair of inexpensive 12 volt chargers around with us anyway, so one less fear about going 12 volt house and redundancy?
I'm already committed to going 24 volt house, as I have the Vanner equalizers and Trace 4024 already, but if/when the "next one" comes along, I'll be doing some hard thinking...
Thanks again Nick!
happy coaching!
buswarrior |
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