Schaudt LA200 charger fault ? (1 Viewer)

Jul 4, 2010
1,194
804
Essex / central France
Funster No
12,437
MH
Hymer Star Line 680
Exp
9 years
Plugged the MH into the mains to get the fridge down to temperature before going south for a week. Half an hour later Rosie came to find me and said there is a strange noise in the van.
It was the solar charge controller making a high pitched screech. Took a look and the voltage readout was 15.0v or 15.2v, not quite sure as know enough to recognise this was bad and immediately tried to think and rectify what had happened.

Switched the Schaudt LA200 mains battery charger off and then turned all 12v appliaces and lights on to reduce battery voltage, at 13.6v the screech stopped.

Checked the fault code displayed in the solar charge control and none of the 3 causes appeared to be the culprit.

An hour later the solar charge system was functioning as always, 13.4v steady and easily maintained. Switch the Schaudt charger vback on and watched the battery voltage climb steadily in a very short time at which point switched off again at 14.7v.

Does anyone know the specs for maximum charge voltage of this Schaudt or have any idea what the problem is?

Have used the Schaudt on 3 previous occassions where the voltage rose to 14.4v ish and then returned to 13.5v ish volts which I think is about normal. The batteries are always kept fully charged at a steady 13.4v by solar power.

This is original equipment in our 1992 S670 hymer.
 

hilldweller

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Dec 5, 2008
605
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From Aug 2007
I've seen many cases of Schaudt chargers failing, including my EBL99. Mains spikes seem to kill them, we had a lightning storm before ours went and I'd even put an in line surge suppressor on it.

You can probably send it back to Schaudt for repair.

Or fit a standard charger to replace it, my solution.
 
OP
OP
V
Jul 4, 2010
1,194
804
Essex / central France
Funster No
12,437
MH
Hymer Star Line 680
Exp
9 years
Thanks Brian

Do you think it has failed and do you feel they fail too often or is it there are maybe more of them than other makes?

We didn't have a mains spike, just a regular day at moderate temperatures, nothing untoward.

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1948

Free Member
Dec 3, 2009
444
49
surrey
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hymer A class
Exp
since 2010
you can get clarification regarding whether your unit is functioning correctly by email to Udo.Lang@schaudt-gmbh.de technical support
I had problem with my regulator beginning of summer, charging voltage well above 14.2V Schaudt was most helpful repaired my unit turn around time around one week payment done by paypal.
 

pappajohn

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Aug 26, 2007
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Since 2005
Thanks Brian

Do you think it has failed and do you feel they fail too often or is it there are maybe more of them than other makes?

We didn't have a mains spike, just a regular day at moderate temperatures, nothing untoward.

How do you know ?

mains spikes and dips are not always weather related
 
OP
OP
V
Jul 4, 2010
1,194
804
Essex / central France
Funster No
12,437
MH
Hymer Star Line 680
Exp
9 years
Of course, my mistake.

I should have written that nothing occurred to other electrical equipment to make me think there was a power surge, but it's not necessarily obvious.

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champers

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Mar 9, 2009
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We had a spike protector which was especcialy for Schaudt Electroblok fitted at Dave Newell's as it had got spiked during the PDI , would this also protect the charger ?

Kath
 

hilldweller

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Dec 5, 2008
605
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From Aug 2007
Thanks Brian

Do you think it has failed and do you feel they fail too often or is it there are maybe more of them than other makes?

15V sounds faulty to me with the one exception that some fancy new chargers push it high for a few minutes to clean up the cells.

Electro-Block is the only charger I've heard failing often.

I've now got a modern £90 Chinese one that's worked a treat for a good two years. Came off ebay, probably not on any more.
 

kickstart

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Dec 13, 2008
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Give Alan Evans of A and N Caravan services in Llandudno,he will be able to help you and he has new and re-conditioned schaudt units.

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OP
OP
V
Jul 4, 2010
1,194
804
Essex / central France
Funster No
12,437
MH
Hymer Star Line 680
Exp
9 years
The trouble is when it became obvious it was the newish charge controller was screeching and saw the voltage I immediately scrambled under the bed to switch the Schaudt off and switch all 12v stuff on, I know what overcharging can do and was thinking of the cost of 2 batteries and an expensive controller.

I only glanced at the controller to check the voltage so it could have been something above 15v, can't really say for sure. Therefore my question does anyone know what the max voltage should be.

I think the LA200 was the original charger as it all looks untouched from when built.

I'll contact one or both of the companies later today, thanks everyone.
 

Jaws

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Sep 26, 2008
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If the solar panel control unit was making a noise, I would suspect you have an AC component coming from the charger..

As others have said, they are VERY good folk to deal with BUT as they do seem to fail at the drop of a hat perhaps a replacement unit of a different make may be a better solution ?

Me, I would replace it with something else, get you unit repaired, and then sell it as a fully serviced one to get back a fair old % or my out lay :thumb:
 
OP
OP
V
Jul 4, 2010
1,194
804
Essex / central France
Funster No
12,437
MH
Hymer Star Line 680
Exp
9 years
Just to tidy this thread up, here is the cause of the over charge problem which may help another in the future.

Ordered a replacement charger, another Schaudt, a LA 1210 as the more modern direct replacement.

On removing the original LA 200 charger I disconnected the leisure batteries but before I got that far noticed a little discolouration in the out sheath of one of the charger cables.
Sure enough there was a fault/corrosion inside the lead running from the battery terminal to a near-by fuse. On measuring the voltage at the charger end of this cable it ranged from 6 - 11.5v and occasionally 13.5v if I wiggled the cable.

Checking what this cable did gave the answer, it was the battery sensing cable which instructed the charger as to how much charge to supply to the batteries. At best this was indicating 11.5v to the charger which directed the charger to a supply maximum charge rate at all times.

This problem occurred suddenly, it wasn't progressive and gradual, so something within the sensor cable suddenly changed.

The LA 1210 doesn't use a sensor cable and is a more modern version of the original, so fitted that anyway as it was bought and paid for, plus the LA200 was probably 21 years old.

This update will lead to another thread as I now have to replace the Schaudt LA 1210 too, more anon.

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