luyben

I am a squeaky-new RT owner (2004 210 Popular) and just took a three day shakedown cruise. Well, I'm puzzled. I have a Dometic refrigerator, and installed two brand new deep cell batteries before the trip. What puzzles me is that I charged the system fully before driving off (the panel showed a full charge), running the refrigerator as I drove. By the end of the day the battery indicator showed "low." (The lowest red light.) Overnight I put it on shore power and it charged up again. On the way home I saw the same pattern. It lost power over the course of the day (9 hours) even though nearly all of that time was driving. I was under the impression that the alternator would change the coach batteries while driving, while using the refrigerator. I'm missing something but not sure what. I had a second puzzle on the trip. When I stopped the engine I expected the refrigerator to switch to propane instead of DC. Not so. It continued to run on DC even though I manually attempted to switch it over to propane. Doesn't auto do that?