Heavy Fuel - Page 17

M1031A1 · 10-04-2016, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cadillackid

your bus is all mechanical.. it shouldnt have any battery drain on it... ive forgotten and left DEV's power turned on for a few days and it kicks over too...

I do need to check out this RK place though...
-Christopher

Rural King is east of the Mississippi, so Ohio should have some IF I'm correct.......

AlleyCat67 · 10-04-2016, 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by M1031A1

Rural King is east of the Mississippi, so Ohio should have some IF I'm correct.......

I've never seen one but it sounds like a clone of Tractor Supply Company.....

Tootalltechie · 10-05-2016, 02:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cadillackid

my DEV has one(big ole handle on the dash) but its a fully mechanical bus.. im not sure yet if i should out one on the new bus or not .. if the computer is a learning type computer then I might lose a lot of economy settings by killing its power after every trip..

the new bus started right up when i got it.. I dont know how long they had been sitting in that auction lot without being run..

the DEV starts every time very easily.. with the batteries from 2013 that were in it when I got it... that bus is a TANK.. had it out for awhile today.. i'll take it to ohio during winter to see how it fares in cold weather... it does have a block heater and my storage unit in ohio has electricity for just that purpose..

-Christopher

There is a battery you can use to keep your vehicle's brain alive when the main battery is disconnected. Mechanics usually have them in their tool box. How long the battery lasts I don't know.

Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk

M1031A1 · 10-05-2016, 04:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tootalltechie

There is a battery you can use to keep your vehicle's brain alive when the main battery is disconnected. Mechanics usually have them in their tool box. How long the battery lasts I don't know.

Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk

The one you're talking about is one that plugs into the cigarette lighter in a car. Most buses don't have a cigarette plug. Somehow my bus does! The adapter uses a 9 volt battery to keep the "brain" of the vehicle active while the main batteries are being swapped out. This prevents a power surge and the possibility of frying the "brain".........

EastCoastCB · 10-05-2016, 05:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlleyCat67

I've never seen one but it sounds like a clone of Tractor Supply Company.....

Its like a Walmart-sized Tractor supply with MUCH better selection and diversity in products.

cadillackid · 10-05-2016, 06:45 AM

im assuming they are down here in florida?

I never thought of using a small bettery to power the brain.. I could easily use one of the portable LiON laptop extra-juicers on it... i have one that has 123 volt output uop to 5 amps.. it could be mounted to kick on when the main got turned off.. the bus computers have large caps in them so they wont drop off line durong the changeover.. a simple NC reed relay would work so it wouldnt even create much battery drain if I forgot to turn the mains off..

great idea on the little battery!!
-Christopher

M1031A1 · 10-05-2016, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cadillackid

im assuming they are down here in florida?

I never thought of using a small bettery to power the brain.. I could easily use one of the portable LiON laptop extra-juicers on it... i have one that has 123 volt output uop to 5 amps.. it could be mounted to kick on when the main got turned off.. the bus computers have large caps in them so they wont drop off line durong the changeover.. a simple NC reed relay would work so it wouldnt even create much battery drain if I forgot to turn the mains off..

great idea on the little battery!!
-Christopher

I believe Auto Zone has them in stock.......

EastCoastCB · 10-05-2016, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cadillackid

im assuming they are down here in florida?

I never thought of using a small bettery to power the brain.. I could easily use one of the portable LiON laptop extra-juicers on it... i have one that has 123 volt output uop to 5 amps.. it could be mounted to kick on when the main got turned off.. the bus computers have large caps in them so they wont drop off line durong the changeover.. a simple NC reed relay would work so it wouldnt even create much battery drain if I forgot to turn the mains off..

great idea on the little battery!!
-Christopher

Yep, there are several in FL. I use the one in Leesburg.

sojourner · 10-05-2016, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Its like a Walmart-sized Tractor supply with MUCH better selection and diversity in products.

Agri Supply here. VERY cool place!!

AlleyCat67 · 10-05-2016, 10:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Its like a Walmart-sized Tractor supply with MUCH better selection and diversity in products.

I'll have to check them out sometime..... if I can find one.

cowlitzcoach · 10-06-2016, 02:15 AM

School buses have such huge batteries in them in order to have enough juice to operate everything when the bus is at idle.

Back in the day we had a bunch of Loadstar chassis buses with gas V-8's that had one group 31 battery to run everything. On a daily basis they did just fine. But on the first day after a long break, or even a long weekend, if the ambient temperature was down below 30* we would have to jump start almost every one of them.

What we discovered wasn't so much a parasitic load that was killing the batteries but the fact we were routinely taking more juice out of the system than the alternators could produce. On one bus we calculated the load with the crossover lights flashing, interior lights on, headlights on, clearance lights on, and seven heater/defroster fans going the load was almost 100 amps. Most of those old gassers had 100 amp alternators and some had only 90 amp alternators.

It didn't take long for us to figure out that most of the time the buses were out on route, at every stop they were taking more out of the system than the alternator could possibly replace. With the dead head home at the end of the day and on the trip out in the morning when most of the accessories were turned off it did get a chance to build up some reserve in the battery. But constant draining did a real job on our batteries. We were lucky to get them to last two school years.

We ended up updating the alternators to much larger amp rated alternators.

I say all of that to say that you really do not need that much battery in a bus to get the engine started. I owned a Thomas Saf-T-Liner with a 3208T engine that I routinely operated with only two group 31 batteries. Some of the new group 31's have more cold cranking amps than the less expensive 8D's. And to be fair, that bus was on a daily route that went 200 miles per day and didn't make more than about ten stops all day. Plus, it had a 250 amp alternator.

cadillackid · 10-06-2016, 07:22 AM

I agree on the over-loads on busses being low RPM all the time.. esp when they were all either gassers where the distributor woukd fire at 6 volts... or mechanical diesels that you could run on dead batteries as long as it wasnt shut off..

the alternator thats on my older bus is a Bosch 200 Amp that puts out 140 amps at 1200 Soindle RPM.. I think it has a 2.5:1 pulley on it so that means at 700 RPM engine idle im well over that on the alternator and thus get lots of juice.. but those low RPM high outpout aslternators are recent in the last 15-20 years... but it does work...

the new bus has a GMC SI alternator of some sort.. 160 Amps.. which is interesting since that bus is all electronic engine, and has Air-conditioning.. those triple condensor fans pull about 60-70 amps by themselves..
-Christopher

M1031A1 · 10-06-2016, 12:24 PM

Well, here's some pics from last weekend. This is $90 worth of heated rear view mirrors.

https://pix.sfly.com/Q8AVVU

I'm still trying to find a decent way to share my pics.

Tomorrow I'll have pics of the battery swaps. I have to have my son helping me with these heavy weights........ Good grief they are HEAVY!!!!!!

Here's a better shot of the blanks we're installing as well:

https://pix.sfly.com/4pOf6v

M1031A1 · 10-06-2016, 05:37 PM

Let's try this:

YAY success!!!!! That is $90 of heated mirrors.......

Blanks on the driver's rear.....

It looks a bit odd on just the passenger side, but now I can see along the passenger side............

cadillackid · 10-06-2016, 06:26 PM

I like those mirrors!! Nicely done!!
-Christopher

M1031A1 · 10-12-2016, 08:46 PM

My son and I just shoved around 630 pounds of batteries this evening. My back is killing me, and I'll have some pics tomorrow, IF I can get some time between jobs.......

TN Redneck · 10-13-2016, 01:25 PM

Great build. N3MFL here from TN... Was wondering if those were ham towers or not. I guess they are. I just read you whole build to here. As for alternators, I just purchased a new one after the last had a melt down. 160a Wilson alternator. Works great, and the needle doesn't even move. I have 2 78lb UPS batteries and I am going to tag off the Alt.2 on my alternator to charge them up. I have to get going on this build, were moving to AZ in DEC, and this is going to be the Beagle Express... Then when i GET there I can do the build they way I want.

BurlKing · 10-14-2016, 09:43 PM

nice mirrors, we would like some heated ones too. if i may ask, since i've never installed heated mirrors before, what the heck do you plug it in to if they didnt come with the bus? I'm sure there's a easy explanation.

cowlitzcoach · 10-15-2016, 02:19 AM

Put a switch close to hand with 12-vdc to the switch and then run a wire to the mirrors.

It is best to wire the switch that turns on a light so you don't leave the mirror heat on when you park the bus.

M1031A1 · 10-15-2016, 06:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cowlitzcoach

Put a switch close to hand with 12-vdc to the switch and then run a wire to the mirrors.

It is best to wire the switch that turns on a light so you don't leave the mirror heat on when you park the bus.

My left hand control console already has a switch that when I turn it on the thing glows green. It's kinda cool the way it is set up. I'll have pics sometime this weekend (hopefully)......

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