12v Leisure Problem (1 Viewer)

[cornish boy]

Personally I think you are wasting your time without having a known healthy, fully charged battery installed but thats easy for me to say from the comfort of my armchair!

 

[DL42846]

Oh dear, I have been watching this thread as I am about to fit a GEL battery and also upgrade my charger to one that can accommodate a GEL battery. What have I set myself up for.

 

[Mark33]

When we replaced the fuse board the problem went away, as did a fair bit of our cash.

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[jockaneezer]

It's an interesting one for sure and must end it "why did it take us so long ?".

An old fitter at work offered this sage advice when fault finding "Do the last thing you can think of first"

 

[hilldweller]

also upgrade my charger to one that can accommodate a GEL battery. What have I set myself up for.

Possible trouble, your alternator is not set up for gel cells. All the cons are on here, I don't recall any pros.

 

[mitzimad]

Personally I think you are wasting your time without having a known healthy, fully charged battery installed but thats easy for me to say from the comfort of my armchair!

that was why i said to jump from the starter battery about a page ago

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[cornish boy]

and is it good or bad news? @Mark33

 

[Mark33]

and is it good or bad news? @Mark33

Guys, bad news. The battery charged up full in 20hrs. I just put it on and tried the light and one light stayed on. But as soon as I tried the pump.......all 12v system shut down again. Bit Gutted

 

[cornish boy]

Guys, bad news. The battery charged up full in 20hrs. I just put it on and tried the light and one light stayed on. But as soon as I tried the pump.......all 12v system shut down again. Bit Gutted

At least you know that you have eliminated a poor battery and the good news is that something has improved because of it.
What does the panel lights say about the battery charge?

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[Mark33]

At least you know that you have eliminated a poor battery and the good news is that something has improved because of it.
What does the panel lights say about the battery charge?

4 lights......fully charged

 

[cornish boy]

Out of interest, what happens if you switch on the control panel and then turn on the water pump without turning the lights on?

 

[Mark33]

Out of interest, what happens if you switch on the control panel and then turn on the water pump without turning the lights on?

Same thing, trips straight away.

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[cornish boy]

I think I would be looking for a dry or dirty connection, possibly between the battery and the low voltage relay. It could be on the earth or positive side.

On the back of the PCB there were a couple of plugs, one looked liked it came straight from the battery box. Disconnect the battery and pull the plug out of the socket on the PCB and give the terminals a good clean, reassemble and see if that makes any difference

 

[cornish boy]

Apologies but I have to go to bed as I have an early start in the morning.

If there is a leisure battery isolator, I would also check the connections on that. A quick check on line shows the habitation panel can be re-set so worth checking your owners manual and re-setting the panel.

Online checks also turned up a few CI's with similar symptoms to yours and the solution unfortunately seemed to be fitting a new PCB.

Good luck and hope you find the source of the issue quickly and easily.

 

[Kool Kroozer]

I was gonna say the same as cornish boy, perhaps its a dry soldered connection on the board somewhere

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[PeteH]

No Solution, But I had experience of a Friends Caravan, with the Standard "Plugin Systems" unit, which was giving trouble. After hours of "p8888ng" about. we finally discovered a connector at the back of the unit which had burned out, but was still just making a connection, this fooled the unit into indicating power, but because there was no full connection Nothing worked.?, Perhaps scrutinising the connectors?.

 

[Mark33]

Folks, I spent time last night looking for faults but could not see anything. It was dark so I had to give up eventually. I am away in the motorhome all weekend now but when I get back I am going to disconnect the board and try go through it with a fine comb. Thanks for the support and advice, its all really appreciated. And I'll try if I can reset that control panel. I had the cover off and its really just 4-core control wire attaching to the panel with a multitude of wires/connections behind in the wall.

 

[jezport]

Check all plugs are firmly pushed in on the main unit by removing and reinserting and check there are no heat marks to the plug and socket or pins. Then remove each fuse one by one checking for a burned or oxidized blade, Clean with wire wool or similar, Test with meter.

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[Fletton]

Good morning folks...

Been following thread because I find this stuff educational; if I ever have issues at some point....

Anyway ... I am by no means an electrical engineer... But if this problem occurs when you turn pump on.... Could it be a short in that circuit somewhere?... Either in the panel gubbins or between panel and pump relay?..

Edit: seems like you're looking at that as I typed this...

 

[Ginge3685]

I had a similar problem with my elderly Pilote, the symptoms of the power failing when something is turned on is simply a bad connection. I fixed mine by cleaning the negative connection on the chassis from the leisure batteries.

 

[Dorset Diver]

I had a similar problem with my elderly Pilote, the symptoms of the power failing when something is turned on is simply a bad connection. I fixed mine by cleaning the negative connection on the chassis from the leisure batteries.

Only just seen this thread but my thoughts are the same. I had a similar problem on an AutoTrail which turned out to be a bad earth.

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[magicsurfbus]

Only just seen this thread but my thoughts are the same. I had a similar problem on an AutoTrail which turned out to be a bad earth.

Likewise, our CI needed its Earth connection sorting at one point, around the time of the problems I mentioned above.

 

[Minxy]

Now that the battery itself has been ruled out as the 'culprit' it would appear that it is a short or bad connection somewhere ... not gonna be an easy one to find as it's just a matter of snuffling round the wiring and checking everything time consuming and boring as hell but necessary ... sorry!

 

[PeteH]

I had a similar problem with my elderly Pilote, the symptoms of the power failing when something is turned on is simply a bad connection. I fixed mine by cleaning the negative connection on the chassis from the leisure batteries.

Something Else often overlooked, and becoming even more of an issue with the NEW CANBUS vehicles, where extremely small currents are involved.

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[cornish boy]

Likewise, our CI needed its Earth connection sorting at one point, around the time of the problems I mentioned above.

I must admit that I had presumed having looked at the photo of the rear of the PCB with live and negative battery connections that the habitation system was not using a chassis earth but was based on a CANBUS type multiplex system.

If I understand you correctly, you are saying that the habitation system (or parts of) use the chassis as an earth bus.

I could understand cleaning a chassis/engine block earth if there was any reason to think the alternator or starter battery was linked to an issue but would not have considered searching for a chassis earth point for the habitation system.

I glean something new everyday on here, thats why I find this forum invaluable..

 

[OG1]

If you have another vehicle try using that battery, if it works you, then its your MH battery is at fault.

 

[Eddystone]

Just a thought.
Have you scraped clean the inside of the battery clamps?
They may look clean but may have a high resistance glaze. Particularly the negative terminal.
Problem is that it is still possible to get voltage readings until you put a load on, even a small light.
Also, the EHU and the engine running will feed into the system at the PSU, so the panel wouldn't see the fault.

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[DL42846]

Do you have a solar panel? If so I would try disconnecting the solar panel and battery .then reconnect the battery then connect the solar panel in that order. Then try it. I'm no expert by any means. I'm about to do some work on mine and this is something that has come up. It should only take you a couple of minutes to do.

 

[Mark33]

Folks
If anyone is still following, I managed to get the PCB boards out of the fusebox...images attached. I cannot see any signs of dry joints. Can anyone advise of how to test the components or maybe what to try. I cannot find anything else wrong. All terminals look good and no signs of heat or oxidisation. Again, any help to go on is appreciated.

 

[Mark33]

Folks, amateur status confirmed here. I went under the motorhome to trace the cables from the leisure battery and discovered another battery!!!!
Apologies!!! Now this seems to be linked to leisure battery under seat. Could this battery be my problem?
Not sure to be embarrassed or happy

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