New van.. couple of issues but getting there (1 Viewer)

Jaws

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First off, the folk we bought it from have so far been absolute diamonds.. They have bent over backwards for us..

Due entirely to my fault we had to collect the van a day early.
It was not ready and still had a couple of issues .. Both real buggers....
They had three people on it for about 4 hours but sadly could not sort it out before we just had to leave.. I was supposed to be going to a show in Germany today but have had to send someone in my place so I can get the van sorted out..
They have already said any costs incurred they would cover.. even if I have to get a local dealer to sort the issues out.. So me being me I will sort out the probs myself so it will not cost them lolly.. If they had not offered I would have proly said sod it let someone else do the faults :winky:

So what is wrong ?
No electrickery to the boiler.. Works on gas but there is no tell tail light on the wall switch so it cannot be much.. Had the Sargent unit apart today and that all checks out ok,, Further tests and I realised the fridge is working ok and that is on the same breaker/circuit so what ever the issue it it cannot be much !

Other issue is really weird

The control panel says there is no hookup when there is.. Everything works as it should, from the mains lights, to the charger to .. well everything really ( apart from the heater as previously mentioned )

And I have GOT to suss out how to stop the hab 12v system from turning off when I start the engine.. Cannot be doing with that rubbish !!

Oh and another weird one.. No hot water from the shower head.. But I reckon that is just the mixer tap playing silly buggers.. Darrell ( Nemo ) can sort that out for me !

Other than that.. its all good.. Put the solar panels on today ( though I think I am going to revisit that tomorrow as again, I do not like the standard method of charge the Sargent panel uses and will be doing some work on that.. Splitting the batteries to two separate sections of the charger is asking for issues to my mind..


So whats on the menu for tomorrow ?

Install the sat system and the telly, and maybe the Waterpure too :thumb:

If I get time I will also fit the Alugas but as I have to do some real ( as in earn some dosh ) work I may not get that done.. Still, be nice to have something to do on Wednesday :winky:
 
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Jaws

Jaws

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Forgot to mention who we bought it from.. Richard Baldwin Motorhomes in Halifax :thumb:
 

Carol

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WOW, sounds like a lot of work, but at least you will know the van really well by the time you have it sorted, and the van does look really smart.

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wasp

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Is there fuse on the heater switch, check if there is power to the switch, it could be the immersion heater.
 
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Jaws

Jaws

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First thing I checked :Smile:

All the autotrail mains wiring is colour coded..

For instance, the wiring for the fridge is black, for the water heater blue, for some of the sockets orange, for other sockets yellow etc etc

The AC feed wire to the fridge, as mentioned, is black.
It goes to the third RCB which is a 6 amp jobby..
What is odd is that the water heater wire is blue but goes to the same RCB..
Tomorrow I will start tracing the darned thing to find out what is going on.. I have a nasty feeling it has either been cut or drilled through or something..

I shall report back !!

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the stig

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John, If I can get any info from Autotrail direct let me know

Andrea
x
 
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Jaws

Jaws

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Cheers Andrea.. Appreciate that mate
Sussed out the hab turn off thing when you start the engine.. It is a red and yellow wire ( number 9 in the sensor plug ) that does the deed.. job done !! :thumb:

And it looks like the weird split charge set up has been resolved.
It seems that although there are two sets of wires coming from the batteries up to the panel, they feed through two fuses and then join together in the panel ?
I am not 100% sure about that yet so will have to double check but whatever, it is still an odd set up.
 
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Jaws

Jaws

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And todays update

The Sat system is in, and working, the WiFi system is in and working, the telly is semi in but not wired yet.. Still got nowhere with the water heater but have not really looked as it is not high on the list.
Found the wire on the Sargent that is the engine running sensor .. Disconnected it and all SEEMED fine.. But then realised the fridge would not switch over.. So after everything else is sorted out I shall revisit that and use the engine running wire to switch a separate relay relay so the fridge will kick in and out without killing all the other electrics.

Sussed out the 'no mains' message on the control panel.. Apparently the Sargent panel is faulty :Doh:

As I would have to send it away and be without for 10 days I have decided I can live with the error :winky:

Oh, and filled up the water tank.. JEEEEEZZZZ.. It must be HUGE !!
Took ages and ages.. In the end got to 75% and gave up.. Proly got enough water on board to irrigate most of Botswana ::bigsmile:
Tomorrow it will be finish off fitting and wiring the telly, then on to the Alugas fitting and the Waterpure ( I MIGHT talk Darrell in to doing those jobs.. After all, he is the gas fitter and plumber ! :winky:

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Jaws

Jaws

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Sooo.. Todays update

Finished installing the telly and connecting it to all the widgets and sources.

Fitted the two atomic controlled clocks

Modified the left hand seat end arm which, quite frankly is very poor design.
There WAS a natty opening flap which formed a small table when opened. That flap was all that stopped the arm from flapping about like a crisp packet in a hurricane !!
Sadly the catches that hold the flap in place were simply not man enough so when the arm was lent on the flap came open.. So dumped all the clever bits and simply screwed the flap to the seat body.
That helped but the arm its self was still pretty hopeless as the support was too short.
I extended that down with a plate of aluminium far enough to actually give the arm some decent support..

And the biggy today was to sort out why the bloody hot water did not work on electric.
In fact it looks like it has never worked from new !
Checking the feed wire I found that the return was open circuit somewhere under the floor.
I have no idea why Autotrail felt a completely separate feed was needed feed all the way from the Sargent panel to both the fridge and the water heater even though they share a common connection in the control panel and are fitted beside each other in the van
Rather than rip the van apart to try and find the fault I simply spurred off the fridge feed
All is now working as it should.

Tomorrow I might have to do some real work as the young lady who deals with all the incoming orders is off for the day, but with any luck I will have time to fit the DVR in the windscreen ( gonna be awkward due to the built in blinds But I am sure I will suss it out :Smile:

Also gonna disconnect the reversing camera from screen that is roof mounted in a centre consul ( bloody STUPID idea if ever there was one ) and put a split screen monitor on the dash which will allow me to actually SEE what the camera is seeing without risking wrenching my neck or indeed having the top of my head removed should ( god forbid ) I am ever in a serious accident..

If any time left I will look at installing a decent cat 1 alarm system ( which I was led to believe was already fitted ) and get shot of the two shilling jamboree bag system that is currently making the occasional meep meep noise !

Also got to look at the toilet pump ( wellll.. gotta FIND it first ! )
Apparently the Autotrail has two pumps, one specifically for the toilet, and it has a VERY weak output indeed..
 
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Jaws

Jaws

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Sooo.. up atr 6 this morning to get all the orders done to give me a bit more time on the van

But !!!


OMG !!!
All morning I have been trying to trace where the bloody reversing camera feed goes.
I have had half the van apart and still cannot find it !

Just off the fone from Autotrail ( what nice folk they are :thumb: ) and even they did not know !

They have asked I send the info request by email with chassis number so they can pull up the original specs sheets and see what options there were..
So I am stuck with that at the moment by the looks of it
It goes in to the cab roof and simply disappears !

Had both of the windscreen side pillar covers off, and both sides of the rear pillar covers off.. No bloody sign of it.


DVR fitted .. Had to cheat a bit.. Not exactly happy with what I had to do to fix it but hey ho...
I made a small ally bracket up and screwed it to the top of the rear view mirror.. Like I say, not exactly ecstatic as it looks a bit naff but I did not want to put it low down on a window sucker as it would be in my line of site on occasions..

Currently got number 1 grandson doing a full exterior clean and polish on the beast.. Paying him a fair old wad but I expect him to be at it for at least 7 or 8 hours !
 

Scout

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Oh and another weird one.. No hot water from the shower head.. But I reckon that is just the mixer tap playing silly buggers.. Darrell ( Nemo ) can sort that out for me ! :winky:

this could be the no return valve, fitted at the end if the feeder pipe which connects to the tap,

on mine it was the cold feed, stoping enough cold water mixing with the hot, so the therostatic mixer shuts down, hence no hot water, took me ages to work it out, and you need small hands to do the job
:Doh:

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Theonlysue

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Not long enough!
jaws

Can't wait to see your new toy
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buckby

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I fitted a mirror monitor had to thread it to the rearview box in the cupboard behind the drivers seat then wired a three way switch on the power so i can have it on permanently on when towing the car or just on when in reverse left the flip down screen wired up for the dvd
 

Terry

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Hi John as you know I am not the greatest with leccy (thats why Paul does mine::bigsmile:) but chances are the reversing camera will be wired into the back reversing lights ie select reverse and camera comes on --well mine does ::bigsmile: you may find a wire or two that does not normally belong there
terry

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Jaws

Jaws

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The camera system in the Chieftain enters the rear wall, then dives straight back in to the wall a couple of inches lower..
You would think it wends its way up to the front via the media control centre .. Nope !

Absolutely no sign of the cabling at all.. Crawled underneath as a good many cables are run externally.. nope.

I shall await word from Autotrail :Smile:

Soooo.. what have I been doing today ?

Fitted the Waterpure

Found a leak whilst doing it so fixed that

And then spent most of the rest of the day loading up all the 'usual stuff' .. clothing etc

Then I noticed a disaster...

I have NO idea how it happened but one of the curved glass panels that cover the corner mains powered lights has broken..

Lord only knows how or where I will get a replacement :Sad:

Tomorrow will def have to be a day off, as I have to do some more real work AND we have a bit of a family get together

But I might get a spare bit of time in the morning.. If I do I shall be installing either the CB radio or the reversing sensore
 
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Jaws

Jaws

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Pretty much as predicted.. no time to play..
All I ended up doing was changing the over head mattress for a box spring type, and cleaning off some old sikaflex running some fresh beads on a couple of joints I did not like the look of.
 
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Jaws

Jaws

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One very odd thing we are discovering
The new van has a lot more locker space.. Yet we seem to have run out of places to put the stuff we took out the old van !
I thought it was pretty much all loaded up then woman notices we have not put the DVD's in, none of the books in ( all the aires books, acsi books etc etc ) plus a good of other 'objeda' that is essential to our day to day living

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Jan 11, 2010
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Well that`s our 13th year & still loving it.
One very odd thing we are discovering
The new van has a lot more locker space.. Yet we seem to have run out of places to put the stuff we took out the old van !
I thought it was pretty much all loaded up then woman notices we have not put the DVD's in, none of the books in ( all the aires books, acsi books etc etc ) plus a good of other 'objeda' that is essential to our day to day living


Just a thought re your DVD`s, we used to carry a selection of DVD`s, and as most in the end ran out of space on where to put them all, we had the Arapaho so lots od storage space but like most you soon fill it up.

So I bought a little gadget called A Sumvision Cyclone, Copied all our films onto a 2tb hard drive, played through the Sumvision via a HDMI cable we now have all our HD 1080p films in the smallest of places.
Note don`t buy the Mk1 version get the Mk2 the remote on the MK1 is a waste of time, the Mk2 has a much better front end menu on the TV.:thumb:
 
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Jaws

Jaws

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Ahh... welllllllllllll
As well as the sat system, the dvd player, the freeview system, we also have a large hard drive that is FULL of films too !
 
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Jaws

Jaws

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Sooo.. time for an update again folks !

The SOG Terry kindly donated has now been fitted and is working perfectly

The reversing sensors are installed and all working ok

The 4 way split screen camera monitor is now mounted on the dash. It has the 12v feed but not the camera(s) connected as I am now awaiting a lead.

AND>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The mystery of the way the camera feeds in to the AutoTrail roof mounted monitor..
Still a bit of an issue because I am going to have to 'break in to' the cable and extend it to the new monitor..
So what is the problem you say ( actually you proly don't but ....:winky: )

It is a multi pin connector that is used.. Stripping back the cable that goes in to the standard connector plug I can easily see which are the video feed and its screening ( of course ) but that leaves another four wires. So I need to sort out which of those four are the voltage feed, and which is +ve and which -ve..

So what ? Welllllllllllll

The only time the voltage is fed to the camera is when the engine is running and the van in reverse.
I cannot help the clutch down in the front and be in the back checking the wires !

I 'spose I could just cut them one at a time, attach a long bit or wire run it through to the front and check them one a time that way, but that is messy to say the least :whatthe:

Gonna wait until I can get someone to sit in the cab while I do the biz in the back ( so top speak ! )

Tomorrow it will be fitting a couple of widgets in the front ( chicken box and a noise maker :winky: ) and then will be pretty much finished.

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Wildman

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re power supply for the reversing camera, why not run a fresh supply switched manually on the dash so you can use the monitor as a rear view mirror. I have mine wired this way and find it very useful.
 
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Jaws

Jaws

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That is what I am doing Mr WM :Smile:
Trouble is, I need to know WHAT to connect the voltage feeds to !!!

The multi-plug lead I have access to has no indication as to what pin is what, and IT plugs in to the same type of connector at the camera its self.. and no one knows what colour wires the original camera/feed lead wires were used.. The only way to suss it is to get it running ( as described ) and then measure what is being used ::bigsmile:
 
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Jaws

Jaws

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Anddddddd.. Pretty much finished now..

Still awaiting a lump of twin feed coax to wire the camera through to the front but I THINK the rest is about done.

Today I fitted the B to B block to make sure the van battery gets a bit of solar power when the leisure batteries are full, and fitted the silly noise maker ( one MUST announce ones arrival and departure at Funster meets ! )

Still might add another couple of 120aH leisure batteries ( I bought two new ones only about 6 weeks ago and am VERY reluctant to see them either sit there doing nowt or sell them at a massive loss )

Issues..

All in all it went quite well.

Only had one ooops ( a broken light cover ) which Matt Simms from the Family Travel motorhome dealership in Bristol has helped with by putting me in touch with Chris Davies at premiermotorhomes.com.

Other issues.

Somehow in the move over we have lost Mo's Funster badge

And I left out Camping and Caravan membership cards in the other van ..

Our Fiamma safari room is going to require some considerable work on it to make it fit.
I have ordered the Fiamma brackets which will allow me to hold the side rafters in place and indeed the side rafters will have to be cut shorter as the Omnistore wind out awning is about 6" shorter.. and leading on from that the side panels are also too long and will have to be shortened ( will have to find somewhere to do that as woman sold her industrial sewing machine a couple of years ago )

But over all, nothing to cause any real heart ache :thumb:

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Jaws

Jaws

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And today ? Sod it.. Poring with rain so spent the day doing real work :winky:

And also arranged for one of the last jobs that I was gonna do to be farmed out.

Upgrading the existing alarm system to a Cat 1 with provision for me to add sensors on all the lockers and doors that are not normally covered.
Not cheap ( but then what alarm system worth while is ! )
That is gonna be done on Tuesday

IF the rain stops tomorrow I will be doing the rats tail hab door thingy that keeps the flies out, and hopefully finally put to bed the reversing camera issue

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Jaws

Jaws

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Well, today has been a good news and bad news day.

Good news..
Knowing the rear camera system was fed via the Autotrail 'media centre', it was an easy job to find out which wire it was.
Breaking in to the wire, no problem.
Finding the video feed.. No problem
Findind the 12v +ve and -ve, somewhat problematic as there was a choice of 4 wires, and I could only suss out which one went live when the engine was running and the MH in reverse gear..

So I had to wait a couple of days until I could get some assistance :)

Once I had a body in the front doing the biz, it was a matter of moments to figure out what wire did what.
Soooo The rear view camera feed is now ditched from the silly stupid AutoTrail over head consul and is fed through to the 7" multi screen monitor on the dash..

And the bad news................

The other day I mentioned the disaster I had with that broken glass lamp shade.
Well the good folk of Premier tried really hard but it turns out Autotrail no longer make them and they are not available..

Now me being me and an awkward cuss I am actually taking legal advice about this.
A CAR or VAN manufacturer must make all spares available for 7 or ten years ( depending on various issues ) after the model has been discontinued

I have contacted my man who works for a firm who does nothing but automotive law to find out if the same rules apply to the interior of motor homes.. I have a feeling the answer will be no but if it is yes, then me and Autotrail are gonna be having a bit of a bull and cow !!

In the mean time I am gonna have a go at making a matched pair out of 5mm frosted acrylic sheet.. ( it becomes quite malleable at about 130C ).
I am hoping to use the one remaining glass shade as a mold..
Or perhaps simply replace the whole assemblies with something from B & Q !!! :winky:
 

Terry

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Hi John try posting a picture --you never know what people have laying around :thumb: and also more people helping to find one may get results --The Big one recently found me a link I could not see anywhere ::bigsmile:
terry
 
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Jaws

Jaws

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Good idea Terry..

Broken Link Removed Broken Link Removed

it is about 230mm by 165mm

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