I purchased a 2007 Roadtrek 210 and within 24 hours I was sitting on the side of the road unable to move. I expected issues purchasing a 10 year old RV, especially electrical and battery... but not that soon!
Something was left on that drained the house batteries which in turn put extra strain on the alternator which stopped functioning. I watched the battery light on the dash and the voltmeter just drop as I drove.
The house batteries will only charge from the engine because they had dropped below 10V so plugging in or using the generator to charge was useless (as I watched the Tripp Lite inverter flash the code that says the batteries are too low to charge).
I have the older battery isolator so the alternator auto charges the engine and house batteries. (Not sure if there's a 13V charge that needs to be present on the engine side before charging house batteries begins or if this is only valid for battery separator designs??)
After replacing the engine battery and alternator and turning off all breakers and switches for the house, the in-dash voltmeter was around 12 and the battery warning light was still lit which confused my mechanic and I. We also disconnected the house batteries but that did not make a difference.
We tested the voltage at the battery while running and it was about 12.7.
We tried two different alternators with the same result but they both had built in regulators (brought the first one back to Autozone & it passed their load test so it WAS working!) so we sent the original out to be rebuilt.
We are also charging all the batteries to rule that out.
We think we checked all the fuses.
How can I check the isolator to make sure it is still working correctly?
If the isolator is the cause, is it better to replace the isolator or try to change over to a battery separator?
I can't wait to drive my new RT home so thank you in advance for any help!
-David
