I recently left my 2003 Roadtrek 190 popular with a friend for four weeks while I visited Australia. Upon my return, the battery disconnect switch won't turn on and there is no house power. Does this mean I have to replace my coach battery or how can I best try to recharge the battery? By driving, using the generator or plugging into Shore Power?

Depends on what type of battery disconnect you have. My intellitec battery disconnect requires charged battery and it also has a couple of fuses which might prevent it from working. Plugging into shore power should provide power to disconnect (assuming battery was problem) and allow you to charge battery.

Hmmm I'm not sure what 'type' I have. It's just the standard one that came with my Roadtrek.

Try charging the battery with a stand alone charger, then try again. The disconnect switch is electrically operated, so if the battery that works it is discharged, the switch won't work. It has to be powered by one of the batteries, otherwise, it wouldn't work while you are unplugged from shore.Either the switch, or the solenoid may be bad, but the first thing to try is charging the battery.I have been thinking about this. Let's assume you don't have bad hardware for a minute. You can have 2 situations.1. Battery is disconnected, but dead. In this case, plugging into shore power won't charge the battery, but driving it may.2. Battery is connected, but dead. In this case, either plugging into shore power or driving it will charge the battery.However, it is surest to just put a stand alone charger on the battery. That way you KNOW it is being charged. That is why I suggested using a stand alone charger above. It takes out all charging variables.Something else you may try. Start the engine then try the disconnect again. That may be enough to re-engage it. However, I still think your house battery is dead.

Your house battery should recharge fastest by driving. I think there's a specific line in the RT manual that it takes 10 hours of charging via generator or shore power to equal 2 hours of driving. IIRC from my 2 RT 190's ('00 & '02), the battery switch can be on or off without changing whether the house battery charges. Once you have at least a partial charge on it, the disconnect relay should work unless there are other issues.Your RT 190 is a class B, not a 'B+' (C). Someone in the B forum probably can explain how the disconnect switch works; there's something odd about the sequence of plugging into shore power and operating the disconnect switch to keep the battery from overcharging. It's been about 7 years since I sold nmy last one, so I don't recall the details for certain. I'm assuming you still have the original relay and 'battery boiler' converter.Jim, "I thought a gentleman should open a door for a lady, but all she did was scream and fly out of the plane."

You've gotten some good advice. Apparently, there could be a variety of reasons and fixes. The same thing happened to me with my 2010 Popular. Ultimately, I ended up getting the switch replaced. Not sure about the cost as it was under warranty. I think the reason it quit working was because I was turning it off and on so frequently. (This was before I learned to turn it on and keep it on when on a road trip. Now I only turn it off when I'm parked at home).Apparently this will happen with RTs. When I was searching for an answer I found others that had the same issue.

Battery disconnect switch won't turn on | Good Sam Community

cannesdo
Explorer
Aug 21, 2016
A friend is having this same problem. We think the battery is probably dead (I'm not there with my charger and she just bought the RT and doesn't have one yet) but her battery light (blue) is on all the time, even when the engine is off and the vehicle is not plugged into shore power. She said there is a little light on top of the vehicle near the antenna that used to be on all the time (couldn't find any switch in the vehicle suggesting it had anything to do with the antenna) but now that's gone out. She's driving 2 hours tomorrow and will try the switch again. Anyone know why that battery light might be on all the time? Especially since we think the battery might be dead? Her disconnect switch won't turn on and plugging it in for 2 days hasn't helped. You can find a photo of her panel here: http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/29006630/gotomsg/29006792/p/1.cfm#29006792
Bobbo
Explorer II
Oct 22, 2013
Missmarta wrote:
I had to replace the battery as it had 'fried.

Yep, that'll do it.
Missmarta
Explorer
Oct 22, 2013
After taking the Roadtrek for a 3 hour drive, it did little to charge the battery. I had to replace the battery as it had 'fried. Thanks for all of your helpful advice.
Bobbo
Explorer II
Oct 18, 2013
Any resolution to this problem?
1775
Explorer
Oct 15, 2013
Missmarta - Putting your situation into the Roadtrek Electrical Simulator for a 2003 190, the only way you may be able to charge is by driving. The simulator shows that until you can get the battery switch to go on, plugging into shore power will not charge the coach batteries. So drive until you can get enough of a charge into the batteries to get the battery disconnect switch to engage and then you can plug it in to complete charging the batteries to full.
senf
Explorer
Oct 15, 2013
Our experience with 2 RT's is that the Battery Switch must be on (see RT manual) before connecting to shore power. Therefore it is necessary to have a charged battery to operate the switch. Getting a charged battery is paramount, however you get it.

Our chassis Separator (isolator) was just replaced, which caused the coach batteries (x2) not to be charged while driving.
mlts22
Explorer
Oct 15, 2013
Roadtrek switches are both a switch and a relay that consumes no power when on or off, but requires 12 volts to change between states.

Advantage: The switch can be placed anywhere in the rig.

Disadvantages: Power is required, and if one holds the on/off switch down in either setting for too long, it will burn the coils out on the relay.
Missmarta
Explorer
Oct 14, 2013
Thanks guys, I will take a long drive and let you know if it re-charges.
1775
Explorer
Oct 14, 2013
Your battery does not have enough charge to engage the switch in your Roadtrek. Most likely your switch is fine and works - just not with dead batteries. Once the coach batteries go below half charge there are problems like this. Charging your Roadtrek will fix this. Plug it in to shore power and charge for at least 12 hours - maybe longer. You can try driving but you need to drive at highway speeds for at least two hours - and then after that plug it in. It takes longer to charge RT batteries once they go below half charge or dead completely. All the while you are not able to get the switch to engage you will not know the status of charge from the monitor panel. If you can put a meter on the coach battery terminals you will know exactly where they are at. Once you can engage that switch which will happen after it has charged for awhile - and not necessarily to full charge, you will be able to get the battery switch to work and then see on the panel that the batteries are charging ("C" on the panel).
Kimbopolo
Explorer
Oct 14, 2013
You've gotten some good advice. Apparently, there could be a variety of reasons and fixes.

The same thing happened to me with my 2010 Popular. Ultimately, I ended up getting the switch replaced. Not sure about the cost as it was under warranty.

I think the reason it quit working was because I was turning it off and on so frequently. (This was before I learned to turn it on and keep it on when on a road trip. Now I only turn it off when I'm parked at home).

Apparently this will happen with RTs. When I was searching for an answer I found others that had the same issue.