Take care (1 Viewer)

ShiftZZ

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Over the last two I have suffered some water creeping into the van, the place I have it services could not find the source.

I have also suffered from a failure of my fridge, well partially, the ignition light failed to go out, so I assumed that the fridge was not working when it was.

Suddenly my hot water and heater failed and upon investigation it was discovered the following ‘meltdown’ on my distribution board.

Not a new issue I hear you shout, indeed not, but having said that, the company who sold me the motorhome, a mobile engineer and a fully fledged dealer all failed to spot the issue. What was the issue I hear a lone voice from the back?

Well the issue was a simple one, the EHU hook-up connector was faulty, the heat from the said EHU connector then transferred the heat to the distribution board and that then caused the casing to melt. There was a lack of ANY protection on the 240v supply.

I suggest that as Funsters you check very carefully as to your electricity, as 240v running through the metallic frame of your bed is not an ideas that I would recommend.

Whilst on recommendations, I suggest that you chose who you allow to work on your pride and joy with great care. One week a self employed carpet fitter, next week a fully qualified Caravan and Motorhome certified engineer with suitable qualifications from some unknown organisation for Hull or Honduras.

In the motorhome industry I doubt if John Wayne came across as many cowboys, so be aware. My current problem could have easily fried ShiftZZ, so tale care out there.
With thanks to MB.
 

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old-mo

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:Eeek: You were so lucky to have spotted that, Dave...

A nasty outcome waiting to happen.... :Sad:
 

jonandshell

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Unfortunately, no fuse on the planet will protect against heat being created by a poor connections. The burnt junction box was caused by resistance, not excessive current.
Short of dismantling every electrical component for inspection, the only way to have discovered your fault would have been a survey by thermal camera.

I shouldn't be too damning of your hab service providers, they wouldn't have spotted the fault with the kit they have.

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ShiftZZ

ShiftZZ

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Indeed Mo, I will post more pictures in the morning, but the Professionals missed the problem, that's the biggest worry, we trust them and I suspect they don't really deserve our trust.
We travel in a box with gas, 12v and 240v allowing people to work on our vans who may not be fully qualified and potentially be placing you at risk.

Is there a need to have a 'proper' qualification certified by government, not some micky mouse or trade qualification.

Would you allow anyone to come and service you boiler at home, re wire the house, fix the roof? NO, so why do we allow them to work on your motorhomes, its a disaster waiting to happen.
 
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ShiftZZ

ShiftZZ

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Unfortunately, no fuse on the planet will protect against heat being created by a poor connections. The burnt junction box was caused by resistance, not excessive current.
Short of dismantling every electrical component for inspection, the only way to have discovered your fault would have been a survey by thermal camera.

I shouldn't be too damning of your hab service providers, they wouldn't have spotted the fault with the kit they have.
That may well be so, but they had replace the Rapido distribution box with another and there was NO master trip, they added three output to one trip, saving money potentially, now fixed it has been improved from three to five with a master trip.

The bigger issues is that some of these individuals have NO formal training and could be placing you at risk.

Forget getting a recommendation from another Funster, tried that, another failure, I repeat its a disaster waiting to happen.
 

jonandshell

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I agree with your sentiment Dave, NOBODY touches our van but me!

I don't trust anyone!:Eeek:

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ShiftZZ

ShiftZZ

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You buy a second hand motorhome and you have no way of knowing the true history of that van or the nutter amateur DIY numpty who has decided to make a modification. I have seen some horrendous examples and I have heard some absolute bllx from dealers, one, I remember distinctly saying that ‘stabilisers’ could not be used on concrete.

At some stage the ‘industry’ and government must get together and formulate an approach, the Motorhomers will always pick up the cost, the ‘cowboys’ will either bugger off and find another lucrative source of gullible individuals, be in prison for manslaughter or just disappear.

For those who have the skill sets, good on you, you are lucky, but the vast majority on here would not recognise a thermocoupler if it his them in the face.
 

Snowbird

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Having personally witnessed this problem and seen the damning evidence, I can say without any shadow of doubt that if there was a habitation service done on this vehicle the person who did it should consider a career change with immediate effect. Or at the very least go to Specsavers. A blind man with nose could have detected the problem in 2 minutes.
 

Peter JohnsCross MH

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You can always come to us Hilda and watch it being done, all mine have years of experience, been in the business a long time and been on all the courses, but we are not cheap.

Peter

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For those who have the skill sets, good on you, you are lucky, but the vast majority on here would not recognise a thermocoupler if it his them in the face.

That may be so but IMO ultimate responsibility remains with the owner driver. I hear so many, from all walks of life, who appear to be proud of the fact that they 'know nothing about that' or who 'leave that to the experts'. Wake-up - there are very few experts. There is very little on any motorhome that can't be understood, at least at a basic level, by anyone who takes an interest in their, and their passengers, well-being. (Been driving anything with wheels since 1964 - never been near a garage or service facility.)
 

happypre65

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Take care.

Hi,As already said a very poor industry,i called out a motorhome expert with all the letters after his name as i had no electric lights nothing,he did come on a sunday which was wonderful but many pounds later cant find the problem,you need a new main fuse board,when arriving home my son who deals with cars found very quickly we had dropped the earth,he then used a short piece of electric wire to connect up and bingo everything works, that was a year ago and no problem since, so we do get ripped off by experts as well, regards H.:winky:
 

jhorsf

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I sometimes cringe when I read things on here that others do.
I have given up telling people not to use the hook up lead with it still rolled up as when you do they just tell you its never set on fire before:Doh:

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Munchie

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That may be so but IMO ultimate responsibility remains with the owner driver. I hear so many, from all walks of life, who appear to be proud of the fact that they 'know nothing about that' or who 'leave that to the experts'. Wake-up - there are very few experts. There is very little on any motorhome that can't be understood, at least at a basic level, by anyone who takes an interest in their, and their passengers, well-being. (Been driving anything with wheels since 1964 - never been near a garage or service facility.)

Yeah right. I was trained in the army in OHMS law, series and parallel circuitry taught to strip an internal combustion engine down rebuild it and get it running properly etc, but I have not a clue when it comes to modern engine management systems and canbus systems both of which are part of modern motorhomes. :Eeek:
 

Chris

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I told you Rapido's were rubbish:thumb:

Seriously though I am glad you got it sorted.
 
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The mains distribution board and trips are supposed to be in an accessible place. Mine are in the wardrobe. If they are the the problem could and should have been spotted ages ago by the owner, because that type of damage has taken some time to develop I guess. If they are not easily accessible (and I guess they are not from the photo) then there is a design problem with the motorhome.

Of more concern is that there appears to be no RCD (residual current device), just circuit breakers.
 

g8ysn

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g8ysn

re-faulty electric,s my chappie has fitted an in line power surge protection / lessons learned from blowing my eleck,s vie ganny:RollEyes:
 
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I sometimes cringe when I read things on here that others do.
I have given up telling people not to use the hook up lead with it still rolled up as when you do they just tell you its never set on fire before:Doh:

Being a relative newbie (1year) with no electrical or mechanical knowledge I am always trying to pick up more info. I would definitely welcome a list of do's/dont's that people know or have learnt through experience. I have never used my lead rolled up but that's because my husband told me or I wouldn't have known. I think it could be very useful to have a thread on this as people have so many different experiences it would be nice to pull all that info together although I'm sure there will still be arguments based on different peoples experiences :ROFLMAO:

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Munchie

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The thing is not everyone is DIY minded or competent.
That is why we pay "experts" to do the things we numpties do not understand.

We PAY them for their expertise and IMHO have a right to expect they know what they are doing and keep us safe!!! :Angry:
 
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ShiftZZ

ShiftZZ

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That may be so but IMO ultimate responsibility remains with the owner driver. I hear so many, from all walks of life, who appear to be proud of the fact that they 'know nothing about that' or who 'leave that to the experts'. Wake-up - there are very few experts. There is very little on any motorhome that can't be understood, at least at a basic level, by anyone who takes an interest in their, and their passengers, well-being. (Been driving anything with wheels since 1964 - never been near a garage or service facility.)

Very little on the motorhome that cant be understood? I beg to differ, I know nothing about how to install gas in my home and to do so would be potentially illegal. I know nothing about thermocouplers, or how an earthing system works and I have no desire to do so.

From what you are saying or suggesting therefore, every airline pilot would or should have extensive knowledge of all the aircraft that he is in charge of.

I am 'proud' to claim that I have very little knowledge of how a motorhome is assembled or constructed, the so called experts who have been / are members of this very same forum still claim to be all things to all men, should we 'out them' as to what they really are?

So you have maintained all of your vehicles since 1964, well my Honda has always been maintained by Honda, who have all the technology, the tools, all the data and knowledge to fix my car and that is how it will remain, my understanding is that 'modern' cars no longer respond well to a 12" spanner or a good thump with a lump hammer, they are highly technical piece of kit, with more computing power than one can imagine, ECU's and other bits of kit make it impossible for the average monkey wrench mechanic to do anything. Mind you I could be wrong and after 93k of care free driving in my Honda, I may have spent a load of money for nothing.
 
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johnp10

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The thing is not everyone is DIY minded or competent.
That is why we pay "experts" to do the things we numpties do not understand.

We PAY them for their expertise and IMHO have a right to expect they know what they are doing and keep us safe!!! :Angry:

Absolutely.
If we pay a professional, work carries warranty, surely?

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ShiftZZ

ShiftZZ

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Absolutely.
If we pay a professional, work carries warranty, surely?

John, I suspect if the work is carried out to a standard, and what standard? A numpty 12 member quasi organisation, could be an issue,,, if you go after the supplier, you may find that they are either a small limited company or a sole trader with nothing to pay you with if it goes wrong.

The whole business is a minefield, I have no doubts that Peter from JCMH & Eddie EVB has the clout to put things right, the others? The industry has mushroomed out of all proportion and its was an open invitation for the cowboy element.

A brand new motorhome gets delivered and the owner may find loads of issues, these should have been picked up by the manufacturer or the dealer, they should do a proper pre delivery check, but no they wait for the punter to find them. You could pay over £100k for basically a commercial van with a caravan attached, in my mind they can be overpriced as the 'bits' are fairly standard.

So who is making the big money?

How many Swifts leak?
How many times have companies gone Tit$ up only to come back in another form?

There are some great oasis of dealers and support engineers, there are also a bigger pond of lowlife who prey on the industry..

Rant over.
 

Peter JohnsCross MH

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From what you are saying or suggesting therefore, every airline pilot would or should have extensive knowledge of all the aircraft that he is in charge of.
.


Dave, in actual fact airline pilots do have to have a quite extensive knowledge of how his type rated aircraft systems do actually function which is backed up by a mandatory comprehensive flight manual carried in the cockpit on every flight.

I always had a pretty good knowledge of how my aircraft operated which stood me in good stead on a number of ocasions in the same way I know my cars and other mechanical things. I don't get taken to the cleaners!

You all have expensive 'toys' for want of a better word, take an interest in them and how they work and it will stand you in good stead for the future.

Peter

Peter
 

johnp10

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Dave,
The answer is not to use the back street cowboys.
Trade approved workshops and known, approved fitters are the way forward.
They charge more because they have to, but there is comeback.

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ShiftZZ

ShiftZZ

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Dave, in actual fact airline pilots do have to have a quite extensive knowledge of how his type rated aircraft systems do actually function which is backed up by a mandatory comprehensive flight manual carried in the cockpit on every flight.

I always had a pretty good knowledge of how my aircraft operated which stood me in good stead on a number of ocasions in the same way I know my cars and other mechanical things. I don't get taken to the cleaners!

You all have expensive 'toys' for want of a better word, take an interest in them and how they work and it will stand you in good stead for the future.

Peter

Peter

That may well be so Peter, but the chances of a pilot being able to fix or service a plane is how low?

I carry a full manual for this van, but I do not have an electronic qualification so thats why I pay someone,

ShiftZZ
 
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You all have expensive 'toys' for want of a better word, take an interest in them and how they work and it will stand you in good stead for the future.
I agree with that sentiment entirely. I know I will not be able (or want to) understand everything about my motorhome, but I like to find out as much as I can.

That way I get to a better understanding when I am talking to the "experts". Like the fitter who told me that the 12v electric supply to the fridge was correct, despite me explaining that it was not switching off when the engine stopped. 5 minutes with the circuit diagram and a quick look at the charger and I discovered there was a fuse that should only be fitted if I have an AES fridge (which I don't have). Took it out and all was well. How he managed to miss the big warning notice on the charger about it is beyond me!
 
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Rumour has it he's thinking of swapping it for a [HI]Burstner[/HI].:thumb:

Burstedner !!!!!!!! ?I'm sure it was a swift :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:


Serious note glad it's sorted now
Nothing worse than worrying over
Things that are not working

:thumb::thumb::thumb:

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jonandshell

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Yeah right. I was trained in the army in OHMS law, series and parallel circuitry taught to strip an internal combustion engine down rebuild it and get it running properly etc, but I have not a clue when it comes to modern engine management systems and canbus systems both of which are part of modern motorhomes. :Eeek:

I disagree.
Controlled Area Network Bus Systems , or CAN bus ( there are many other data bus systems with differering protocols) simplify both the wiring harness AND diagnostics.

Here's a typical diagnostic process-

Fault- Box A won't talk to Box B.

Is the wiring broken? No, go to next stage. Yes, repair the wiring.

Does Box A talk to Box C? No, replace Box A. Yes, replace Box B.

Simples!:thumb:

Sure beats measuring countless analogue inputs and outputs!::bigsmile:
 

Ed Excel

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Really glad the fault was sorted before it became more serious.

As Peterc10 commented, it's not good if there is no earth leakage device on your consumer unit. You need earth leakage protection in lieu of earth fault protection from circuit breakers, in a Motorhome.

It's quite unlikely your circuit breakers would operate in the event of an earth fault, because the ELI, the resistance of your circuits, will be much too high to allow enough current to flow to trip the protection.

Ultimately, you could suffer a fire or at least have a piece of equipment melt due to a faulty circuit/piece of equipment in your van.

The circuit protection for your EHU lead is in the supply source equipment, most often an RCD/RCBO earth leakage and over current arrangement in a site distribution pillar. Any overload, earth/short circuit faults in your EHU should be dealt with by the site equipment.

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