JUST WHEN YOU THINK EVERYTHING IS GREAT- IT'S NOT!

I have been holding off writing this article since the end of October 2019.  My last post of August 2019 - ended on a happy note. My new batteries were in, The battery separator was replaced and when driving the batteries were charging. It seemed like all was great. Well... no it was not.

Why have I waited to write this? I wanted to make sure that now things really were OK. And I just wanted to not tempt fate - once again.  At this point as you read this, hopefully, all is well, but for a long time it was not.  Now I have pages of documentation and voltage checks that I made shortly after the last article was published, but I, promise, I will not include all of that in this article. I don't even want to look at all of that again. I will give you some details to explain what took place.

The last article came out on this site on August 30, 2019. On  September 6th, I went out to check the voltage of the batteries and they read 12.56 volts. That is a lot for brand new batteries to drop. Three days later - September 9th - I went to the Roadtrek again and checked the voltage of the batteries and the battery voltage was -----   10.1 volts!   Essentially the new batteries drained to dead. This part is important to understand - there was NOTHING ON INSIDE THE ROADTREK TO DRAIN THE BATTERIES LIKE THIS. 

I downloaded the technical manual for LifeLine AGM batteries to find out what to do?  The manual is 40 pages long!  In the manual there is a section called "Deep Discharge Recovery". What I had was a "deep discharge"!  The second paragraph in this section says, "WARNING: This procedure should only be done by a trained technician." That warning was followed by another "WARNING" and also a  "CAUTION". All of which I was in no position qualified or capable of doing." What I did instead was plug the Roadtrek in for 72 hours plus to try to bring the batteries back to charge. After it charged - and the batteries did charge  - I turned off the TrippLite 750 inverter/converter/charger on the  unit slide switch on the front right of the TrippLite. To do this you slide it to the middle position DC OFF. This cuts its connection with the batteries - whether the battery switch is on or off.  In this position the TrippLite has ZERO drain on the batteries. It is the same as if you disconnected the battery cable from the TrippLite.

Hoping that all now was OK - we decided to take a trip and we drove on a one day and back trip 400 miles. - Another point of interest - when you drive the Roadtrek the batteries charge when the engine is running. The battery switch can be ON or OFF. AND MORE IMPORTANT TO KNOW - the TrippLite has NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS PROCESS OF CHARGING. It is strictly the connection between the battery separator (or in older RTs the battery isolator) and the Roadtrek batteries with the Engine battery - and the engine alternator which is doing the charging.  -  So, we drove 400 miles after charging the batteries at home plugged in using the TrippLite set to "Charge Only" and that battery voltage went to 12.8 which is very good. 12.8 v DC is a fully charged battery or battery bank.  Sounds good, right? Wishful thinking. In four days (which included two hours of exercising the generator under half load - which also charges the batteries through the TrippLite set to "Charge Only" - the batteries dropped - with the TrippLite set to "DC OFF" to 12.1 volts.  Again, I plugged in to charge.

During all of this I went out and bought a fairly good - recommended - multi-meter so that I would be sure I was getting accurate readings. I was - as I checked this to my 12 volt plug in digital meter. I stopped in at the mechanic who works on our car and the Roadtrek and asked him if he would test the Roadtrek to determine if there was any drain on the batteries. He took the RT into his shop and the results - there was ZERO drain on the batteries from the Roadtrek or the van.  Something was very wrong.

I contacted the shop in New Jersey that I bought the batteries from and that installed the new AGM batteries. What I got in response was that I could bring the RT back to them and that they would need it "for awhile" and they had to determine what was wrong with the Roadtrek before they would test the batteries and put in a claim for replacement under the batteries one year full replacement warranty. What troubled me by what they said was the "for awhile" part. They charge by the hour - a lot by the hour - and I could see this becoming even more expensive than dumping these batteries and starting all over again taking the loss of the money. They would not give me a clear answer about when and how long they would be charging for labor. I made an appointment to bring it in to them - in New Jersey and leave the Roadtrek. But in the meantime until the appointment I started doing what I should have done before I even bought the batteries from them. I looked up customer complaints and reviews about this shop. What I found was greatly disturbing. Not one but the same comments over and over - they take an RV in for service - keep it an extended period of time - little is done - nothing really is resolved - and they charge for all of that - and more. Oh boy! I try not to stress over the Roadtrek but this was really getting me down. I was not sure what to do. I did not trust this shop at all any longer.

As always, Meryl had the solution. She said - call the Roadtrek dealer/service - which I did.  I both called and emailed all of the details - all of the documentation about what was happening and all of the voltage readings - and what we knew - which basically was that zero drain was found on the batteries from the Roadtrek.  Initially they were going to take it in for one day. Even I felt that it really needed to be there for more than a day - just to monitor what was happening with the batteries and to  really go fully over the electrical system in the Roadtrek and make sure that there was nothing not functioning as it should that was causing the batteries to drop. I spoke with the customer service rep that we have been working with since we got the Roadtrek in 2011 from this dealer new - and spent a lot of time with getting things put in correct order after it came out of the factory with a lot of problems. We are on a first name basis - and have had many pleasant conversations with over the years. She told me that they thought I was in a hurry and it would be better if they kept it. We set a day to bring the Roadtrek and leave it with them. At the same time we learned that they have moved their service facility off the property where the sales room is and they were now down the road some. We got detailed directions. To bring the Roadtrek there to leave it we had to also bring our car to get home. That meant one follows the other.  The next day I cancelled the appointment at the shop we bought the batteries at.

I put together a very extensive package of materials about the batteries and my log of what was going on since we got the new batteries. At this point I was not sure if the Roadtrek shop - from which I did not buy the batteries from - would be able to get replacements under the batteries' warranty. I just wanted things fixed - and for me to tell any shop what I told the Roadtrek shop under any other circumstances would be just craze - but I wanted this fixed and done with - I said, "if the batteries are bad and you can't get them replaced under warranty I will take the loss - take them out, throw them away - and get me two good AGMs that you would use to replace the Roadtrek originals". Yep, I was pretty much at the end of my tolerance in dealing with getting working batteries in the Roadtrek. As it was the entire summer when we should have been traveling in the Roadtrek we were getting the batteries replaced -and then dealing with bad batteries. The only trip we took the entire summer in the Roadtrek was four days the week of July Fourth  - plus the one day and back the same day trip of 400 miles (which was rather pleasant).  We usually go away for a few days at the end of October and I was planning on that trip as the last trip of 2019.

The trip down to Pennsylvania to drop off the Roadtrek we set off with Meryl driving the Roadtrek and me driving our passenger van.  (Ah yes! With all the excitement going on with the Roadtrek just before this trip down, our car started making noises when shifting down. I asked our mechanic if I could drive it to PA and he said - "I wouldn't" - so I didn't. My passenger van is a 1996 and I have only driven it locally for a long number of years.  So I asked the same mechanic - who knows it well - if it would make ti to PA and back and he said sure. Just in case I took it out on a highway at night for an hour to make sure it would.  It did that fine - and that is what I was going to drive to PA - a trip this van has not taken in maybe over 10 years or longer.) SO - We have Midland Walkie Talkies with a 28 mile range (clear open field outside) and we each took one - and they kept us in contact the entire trip. The only time we lost contact was when the Roadtrek got ahead of me and went around a long curve- but as soon as we both were on straight highway again the radios connected.  Meryl rarely gets to drive the Roadtrek and had not driven it that far since she drove it home from Pennsylvania with me following. We got to the service center  in its new location. Had a nice chat with our friend - talked about Roadtrek and the new owners - and we left it in good hands. They were planning on our having it back in about 12 days. And they were not charging me for labor unless they were actually working on it. They have been very good with us since we first met this dealer in 2009 when we started looking at Roadtreks - and met them at an RV show in New York.

Getting home was a lot more exciting. We stuck around the area for a couple of hours - had lunch and stopped at a store that was not far for a couple of pies - not just any pies - and not chocolate shoofly but a cake in a pie called Funny Cake which is mostly only found in this area of Pennsylvania.  We were this close - we had to go and pick up a couple. Well. We finally almost got to the PA Turnpike - coming from a direction we have not come from before and had to head east from and we made a wrong turn that took almost a half hour to correct - and we got back to the PA Turnpike rush hour had started. Six hours later - we got home. Thank goodness we were together in the van because had this happened on the way down in two vehicles it would have been even more of a mess. We made a mental note - when coming back to pick up the Roadtrek - get there early and come straight back home!

Back home and life goes on. I was getting email updates from Roadtrek dealer/service. During this time Meryl's 90 year old mom needed some help getting to routine medical appointments and we were taking her.   We got a call from Roadtrek and they said it would be ready in two days.

Findings from Roadtrek dealer service - Roadtrek electrical systems and charging - ALL GOOD! New batteries - one bad, one good. The bad one was bringing the whole thing down. A new replacement added to the good battery would make all GOOD. AND THEY HAD A DISTRIBUTOR WHO WOULD TAKE THE BAD BATTERY AND REPLACE IT WITH THE SAME UNDER WARRANTY.

SO as far as the Roadtrek was concerned all was going to be good. The minor problem at home was we were scheduled to take Meryl's mom to the doctor when we should have gone back for the Roadtrek.  I let the shop know this and they said no problem - call us next week and we will set a day to expect you.  That would have been good if the weather had not changed - and it got suddenly very cold and a bit snowy -  not at home but in PA. Just before I was going to call the next week, I got a call that morning from the Roadtrek shop - the weather forecast is predicting well below 28 degrees in the next few nights and your Roadtrek is not winterized. May we winterize it if you can't come right now to get it?  Well, I had heard this same thing about the weather and it was there and here - and even if I could have gone right then to get it - I would have it home in the same cold. I told them absolutely yes - as I had thought to ask them to do this anyway when I called later that day. So they would winterize the Roadtrek.  Of course, those who have read my articles on winterizing the Roadtrek I have little things that I do that the shops often don't do - and I had to make sure they knew not to use compressed air in the lines - as this is a never do according to Roadtrek (at least the "old Roadtrek").  I went through my please don't and please make sure to do this and that - which I would have done if I was doing it myself.  She said, of course. And for the first time since they did the winterizing that first year we owned the Roadtrek - and took their one to one winterizing class - which is the basis for my steps on winterizing - plus my additions - I was not winterizing the Roadtrek. And like a parent with his child away for the first time when something they do together is not done - I worried if they were really going to do it all the way I do. (And they did!)

 We finally got to get to PA and pick up the Roadtrek - and as we were sure to do after our first experience getting home in rush hour PA, NJ, and NY style - we picked it up around 11 am. Stopped for twenty minutes to have lunch. Got on the southbound road to the PA Turnpike - did not make the same mistaken turn as we did the last time - now following each other - and got home in the expected three hours - and only got into traffic in New York - Walkie Talkies with voice activated transmission making sure that each was finding the correct turns.

I will not say what I was charged except that everything to do with the batteries and checking out the Roadtrek's systems to make sure they were good was reasonable.  The winterizing surprised me as to what it now costs which is a lot more than it was 8 years before - but checking around I was charged ballpark for what winterizing costs to do today. It is a good thing to do it yourself- as you save a LOT!

I learned a very important lesson in all of this. The lesson is don't try to go cheap! I got a quote from the Roadtrek dealer/service on the batteries and installation before I decided to go to the place in New Jersey to buy the batteries.  The quote was higher on the batteries but lower on the installation (and I was charged in addition by the shop in NJ for shipping the batteries from LifeLine to them - and they were supposed to be a LifeLine distributor. plus parts that were not needed.to do the install).  Had I gone to the Roadtrek dealer/service from the start the total price - as there was no shipping involved - they were going to the same distributor that did the warranty exchange a few miles away from them - and there were no added, unnecessary parts - would have been less than what it cost me in New Jersey plus they would have fully checked out the batteries at the time of install - and I would have had the Roadtrek for travel - no need to make two trips down and back with multiple vehicles which involved tolls and gas - and not had to pay for getting everything checked out. All in all - I should have listened to Meryl when she told me to go to the Roadtrek dealer/service from the start  - why? Because Meryl is always right. I don't say that mockingly. She will tell you, herself, that she is always right - and you know - honestly - she is.

We never did get to take that trip at the end of October. The weather was bad. Things were going on at home that could not be put aside. But the Roadtrek was fixed and fixed right.

Our Roadtrek dealer/service is Fretz RV in Souderton, PA. As I have said they have always been good to us! 

I have been checking voltage regularly ever since I got the Roadtrek back. It has gone on a day trip since then. The generator gets its monthly exercise. And until today - because I don't want o get into the habit of not plugging it in - even though it really does not need to be charged - I had only plugged it in once. As I write it is outside plugged in and charging. Other than when plugged in or running the generator when I put the TrippLite into Charge Only setting, I keep the TrippLite on the DC OFF setting - and there is still zero drain on the batteries.  The batteries stay at 12.9 volts - may go to 12.8X volts with x being a 100th of a volt . The lowest I have seen is 12.82 volts - all indicating that they are fully charged and holding that charge.  It has been four months now. The green light on the battery monitor inside the Roadtrek on the wall always shows C - top LED - for the momentary check of the batteries inside with the plug in 12 volt meter - and then the battery switch goes right off.

Would I still recommend LifeLine  AGM batteries to replace your Roadtrek AGMs?  I am not sure if I would. Maybe it is not unusual for one to get a bad battery. I don't know. I have never gotten a bad vehicle battery. These batteries are supposed to be hand assembled at the factory in California. They are supposed to be the best - and at a price for the best. When I read though the LifeLine technical manual they talk about all the things one is supposed to do annually to maintain these batteries. Well, the AGMs Roadtrek put in when they built my Roadtrek in 2011 lasted until - and maybe even would have lasted longer past - 2019. I decided to replace them because they were not charging when driving - and we found out after buying the new batteries that the problem with that was not the batteries at all but the battery separator going bad. So I might still have had the OEM batteries now if that had not happened.  And all I ever did to maintain those batteries was to plug in every month and charge them - once a month up to when they were four years old and then I started plugging in twice a month - to keep them charged. And with these new batteries- well that is my plan also -they will get plugged in once a month - which is also good for keeping the engine battery charged (depending on the year of your Roadtrek).  I can't be doing what they say to do and I have no idea how to do what they say to check and record, discharge, and ,,.  Well. they will get plugged in. You can download the manual on the LifeLine website and decide for yourself.

I will be writing some articles about what I have learned about the Roadtrek electrical system which goes beyond the basics I have written about in the past. There are things that work a lot differently than I had thought they did. i have mentioned some of them so far. But that is for another article.

Once again, thanks for coming along on this journey - one I rather I would have not had to take.

New Batteries for the Roadtrek - A Three Year Long Epic Adventure

 THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN EDITED SINCE IT WAS FIRST PUBLISHED.  THE BATTERIES INSTALLED IN THIS ARTICLE HAD MAJOR PROBLEMS AND IN DEALING WITH THAT I COULD NOT TRUST THE SHOP THEY WERE PURCHASED AND INSTALLED AT AGAIN. THE NAME OF THAT SHOP HAS BEEN REMOVED.  

I WILL NOT REVEAL THE NAME - PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL AND ASK.

THE NEXT TWO ARTICLES WILL TALK ABOUT WHAT TOOK PLACE FOLLOWING THIS ARTICLE.  



Batteries do not last forever. The batteries that are the heart of the electrical system in my 2011 Roadtrek 190 Popular are two 6 volt AGM deep cycle batteries. And until now have been the original batteries installed by Roadtrek at the factory.  I have been told that these batteries last about 7 years - and the first time I started to question that the batteries were still good was three years ago.

At the time electrical things that should happen a certain way just were not happening. When the batteries should have been charging when driving - something that Roadtreks after around 2006 should do - was not always happening. It might take an hour or more of driving before the charging light was showing lit on the battery monitor panel in the Roadtrek.  There are a few reasons why this might happen - the RV batteries (often referred to as "coach batteries") are going bad, the engine battery is going bad, the vehicle alternating is going bad, OR a device put into the Chevy engine compartment by Roadtrek - called a Battery Separator - is going or has gone bad. The problem was not every time but often enough for concern. Let me explain the battery separator.  This is a device that has the engine battery connected to one side of it and the RV batteries connected to the other side of it. It is a "smart" switch - when the engine is running and the RV batteries need to be charged it connects the engine battery to the RV batteries and charges them through the van's alternator. It also will charge the engine battery when the RV is plugged into shore power - an outlet connected to the outside world of 110/120 volts of electricity or when the Roadtrek's electrical generator is being run which also provides 110/120 volts of AC electrical current. It is a nice little system - as long as it is working.  So - one of these things would have been the problem three years ago.

SO - I started checking things out as best that I could on my own. There are ways to test the Battery Separator - that I am not equipped to do but we go to a very friendly mechanic and for many, many years he has worked on our car so I spoke with him and if it came down to it he could test the separator for us.  When the separator is working and connects or disconnects there is an audible click. And I was hearing that click when plugging into shore power and I was pretty sure it was, therefore, working. But I was not fully convinced. So at the time I started researching buying a new battery separator of the same make and model that is there. This proved to not be quite so easy. I called two RV dealerships with repair shops on Long Island. Long Island is a wasteland for RVs - finding them here or service for them here is like - well, let's say not worth the effort. Basically they had not worked with RVs that had separators - they did know about battery isolators which are similar but work differently - but they could not get the one I had and were not really interested in working on my Class B RV - which they don't usually work on.  I started searching the internet for the part - as it is not hard to install - and my friendly mechanic could do that for me - and found that only a handful of retail websites around the US - none anywhere near here - sell this make and model. That was going to be what I would have to do if it came down to that. I also started asking on a group I was on what was the best - absolutely THE BEST - coach battery for my Roadtrek and without question from several more experienced than I when it comes to RV batteries the same answer came back - Lifeline batteries. One even said to me that they were "overkill" but they were the best - and they are expensive. And I need TWO.

The first thing I had the mechanic do is check the engine battery - the easiest of the things that needed to be tested and - hooray! He found that the engine battery - even though it started the van easily when started - had a bad cell and was only putting out less than ten volts - and he replaced it.  After that things started working - and with all of this in the back of my mind we continued to hear out int the great well known and kept traveling in the Roadtrek - for three more years.

Every so often things would hiccup but came back to working as it should be working - but the coach batteries were getting older - and this year at 8 years old I kept feeling that I was playing Russian Roulette with the batteries. I had figured that going into 2019 we would need to buy new batteries. And then the macerator problem happened - as I wrote about two articles back - and that took the money that we would have used for the batteries.  Before we left the dealer service when we bought and had installed the new macerator and macerator hose, I asked if they could get Lifeline batteries - and they said yes but they could not tell me a price - and would check. A week or so later they told me - $550 EACH battery plus labor to install! Oh BOY!  It was back to Battery Russian Roulette.

It seemed like maybe things would go the right way and with short day trips things were working as they should. Then we set out on a trip during Fourth of July week. Our procedure when we travel is just before pulling down the driveway and off, we start the engine of the van, turn on the battery switch - to turn on the coach batteries - and also turn on the RV refrigerator.   I get the van running and Meryl does the rest.  And I asked her to turn on the test button that shows battery level - which as the van is running should show the coach batteries charging - and that LED was NOT lit! OK - this has happened before and we drive a little and the light comes on, it is charging and all is well. That did not happen. And after a short time we pulled over to check again and it was still out and I could only figure that we either turn around and go home or we turn off the fridge - no meds in it this trip - as the main med for the fridge once started does not need to be refrigerated - and I sat there on the side of the road contemplating what to do - turn back or go on.  Meryl made the decision. We had paid in advance for one night of the three nights in the campground and we should go on and IF there were problems resulting for this all we could stay the night, the next day go to the Festival in PA that we go to every year that runs during Fourth of July week and just come home tomorrow night. Fine. And - have I mentioned this before - Meryl is ALWAYS RIGHT - truly!

We headed off.  We stopped at a rest area on the New Jersey Turnpike and I put the battery switch back on and with the engine running - after about two and a half hours of driving - there was a lot of traffic getting there - the charging LED lit. Wonderful! We left the fridge off to not push our luck and continued on the trip and stayed the three nights and four days - with the last two days with the fridge on to bring home some treats - but not too many because the week before our fridge at home died and we had to buy a new fridge which when delivered did not work correctly and a new, new fridge would not be delivered until we got home - unknowing if that one would work any better than the first. (Another unexpected, not affordable expense.)

We had reasons to start the Roadtrek when we got back from this trip - and the batteries did and then didn't show they were charging when the engine was running and it was three years back all over again. Only this time the research had been saved from three years past. While we were on the trip to PA I said to Meryl that we can't play Russian Roulette with the coach batteries any longer. That one day we are going to find ourselves off somewhere and these batteries - the ones I wanted - were not going to be found where ever we were stuck. She agreed. And the decision was made that we needed to find and buy and have installed the new Lifeline batteries.

I thought that this might be easy. Yes they were on a few websites. There are even dealers for these batteries on Long Island - all marinas. Long Island is "Boat Happy - RV Deprived". I started calling and emailing these marine shops. Yes they could get the batteries - each over $500 - no they could not install them. I went to the websites that sold these batteries and the price from at least two - across the country - was $329 each with free shipping.  I had thought that our friendly mechanic could install them - which he said he could - but he had been and was very busy at his shop with his usual business - including work on our small passenger van - and I felt that I should not impose on him - especially if I wanted the job done right away.  I also found on the battery manufacturer's website two dealers of the batteries in New Jersey. I contacted one - a dealer who is also a Roadtrek dealer who could get the batteries at just a little more than the $329 and he could install them - AS LONG AS  I waited for his next available service appointment at the end of September. I thanked him and said that was not going to work out for us.

The second shop in New Jersey was a little closer but not an RV dealership but rather an RV repaid and body work shop.  I contacted them and yes they could get the batteries - they would take about a week to arrive and they could take us to install them right after they arrived. The price was a little less than the $XXX each - two hours of labor to install - and I told them order them and thank you very much!

The batteries - for those Roadtrek owners seeking new batteries - Lifeline GPL-4CT - 6 volt AGM deep cycle battery. Here is a XXXXX . The shop we bought them from that installed them XXX RV in XXXX, New Jersey.

The batteries came in the time stated - one week on a Thursday. We set up an appointment for the installation on the coming Monday.  All was set! And then weather forecasts started saying that Monday and Tuesday in the coming week were going to have severe storms both in NY and NJ.  OK. I am never happy driving the Roadtrek in the rain and absolutely not in severe storms.  In that time when you would not like to wake up yet on that next day - Friday morning - this kept going through my head - Monday was not a good day to make this trip. And we called and postponed the appointment to Wednesday. The lady at XXXX that we were working with was incredibly nice - extremely helpful and had no problem moving the appointment. As it turns out the storms did come Monday and Tuesday and were more than severe - and caused a lot of damage especially in New Jersey and right in the county that this shop is located in.

Wednesday morning came. The charging LED did not come on to show the old batteries were charging when we left that morning - and was still not on over two and a half hours later when we arrived at the shop. The trip there took a long time just to get out of New York State.  There are two bridges that most be crossed to do that - I just love living on an island connected to other islands before you get to mainland U.S.A. - and the first and main bridge was closed in both directions as we heard as we were on our way to it - because of a car fire.  We were stopped in traffic bumper to bumper along the way and that took so long that by the time we got to the bridge - despite the traffic reports still saying the bridge was closed - we drove right across it without a problem.  We called ahead to the shop to explain that we would be later than we even had expected to be.

There were various ways in New Jersey to get to this place and the fastest route takes the Garden State Parkway. It seems that while this part of the Garden State Parkway is closed to trucks, it allows RVs - and more than one website - and our asking the shop when we made the appointment about taking this parkway  - said we could drive on it. With fingers crossed we did. No other RVs were to be seen but highway patrol cars passing us - we were not stopped.  As we got off the parkway and were near the shop there were electric company repair trucks everywhere. Red lights were out on the roads. Large trees were down. The storm hit there HARD!

The night before we left I wrote out everything that I know specific to installing new batteries in a Roadtrek plus where all the switches were and what does what.  I will include that at the end of this article. They would know all this anyway but they may never have worked on a Roadtrek before. One of the things I told them in person was that I wanted to know once the new batteries were installed that the batteries were now charging on the engine running as they are supposed to do.

When we arrived I handed that to the woman who was expecting us and we sat down to wait in their waiting room.  There was one other person waiting and we started talking as we were waiting. He said that the shop we were at had no electricity and they were running on generators - still able to do the work. The big lobby was a little warm - but there were big ceiling fans that made it comfortable enough. There was a big screen TV and chairs and sofas. They had display and sales racks of RV accessories and parts.  We spent the time watching the TV and walking around looking at what was on the shelves. At one point there was a loud roar of a big engine and they were working outside an open garage door to the side of this big lobby on a big Class A engine.  It was interesting but the diesel fumes were getting overwhelming and were also coming into the lobby so I went outside to get some air and saw that my Roadtrek was parked in an lane outside in the parking lot on the other side of a Class A. I could not tell if they had worked on it or not. We were there for about three hours or so between waiting for the Roadtrek to be taken to be worked on to when we were told it was ready. I asked if it was charging and was told that it was all tested and was working as it should be. Skeptic as I am I went outside - started the engine and the charging LED came on when I pushed the test button. For the moment I was happy.

It was a hot day. We were in New Jersey near a restaurant we like to eat at and decided we would kill the time between lunch and dinner in a large mall and a Barnes and Nobles bookstore and a Walmart before waiting for dinner. And that is what we did.

Someone reading this I know is thinking why didn't he just install these batteries himself.  The 2011 Roadtrek does not have a sliding battery drawer. The two batteries are fixed in place inside an outside access cabinet. These batteries weigh 66 pounds each. There is no way that I could lift one of these batteries much less remove the old heavy batteries and get two of these up and into place - plus there is no access to wire the cables to the back of the batteries. I am not sure how the shop did this. 

When thing seem well my head starts poking me to think hmm, maybe things are not all as well as they should be. Was it the batteries that needed to be replaced - which they did anyway - or is that battery separator at the root of what has been going on. The engine battery is three years old and it is rated for five years - and that should be fine - but those early morning wake ups and your mind starts working in high gear...  So I start looking things up. I start trying things. I know the new batteries are good and fine. Are they charging when the engine is running is what is bothering me. I go outside and into the Roadtrek and without the engine running I turn on the battery switch and push the test button and no engine running - the charging LED comes on. This is not supposed to happen - I think - or is it?  I have a volt meter. I check the voltage on the batteries and they are fully charged - a reading of about 12.87 volts - 12.8 volts is fully charged. Is this because they are new or did the engine charge them up to that on the drive home from New Jersey. I start researching again.

This is what I learned - and should have learned reading these same documents before - the engine does not connect to charge the RV batteries if they are over 12.8 volts. They do not need to be charged and the engine does not charge them. Seems logical.  If the batteries are 12.8 volts or above the C charge indicator LED will remain lit - even though no charging is taking place. (This is new to me for some reason - as I have believed from other things I have read that if charged fully the C LED will go out and leave the third up from the bottom LED lit showing that the batteries are within charged range. THAT IS NOT SO. If the batteries are 12.8 of over the C LED will be lit.)  Good to know - good to pass along and I am thinking a detailed battery separator article is coming here soon.

I went out for the next several days checking the status of the battery level. Five days later - I turned the battery switch on - no engine running - and had my volt meter plugged in for actual voltage - and the C LED was no longer on. The yellow G LED was lit and this is what I had expected to see all along. The voltage in the batteries - five days later - was now 12.75 - below 12.8 - and the monitor panel indicated that. I started the engine and right away the C LED lit up as it should! Happy me!

In all of this I made a decision with Meryl to buy a spare battery separator and have it with us when we travel. This way if that ever does go bad - and they do go bad over time - we will have it with us - we can find a mechanic to put it in - and I - not we - have to worry about it any more. I am in the process of doing that now.  With that I will have three of the Roadtrek weak spots covered that are not easy to just get repaired or replaced anywhere - new batteries, new macerator - and with this - a new battery separator to use when necessary.

Here are my new batteries -

 Here is the list I wrote up for the install to give the shop:

ROADTREK BATTERY CHANGE

1.            Two 6 volt deep cycle AGM Batteries in my Roadtrek are original from Roadtrek when the Roadtrek was built at the factory in 2011.

2.            The batteries are wired in SERIES -  pos on one battery to neg lug on the other battery connected together and the battery cables from the Roadtrek to the batteries are then connected to a positive on one battery and a negative on the other battery.

3.            The battery compartment is on the outside passenger side in front of the rear passenger tire. The square key opens the lock on the compartment.  In 2011 when AGM batteries started to be used by Roadtrek the sliding battery tray was discontinued. The tray is fixed.

4.            The Roadtrek has a TRIPPLITE 750 INVERTER/CONVERTER/CHARGER. I have been told that the Tripplite must be turned OFF while batteries are being installed.  The Tripplite is located inside the Roadtrek right behind the passenger side cargo door on the floor- it can be seen as soon as you open the cargo door – I have removed the door that sits in front of it.

5.            The TRIPPLITE ON/OFF switch is a slide switch on the upper right front – OFF is the MIDDLE position.  Left is Auto/Remote the default position and right is Charge Only.  Now it is set to Auto/Remote – if you want me to put it off I will OR you can put it off.  After batteries are installed return the position to Auto/Remote.

6.            Dip switches on the TRIPPLITE were set by Roadtrek for AGM batteries.

7.            The Battery Disconnect switch is inside the Roadtrek – at the entry door just past the passenger front door – it is on the wall below the ceiling on the right side of the monitor panel. It is OFF at this time.  Just push and let go to turn it on.  The test switch on the other side of the monitor panel will show a column of LEDs for battery charge. Turn the battery on if needed.

8.            There is a 12 volt DC socket to the left of the monitor panel to plug in a 12 volt voltage plug in meter. Battery Switch must be on to use this.