Roadtrek Switchology

[Diver007]

Sorry for such a dumb nubie question but my RT 210 Pop house batteries are dead and will be replaced soon. I'm trying to troubleshoot a problem. After a cold morning, my brand new main battery was at 9V. I'm suspecting the separator switch is sticking and draining the main. Simple switch settings on the control panel are difficult with RT manual. On the switch panel, some switches appear to "on" in the up position while others are "on" in the down position. Does anyone know what the inverter switch on position is? The same is true with the water pump switch. It has water on top and pump on bottom. Any idea as to which is activating the pump? Any help is appreciated.

[wny-pat]

What year 210?

[Diver007]

it's a 2013 popular

[Jon in AZ]

Don’t feel bad. The batteries in my 2014 190P kept going down faster than they should in storage until I finally discovered the inverter switch is up for off. I caught it because I was working in the back and kept hearing a faint electrical humming. Tried reversing the switch, silence. Golden.

Since yours is about the same vintage, I’m guessing it might be the same. Once you figure out each switch you could add labels to avoid battery-killing mistakes.

A 12V conventional battery is stone-cold dead at 9V. Perhaps you meant 11.9V?

[Diver007]

Thanks for the reply. Actually, the battery was at 9.05Volts. Somehow it's being drained. I noticed a note in RT manual about turning off the battery switch and noticing it doesn't turn off until you start the engine. Perhaps this happened and since the house batteries are dead the engine battery is still connected to the house batteries and caused the drain.

Thanks

[Jon in AZ]

Can you swap the coach batteries for one you know is good? Mine came with totally dead coach batteries, and nothing really worked right until I put in good ones. Even a single 12V flooded battery will get it going so you can diagnose the discharge. Note there’s a dip switch on the inverter/charger for flooded or AGM.

There’s an isolator for the engine battery, so it won’t send power to the coach unless the engine is running. Voltage readings should be taken at rest, with no loads or charging for at least 30 minutes.

[Diver007]

Thanks that helps

[Jon in AZ]

I realized I may have misunderstood. By “main” battery you mean the chassis battery, right? Nothing in the coach should cause it to discharge. Either the isolator has failed- as you said- or something on the chassis is causing it to discharge.

Mine had a problem with the chassis battery, too, and I eventually discovered a short circuit in the center overhead console where the dome lights are. It’s part of the chassis wiring, but a wire was damaged during the camper upfit. I had forgotten all about that stage of the electrical adventures I had after I got the van.

[Diver007]

I noticed that the separator takes about 10 minutes to switch off after the ignition is off. I wrote Sure Power to see what they refer to as "a Short Period of Time". Is it possible for the car battery (Main) to be drained by dead house batteries if the separator fails to switch off?

[jakegw2]

yes, that would do it.