Discharged batteries on 2021 RoadTrek Chase

[Johnnyfry]

I have a friend who purchased a 2021 RoadTrek "Chase" on a Ram chassis. He has run his house batteries down and cannot figure out how to recharge them. Despite lots of experience on my 2008 210P, I don't have a lot to offer him in the way of assistance. The system is LiFePO4 based with an additional small AGM battery which apparently "kick starts" the alternator system. Not sure if he has a second alternator, but it seems likely. He also has solar.

Can anyone in the group offer any advice to doing a Black Start on the system? The AGM is apparently mounted in an inaccessible location under the chassis and I have been unable to get a voltage reading off that battery. Since the system is dead, I assume that the second alternator will not get excitation and begin producing power. Can I jump the AGM with a Li start pack to get things going?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[booster]

You likely will need a charger that is a power supply, or old school fixed voltage on that doesn't need a battery in the system to put out charge voltage.

The modern chargers won't start without a battery in the system and the lithium will go into shut down under many scenarios. To recover them you need to put on charge voltage but the chargers won't start. That is why the AGM is there but if it is dead it is also useless.

You could also jump it from another vehicle to get it started or even from the engine running in the van to get the charger to start. A small $30 power supply is the safest and easiest way to do it.

 

[Johnnyfry]

I have a friend who purchased a 2021 RoadTrek "Chase" on a Ram chassis. He has run his house batteries down and cannot figure out how to recharge them. Despite lots of experience on my 2008 210P, I don't have a lot to offer him in the way of assistance. The system is LiFePO4 based with an additional small AGM battery which apparently "kick starts" the alternator system. Not sure if he has a second alternator, but it seems likely. He also has solar.

Can anyone in the group offer any advice to doing a Black Start on the system? The AGM is apparently mounted in an inaccessible location under the chassis and I have been unable to get a voltage reading off that battery. Since the system is dead, I assume that the second alternator will not get excitation and begin producing power. Can I jump the AGM with a Li start pack to get things going?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

I neglected to add, does anyone know the location of the AGM battery on this vehicle?

 

[otr]

I would recomment they join the FB Roadtrek Zion & Simplicity owners group. I do not know this model, but our 2019 Simplicity SRT has the AGM mounted underneath just in front of the axle. Also, if you search the FB group you will find that sometimes if the battery is way down, you need to apply 12 volts (maybe using one of those little jumper batterys) to the inverter to make the system think there is a battery. I have not needed to do this, so best to chck the FB resource. Log into Facebook

 

[gcoeler]

If his coach has a shore power plug then it should charge the house batteries if he has an inverter once it’s plugged in.

 

[Armygeddon]

I have a friend who purchased a 2021 RoadTrek "Chase" on a Ram chassis. He has run his house batteries down and cannot figure out how to recharge them. Despite lots of experience on my 2008 210P, I don't have a lot to offer him in the way of assistance. The system is LiFePO4 based with an additional small AGM battery which apparently "kick starts" the alternator system. Not sure if he has a second alternator, but it seems likely. He also has solar.

Can anyone in the group offer any advice to doing a Black Start on the system? The AGM is apparently mounted in an inaccessible location under the chassis and I have been unable to get a voltage reading off that battery. Since the system is dead, I assume that the second alternator will not get excitation and begin producing power. Can I jump the AGM with a Li start pack to get things going?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

I’ve jumpstarted the onboard (belt driven) generator on our ‘18 Carado Banff - hope this helps: