2015 etrek house battery explode , Mercedes battery smoked

[SiennaGuy]

Originally Posted by RG Maier

The $50,000+ we saved will buy us many hotel rooms, the lack of stress in the beautifully working Sienna is priceless!

After reading about all of the horror stories from RV owners, I think I’m going to stick to being SiennaGuy. Mine works beautifully, too!

[Adagio]

A lot of mis-information on the AGM battery subject. Like you we bought a used 2015 ETrek in January 2018. Local dealer near Sarasota was not much help in resolving battery issue, other than to charge me to diagnose bad AGMs. I later learned about the Equalizer, the dealer knew nothing. Roadtrek shipped a Equalizer, the dealer installed no charge. Before I knew about the equalizer, I replaced all the AGMs myself. Roadtrek sent me a check to cover half the cost of standard AGMs. Roadtrek will cover the batteries if they failed in a unit that did not have the equalizer.

So don't give up, keep calling Roadtrek.

So don't

[booster]

Originally Posted by Adagio

A lot of mis-information on the AGM battery subject. Like you we bought a used 2015 ETrek in January 2018. Local dealer near Sarasota was not much help in resolving battery issue, other than to charge me to diagnose bad AGMs. I later learned about the Equalizer, the dealer knew nothing. Roadtrek shipped a Equalizer, the dealer installed no charge. Before I knew about the equalizer, I replaced all the AGMs myself. Roadtrek sent me a check to cover half the cost of standard AGMs. Roadtrek will cover the batteries if they failed in a unit that did not have the equalizer.

So don't give up, keep calling Roadtrek.

So don't

I think it would be of interest to many folks if you referenced which information you consider bad, as in this discussion there is a some bad and some good information, IMO. Some details are almost always a good idea and one of the reasons many of us think this forum is tops for tech information related to class b's.


My personal choice for a solution to the battery issues on etreks would be quite different from what is normally discussed or done, but was looked at on another thread some time ago.


This solution would cost you some capacity, but IMO you would likely not notice it because better charging accuracy and battery life would tend to cover the difference, especially as the batteries age.


* Ditch all 8 of the six volt batteries.


* Put in 6 eight volt batteries, wired for 24v, in the rear underfloor box. Don't use the underhood location because the heat destroys the batteries there and the long cabling messes up the charge and discharge balance.


* Replace the Roadtrek inverter/charger with a Magnum or Outback 24v unit that controls charging off of a shunt for accuracy and includes a battery monitor.


* Either get a solar controller from the manufacturer of the new inverter/charger that piggybacks it, or a standalone controller that also runs off a shunt for accuracy.


* Install a manual override switch for the engine generator so, based on the charging amps you see to the coach batteries, you can shut off the engine charging when the batteries are full to prevent drying them out from overcharging.


* Use a 24v to 12v converter to run the coach.



* No equalizer needed


Not really inexpensive, but it would give you a reliable, low operator input, accurate, system that should give much longer battery life than the less than stellar Roadtrek system and components, and give more reliable capacity because of more accurate charging and the battery monitor to know what your SOC is.

[Rogerp]

Booster, at what charging amp reading do you flip the manual override off. ( this is for AGM batts ) Sorry, not trying to hijack this thread.

[booster]

Originally Posted by Rogerp

Booster, at what charging amp reading do you flip the manual override off. ( this is for AGM batts ) Sorry, not trying to hijack this thread.

It depends on the battery type and manufacturer, so that is the best place to get the spec, but here are some typical ones.


AGM (Lifeline spec) .5%C at absorption voltage which is usually a temp corrected 14.3 volts or so. So a 100ah battery would not be full until it was accepting only .5 amps at 14.3v.



Wet cells would typically be 1-3%C at absorption voltage. They very more by brand and type so it is best to test them to see where the current quits changing. Our good condition Trojan GC2 true deep cycle batteries were a about .8% when new and after 5 years about 1% at 14.5 volts.


Most "smart" chargers aren't all that smart and will undercharge a fairly deeply discharged battery fairly badly, and will overcharge a shallow discharged one. The shunt controlled chargers can be programmed to exactly the right spec to transition to float.

[Nic7320]

If you bought it new, you should take it to a Roadtrek dealer and if they can't fix it, you can use the "Lemon Law." This gives you a great deal of leverage to get it fixed right, because if they can't fix it, the dealer has to take the unit back and refund your money, and cannot sell the unit without a "branded title," which devalues the vehicle because it was a lemon.

In some states, you can get your purchase price back plus attorney's fees.

Talk to an attorney about this to make sure you have a paper trail.

https://www.texaslemonlawblog.com/ca...rvs-motorhome/