battery disconnect

[Mel Griffin]

Hi,  I bought this 2000 Beaver Patriot recently, and I'm amazed at all the system's she has.
I'm trying to take the battries out to clean up and paint the battery rack.  I'm wondering, is there a battery "shut off" somewhere?
I have one coach battery out, and both chassis batterys out, and the inside lites, 12 volt, still work.  Also have no power to the unit and AC breaker in unit to "off"

Thank you in advance for your help.

Mel

[Joel Ashley]

Mel-

Most new coaches now have master shutoff switches factory-installed for the four coach and two chassis batteries, located above or close to the battery bank.  Recent similar threads in this forum indicate that many coaches of your era did not have them installed.   That said, I've turned off both masters on my rig to remove bats and clean up my tray, and still got a healthy surprise spark upon disconnect, because our solar system continues to pump current to the bats regardless.  

Not being familiar with your model, I'd like to help, but defer to Gerald Farris who can contribute a better answer for you.  In the meantime you could search the forum for similar threads, or try this one: http://forum.bacrallies.com/m-1263012762/s-6/highlight-battery+shutoff/#num6.

You can also call Beaver Coach Sales service at 1-800-382-2597 and get good advice for your model.

[Gerald Farris]

You still have 12V power because two of your house batteries (6V golf cart batteries) are still hooked up in series to your coach electrical system.

Your coach uses four 6V batteries for it's 12V power supply. They are wired in series by pairs to give the same effect as having 2 large 12V batteries. So as long as one pair of your house batteries is still connected to the coach you still have 12V power.

Gerald  

[Joel Ashley]

Gerald-
Mel was asking if his rig had shutoff switches somewhere.  It is the same model year as yours, so I thought you might know if he had switches that perhaps weren't obviously located, or just didn't exist.

[Gerald Farris]

I understood the question to be why he still has 12V in the coach with 3 batteries removed.

The coach (2000 Patriot or 2000 Patriot Thunder (different coaches) should have the the standard 2 rotary battery disconnect switches (one for chassis and one for house) in the battery bay, and also there should be a salesman switch to the right as you go in the door marked coach power. The coach power switch cuts off all of the 12V power in the coach from the house batteries not the chassis batteries, but it does not disconnect the inverter from the house batteries.  

Gerald  

[Mel Griffin]

Thanks Gerard, I'll look for the switches tomorrow.

                                                             Mel

[Ron Johnson]

Mel some coaches did not have either of the shutoff switches installed mine being one of them. You are looking for one or two 2 inch diameter round switches [usually red I think] in the battery compartment with 2-4 guage wires running to them.

[Keith Moffett]

[size=18][size=14][face=Times]We own a "98 Patriot.  There are no cut off switches in the battery compartment.  The coach power switch is as pointed out by Gerald.  I seem to recall that as the Cat and the Allison are monitored, it is not suggested that the power be cut off for extended periods of time.  I considered this as the reason for no cut off switches.  Anyone sure on this?[/face][/size][/size]

[Edward Buker]

Kieth,

I had occasion to change out my starting(chassis) batteries while on the road this summer. This is on a 2002 Marquis that has both Chassis and House battery disconnect switches. With both the switches off and the charging system off, I was surprised when I went to connect the + lead on the new batteries that I got a decent arc and could hear at least one of the relays on the wall of the battery compartment click. There is some coach load that does not go throught the main disconnect switch. Given these are computer systems with sensitive ICs and some storage of information is involved, I believe that Cat and Allison may have a requirement to leave the power on. The other reason for doing this is to keep the power very clean. Batteries have a very low impedance and absorb any electrical noise and spikes.  Most coach charging systems do not charge chassis batteries and avoid this issue. The Echo chargers tie directly to the batteries and move current from the house bank to the chassis bank as needed so they are very clean charging sources and do not have this issue. Cat may not allow their systems be tied through a switch just to avoid any voltage spike issues. For those people adding a chassis battery switch, you may want to consider a seperate direct battery lead to the Cat and Allison power feed as part of your wiring changes.

[Mel Griffin]

I cannot find any cut-off switchs, so I must not have any.