Electrical gremlin

[lwesthaver1958]

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, John Suter
wrote:
>
> Hi Wes,
>
> I think one of our problems as owners comes from the
> description, "brown-out."
> If brown-out means total loss of shore power, or
> shore power dropping below 100 volts A/C, then we have
> a "start generator condition" when our gen start dash
> switch is on, and the Low A/C - No A/C switch is set
> to Low A/C, and the house battery bank voltage drops
> to 11.25 volts D/C.

John,

Brown-out is defined as shore power voltage of 105 volts down to zero
volts as specified by Blue Bird.

I am not sure about Blue Birds nomenclature "No A/C or Low A/C". If this
switch is the one connected to E25, closing the switch, thus putting
+12V on the terminal, will cause the brown-out range to be 105 down to 0
VAC. If the switch is open, which is the position for road travel, the
GENCON will not respond to 0 volts on the shore power.

Technically, that open position still monitors shore power, but the
brown-out range is 105 down to 60 VAC, which isn't going to be possible
with the coach disconnected from shore power.

Monitoring of batteries and shore power are completely independent i.e.
any one of the batteries voltage dropping below its limit, or the shore
power dropping below 105 VAC for ten seconds, is a sufficient condition
to start the generator. They do not all have to happen at once.

> Seminars have instructed that we set the Low A/C -
> No A/C switch to No A/C when pets are to stay in the
> coach unattended, with the shore power connected and
> the Air conditioner(s) running, to permit the
> generator to start immediately upon shore power
> failure without also having to meet the criteria of
> low house battery voltage.
> Perhaps you can amplify or correct that information,
> as it appears contradicted by information on the
> website.
> Keep in mind, it is difficult to understand why an
> owner would want to permit any kind of shore power
> "Brown-out" condition as it would surely play havoc
> with our electronics.

We agree that a brown-out condition should always be avoided. It is very
harmful to any motor, causing excessive heating.

> Last, I'm also not at all sure our GenCon setups
> poll the cranking/engine battery, and although the
> Westhaver website makes reference to polling the
> generator battery, I have haven't heard of a Bluebird
> making use of that feature.

Unfortunately, some manufacturers used only a portion of the GENCON's
capabilities. The GENCON was designed to monitor the house and the
generator-cranking batteries. It was never intended to monitor the
battery used to crank/start the bus engine.

We have seen installations where terminals E3 and E4 are connected
together, which means the Gencon is monitoring one battery on both of
its inputs. This greatly reduces the Gencon's functionality.

The Gencon was designed to make certain that:

1) The genset battery is always charged so that you'll always b able to
start the genset when it is needed.

2) The house battery or batteries are always maintained so you will
always have power for interior lights and and other accessories like
water pumps, slide-outs etc.

3) The AC shore power is always maintained even when your shore power
fails due to a brown-out or complete shore power loss.

Another typical mistake made by manufacturers is using the wrong Radio
Shack ac adapter and connecting it to ac after the first transfer
switch. It should be connected to shore power before the first transfer
switch otherwise it won't be monitoring the shore power but rather it
will be monitoring the generators AC output. Which means that the Gencon
won't be able to respond to a brown-out condition.

Having said all of this, each RV manufacturer decides how they want to
implement the Gencon, and frankly, many have implemented the Gencon in
ways that severly limit its unctionality.

I hope this clarifies things.

> Thanks so much for your help.
>
> John Suter
>
>
>
> --- lwesthaver1958 lwesthaver@... wrote:
>
> > Ralph, I think the best way to describe the
> > operation of the Gencon
> > is to say that it simply sits in a polling loop and
> > watches the
> > three main inputs ie. House battery, Cranking
> > battery and shore
> > power.
> >
> > There are subtle differences in the various firmware
> > versions but
> > typically the Gencon will start your genset if it
> > sees a brown-out
> > condition for at least ten seconds. Or if either
> > battery drops below
> > their respective thresholds.
> >
> > If you have any questions about specific firmware
> > releases, please
> > feel free to ask.
> >
> > As for schematics etc. You may post anything you
> > find on the
> > Westhaver Associates website here for the benefit of
> > the Bluebird
> > forum members. If there is some aspect of the Gencon
> > that you would
> > like to have explained/documented and it isn't
> > already addressed on
> > our website we'll do our best to address it and post
> > the new
> > information.
> >
> > Thank your for your support,
> > Wes Westhaver
> >
>
>
>
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