Years ago I purchased a used Roadtrek RS Adventurous and we were very happy with it. Then we wanted a smaller vehicle so the my wife would feel comfortable driving it and to use as an every day driver. I recently purchased a 2017 Roadtrek SS Agile on a 2016 Mercedes sprinter and I’m trying to make sense of the 12 volt system. It has an EcoTrek battery system and I think it also has an AGM 12 volt system. As I have come to understand it, the Ecotrek is a largish lithium battery with more storage and longer use than a conventional battery. I think it is used for powering things that require 120 VAC and for big draw items like AC. I think the AGM battery serves as a house battery powering normal items such as water pump, lights, stove lighter, etc. My vehicle has one 12 volt AGM under the hood. I suspect that this was originally 2 - 6 volt batteries, but was changed to the 12 to save money. It’s my understanding the the 2-6s will supply more power that the 1-12. When I got the vehicle, none of the 12 volt systems worked unless I was plugged into shore power. The dealer that sold it to me replaced the lithium battery (Which took 4 months) and now I have coach power when ever either the AGM of the Lithium are on.
Next this vehicle has solar charging. The output of this is so small, that I wonder why it has it at all. This appears to top off batteries, but I have no idea which ones.
The other part of this that I haven’t tried yet is the Voltstart. As I understand it, when this system is used, it will start the van and run it for ~35 minutes to keep the batteries charged.
All this makes me wish I still had my 2008 Adventurous. I had a much better understanding of it’s systems and Roadtrek did a much better job of writing the manual for it.
At this time am not interested in changing the system, I just want to understand what I have and learn to use it. If I can’t make this work for me then I will listen to ideas for changing the system.
Next this vehicle has solar charging. The output of this is so small, that I wonder why it has it at all. This appears to top off batteries, but I have no idea which ones.
The other part of this that I haven’t tried yet is the Voltstart. As I understand it, when this system is used, it will start the van and run it for ~35 minutes to keep the batteries charged.
All this makes me wish I still had my 2008 Adventurous. I had a much better understanding of it’s systems and Roadtrek did a much better job of writing the manual for it.
At this time am not interested in changing the system, I just want to understand what I have and learn to use it. If I can’t make this work for me then I will listen to ideas for changing the system.
