More fun and games with the bloody Sargent in the Autotrail (2 Viewers)

[Jaws]

Yes,, The new part certainly seems to have fixed it.. It has now been 5 days without incident.. If all is still well on Wednesday I will reveal all ( though some may be disappointed !! )

 

[Terran]

Can't wait, better than Coronation Enders!

 

[Jaws]

Well I hope a tram does not fall on the poor thing !!!

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[Gellyneck]

You've finally got round to insulating the board correctly!

 

[Jaws]

patience folks.. patience !

 

[Jaws]

You've finally got round to insulating the board correctly!

???????????????????? Now that has really got be baffled LOL !!!

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[ebo]

Yes,, The new part certainly seems to have fixed it.. It has now been 5 days without incident.. If all is still well on Wednesday I will reveal all ( though some may be disappointed !! )

What Wednesday? I cant stand the suspense

 

[Terran]

Me neither, out with it man!

 

[Jaws]

OK OK !!!! LOL !!!!

So.....

I made another call to Sargent spoke to another nice chap who said really, as I had done just about everything possible, he would suggest I sent them the EM50

I mentioned the fact that the plugs on the board I were not as per the expected colour coding but were in fact white and black
Chap said it sounded like I had a very very early unit and one that was possibly pre-production

I spoke to someone else and said as I did not want to leave the van unusable would it be possible for them to send a unit to me up front if I paid a very large deposit to ensure I returned my unit to them

No, sorry.. We will not supply a different unit but will repair your own one or you can buy a new unit at £92 plus postage

Ok.. so not exactly full of confidence I parcelled it up and shipped it off

In the back of my mind I was thinking what if they THINK it is fixed and a few days after fitting the repaired unit we ended up back with a floppy step syndrome again..

So a few days go by ( really fast service I might add ), I get a box back.. Now given all the grief I have had and the fact that the fault sometimes only showed after a few days, I was not exactly expecting too much..

Opened the box and low and behold.. a completely brand new board ...

I was not expecting that, given the fact I was told categorically they do NOT do SCO's ( service Change Over ), but always repair the customers unit..

So what ever WAS wrong with the unit, it looks like Sargent them selves were unable to track down where the problem was on the original board..

Speaking further, I have put two and two together ( and possibly come up with a random number ! ) and I suspect the actual board WAS indeed an extremely early jobby, and one that the printed circuit was not as per the later spec .. Whether it was two lines too close together and causing issues with expansion and contraction when the weather turned cold, or a duff tunnel or lord only knows what I can only speculate.. I myself inspected that board pretty closely and could find absolutely nothing wrong with it at all so I am afraid although it is actually fixed and working fine now, I doubt I will ever get to the bottom of what the fault was

I would like to take this opportunity to thank one and all for your input, with special mention to Roland for the fone numbers he found for me..
Also like to thank Sargent for working with me over the weeks and never telling me to sod off as I am sure they must have felt like doing on occasion !!

Sorry folks.. I did say you might be disappointed !

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[jumar]

Glad to hear that all is sorted.

 

[SandJ]

Result! Nice to hear the good news John

 

[ebo]

Not disappointed at all, its been a good source of entertainment, and one Iv'e been watching with interest as I too have a problem with the step, but the opposite to yours.

Mine works fine on the switch but doesn't retract when engine starts, which I suppose is better than it flopping out unnecessarily, but also my fridge doesnt work on 12v I came to the conclusion it was the em50 and had it repaired by Sargent, but unfortunately it didnt make a blind bit of difference!! so back to the drawing board for me.

Glad you've got it fixed.

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[Terran]

Yea, brilliant. If its truly solved the problem then good for you and for Sargent. You worked really hard on the issue, your determination does you credit, many would have given up at the first hurdle. Now we'll have to go back to the boring plot of Coronation Enders, nowhere near as exciting or is that a backward step! Taxi for one...

 

[MitchandJenny]

Bloody amateur fiddling about with stuff you don't understand.. Give it to a professional and bingo fixed.. Tut Tut....


Teeheeee .

Oops the match just burnt my fingers..

Ps. I'll give you my address if you want to come round and kick bits off me !!! Seriously, well done for your perseverance and congrats on "the solution"..
Mitch. Very Merry Crimble..

 

[davejen]

Well done for trying, but you can't win em all!. BTW a guy on our site has a 12 reg Tracker EKS and he was saying that sometimes (on EHU) the 12v drops out for a second then immediately comes back on, only the12v not affecting 240v. Any clues?
Cheers, Dave

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[Jaws]

Not disappointed at all, its been a good source of entertainment, and one Iv'e been watching with interest as I too have a problem with the step, but the opposite to yours.

Mine works fine on the switch but doesn't retract when engine starts, which I suppose is better than it flopping out unnecessarily, but also my fridge doesnt work on 12v I came to the conclusion it was the em50 and had it repaired by Sargent, but unfortunately it didnt make a blind bit of difference!! so back to the drawing board for me.

Glad you've got it fixed.

Ahh ! That sounds like an easy fix !
At least you have solid faults.. Every time I touched my mess it SEEMED to be fixed..
I reckon I could wave a meter over that and sort it in a morning ! !!

 

[Jaws]

Well done for trying, but you can't win em all!. BTW a guy on our site has a 12 reg Tracker EKS and he was saying that sometimes (on EHU) the 12v drops out for a second then immediately comes back on, only the12v not affecting 240v. Any clues?
Cheers, Dave

Depends on the system fitted..
Just to get a firm grasp, the 240v remains solid at all times, it is just the 12v that fails momentarily yes ?

Do you know what system is fitted ? Given it is another Autotrail I would think it is still Sargent..
How old is the van ?
Does he have an EM50 box ? ( if not sure I can describe exactly what it looks like but it is usually a subsidiary box to the main controller )

 

[davejen]

Depends on the system fitted..
Just to get a firm grasp, the 240v remains solid at all times, it is just the 12v that fails momentarily yes ?

Do you know what system is fitted ? Given it is another Autotrail I would think it is still Sargent..
How old is the van ?
Does he have an EM50 box ? ( if not sure I can describe exactly what it looks like but it is usually a subsidiary box to the main controller )

It's just the 12v that drops-out, van is a 12reg, not sure of other details, only spoke to him today out with dog.
Dave

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[Jaws]

If you can find out Dave.. and ask him if he has a B to B fitted ...

 

[davejen]

Will do tomorrow if I see him.
Dave

 

[Gellyneck]

OK OK !!!! LOL !!!!

Whether it was two lines too close together and causing issues with expansion and contraction when the weather turned cold,

"You've finally got round to insulating the board correctly!"

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[Jaws]

"You've finally got round to insulating the board correctly!"

Insulating it ! ??
Insulating the bloody thing from existence in our know plain perhaps !

 

[rolandrat]

Glad you got sorted Jaws, all's well that ends well.
Roland.

 

[tonyidle]

Intermittents don't come much worse than that - I'm pleased it's sorted.

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[Jaws]

Even way back when I was messing with stuff that glowed in the dark ( as in thermionic devices or 'vales' to the prols LOL ! ) the absolute worst type of fault is the one that comes and goes..
Nowt to get your teeth in to that's the problem
You get the fault, start in with the meter, and POOF ! there is suddenly nowt wrong with the bloody thing again !

 

[davejen]

Saw him today as he was packing up to go, yes he has a B2B and agreed it might happen when it is switching over charging one batt to the other, I suggested he join the site if he has anymore queries, so just wait & see.....
Cheers, Dave

 

[Jaws]

Still a bit odd.. Possibly a built in to the design thing, or as simple as a slightly sticky relay...

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[Stef Derner]

Just to add to your list of step and awning light problems....we have an issue with the step refusing to work when we want it to. Some days it will perform as required, other days, the relays click and the step twitches. One thing I did find when we had an issue with the awning light - when you switched it on, or operated the remote to open the step and turn on the light, sometimes it would blow the fuse in both the EM50 and the EC325. I had the same issue as Jaws, when the EM50 was out of position to check it, everything was fine, when it was in place, pop went the fuse. It also fried the diode by the switch (0.5A diode 5A fuse...what??). Turned out to be a cut wire in the loom. Where the wires pass over the edge of the cab just behind and below the EM50, AT flatten the flange, in our case it wasn't flat enough and the edge cut through the wiring, shorting the light switch wires to ground where it comes back to the EM50. Just another possible fault for us AT owners to keep in mind. On our step issue, I'm not sure whether to replace our EM50, or just rewire the step using an Omnistep switch (or equivalent) and relay.

 

[Rubato]

It's an old thread I realise but I've just joined to comment on it! Looks like we have a similar thing to Jaws. We've already had an EM50 unit replaced by Sargent because of step issues 18months ago, the board was beeping while driving and it turned out it was powering on and off due to a connection issue.

Anyway fast forward 18months and the EM50 started doing a constant lowish beep when we alarmed the motorhome. I unplugged it all and eventually got it all plugged back in without it beeping at me, then hey presto the step doesn't work, stuck out. I've just been and checked all the fuses which were ok and then once again pulled out the EM50, I straightened out the ridiculous loom coming through a 100mm square hole and plugged it back in. 20 seconds later the step retracted on its own accord, it previously wouldn't come back in even switching the engine on. Now it won't do anything but at least we can leave the site lol.

Oh the joys!

 

[Jaws]

It's an old thread I realise but I've just joined to comment on it! Looks like we have a similar thing to Jaws. We've already had an EM50 unit replaced by Sargent because of step issues 18months ago, the board was beeping while driving and it turned out it was powering on and off due to a connection issue.

Anyway fast forward 18months and the EM50 started doing a constant lowish beep when we alarmed the motorhome. I unplugged it all and eventually got it all plugged back in without it beeping at me, then hey presto the step doesn't work, stuck out. I've just been and checked all the fuses which were ok and then once again pulled out the EM50, I straightened out the ridiculous loom coming through a 100mm square hole and plugged it back in. 20 seconds later the step retracted on its own accord, it previously wouldn't come back in even switching the engine on. Now it won't do anything but at least we can leave the site lol.

Oh the joys!

Those EM50 things have a LOT to answer for !!

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