General Boards > Technical Support
battery disconnect
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 Co-Admin:
[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.
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