Ooh la la, please keep your fingers crossed (1 Viewer)

Feb 24, 2013
12,991
101,181
Bolsover, Derbyshire
Funster No
24,833
MH
Hymer S800
Exp
not long enough
so we are going out under a bit of a cloud, but it already has a silver lining

two days ago the 12V sockets on the habitation side failed, must be a fuse, but I cant one that's gone, so not looking any harder, could easily make things worse, even taking a couple out and back in again I managed to lose the hob ignition, which I mended again (to be more precise put the fuse back properly)

so with no 12V socket my laptop charging has to be done from the cab socket, which stays live even with ignition off, now we have had a problem with this in the past (flat cab battery) so am now cautious, charged while driving, but lap top went flat and I wanted to post about Pont de l'Arche last night, so decided 1/2 hour wont hurt, so did that, but then the mifi went flat so plugged that in.

That is where I think I went wrong, tiny as it is, I then forgot to unplug it, in the morning walked out for bread, came back I said I will just start engine to demist while we have breakfast, oh no we wont, deafening click, no start

SO now half past nine, no real panic tunnel booked for tomorrow, only shopping to do today, it is bright sun maybe the solar will sort it? Checked volts on cab, have actually got 12.7, seems odd that more than enough, so tried to start again with Bev watching volts, dropped to 8.5V and a quieter click

Balls, so have breakfast, watch voltage barely change, now I know you experts will remind me it is charging the hab batteries but this is meant to be semi intelligent, the hab batts are 13.2, so get on with sorting out the cab battery. But nothing doing

No problem we are in the RAC for just this kind of thing, but how about asking our French neighbours who we had spoken to last night, for a jump start, get phrase book out, the French don't seem to have jump leads or a translation for it anyway, and there is always the risk of one or both of us upsetting the vehicles by jump starting

SO I decide to go to the town look for a garage arrange my own jump start, must be quicker than waiting for the RAC, off I trot, find 2 both closed on Mondays, bad enough everything closes for lunch but whole days as well??

SO back to MH, ring RAC, open bonnet, not really sure why, just looking at things as men do, RAC are sort of brilliant, first we get a UK moron who insists on following script, right through to exactly where are you, question 20 ish, in France, or I need to transfer you, no actually you need to ring .......................... :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

so I ring alternative number, lovely girl in France perfect English, commented favourably on my French pronounciation of the place we are stuck at, I think I am in love with her, she is sorting things out and sounds gourgeous at same time. She says she needs to verify our RAC membership, then find a recovery option, then will call us back with timings :)

Put phone down, French man who has seen bonnet go up and me on phone knocks on my window, wants to help, we explain the problem. He has an on board generator, and goes to get a lead which has a UK 16A plug on end for us and plugs his back into his end. Brilliant, controller shows mains connected, 14A going into hab batts, cab batt at 14V but shown no current (never does not a fault)

Give it 5 minutes, try to start, still nothing at all, volts still drop back to 9, so agree to leave it 30 minutes, now dreading a call from RAC what to do when they do, daren't cancel them, anyway they don't call, but an English MH arrives and parks next to us, immediately comes to investigate what is going on. He has an emergency jump start thingie, I have tried those in the past without much joy, anything bigger than my mums Yaris no chance and it even failed on that once.

So it has now had 15 minutes on the generator charging, get out his jump thing and bang it starts first time, proper result, now still not sure what to do when RAC call back, should I get it checked the battery might be goosed and still not restart again

With that French recovery truck turns up, drags out a leisure battery with jump leads attached while I explain it is running now, he shrugs and goes back to truck, having first got the worlds biggest battery to try a jump start he gets the most pathetic multi meter and insists on 'testing' the battery

With the engine still running he confirms 14.4V, gives me a thumbs up and says OK, now even I know that volts while running do not tell you much, so I explained I wanted to turn engine off and check again, we did and got 13+ V and more importantly it restarted after

So 'test' now complete we sign papers and off he goes, we shake hands with monsieur le generator and kiss madam 4 x she says that is the norm, he goes we talk to new UK neighbour for a bit then risk moving on

Now having a flat battery is not good, at what point are you brave enough to turn it off again, for me my drive would be best but no option, parked on a garage forecourt possibly, maybe just after buying a jump start kit, all not going to happen

So I have just been brave enough to park and turn off in Hyper you Abbeville, Bev is shopping, I am writing this update, everything was unplugged before I turned off, just off to find / join Bev now, in about an hour I will know if it was a clever thing to do or not

Turning the engine off that is, we are now not parked at all easily for recovery

........................................................................ (y):sick::cry::(

will let you know later :)
 

champers

Funster
LIFE MEMBER
Mar 9, 2009
4,221
8,248
Skegness, UK
Funster No
5,872
MH
Frankia i650 FD
Exp
Since March 09
Fingers crossed it was " just one of those days " safe journey home both n Lola xx
 
Nov 18, 2011
11,857
42,489
Planet Earth
Funster No
18,938
MH
A van
Exp
Over 25 year's
park on a hill if there is one if its not a automatic that is if thare a slope or hill handy
bill

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Sep 16, 2010
2,994
2,849
Bungay Suffolk
Funster No
13,734
MH
Autotrail TrackerEKS
Exp
Since 2010
Check the levels in the batteries cells.. If the levels are on or below the level of the plates, then top with clean rain water.. Use a suitable coin to turn the caps and if they are really tight, hold the coin with pliers.. Reference the fuse problem, under the bonnet on RH side as you look in, there is a fuse box with a large black plastic cover.. There is a fuse in there( 10 amp ) which went when my 12 volt sockets packed up...Good luck.. PS I have assumed you have a Fiat
Ducato and reasonably modern !! Hope this isn't 'rude'..
Mitch.
 
Last edited:

Al-Di

LIFE MEMBER
Mar 15, 2014
3,050
28,479
prestwich
Funster No
30,545
MH
Eura Mobil A Class
Exp
since 2013
its a Merc, hope all is fine,

Alan + Diane,

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

Mousy

LIFE MEMBER
Sep 13, 2013
3,480
20,275
Sa15 2DG
Funster No
28,061
MH
Hymer S840 Merc auto
Exp
Since 2013
Oh dear David, sorry to hear that, it's stressful being on holiday, you will need a holiday by the time you get back.

I'll keep everything crossed for you.
 

movan

LIFE MEMBER
Dec 2, 2009
21,492
120,752
Moving around
Funster No
9,543
MH
Burstner
Exp
since07
park on a hill if there is one if its not a automatic that is if thare a slope or hill handy
bill
Bill someone told me last week UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES EVER JUMP START A MOTORHOME BY PUSHING. I don't know why but maybe someone else can come along and say.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

movan

LIFE MEMBER
Dec 2, 2009
21,492
120,752
Moving around
Funster No
9,543
MH
Burstner
Exp
since07
So sorry to hear of your problem David.... One of my big fears of being alone when out in the motorhome. I wouldn't have had a clue who to turn to.
 

funflair

LIFE MEMBER
Dec 11, 2013
19,199
29,888
Guisborough
Funster No
29,351
MH
MORELO palace
Exp
since 2012
Bill someone told me last week UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES EVER JUMP START A MOTORHOME BY PUSHING. I don't know why but maybe someone else can come along and say.
Only reason I could think would be damage to the mouldings on the back from over eager pushers, otherwise it's just a van.
 

movan

LIFE MEMBER
Dec 2, 2009
21,492
120,752
Moving around
Funster No
9,543
MH
Burstner
Exp
since07
Thanks Martin. It was Terry actually who said it at a meet ... He'll probably deny it if it's wrong .. but he did, honestly. :)

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
OP
OP
DavidG58
Feb 24, 2013
12,991
101,181
Bolsover, Derbyshire
Funster No
24,833
MH
Hymer S800
Exp
not long enough
First. It restarted. Many thanks for concerns and interest

We are now at aire in Montreuil, actually MH is there we are in Le Vauban bar and restaurant. Getting over shock by diluting with Stella :D

To answer various from above

We have a Merc auto so fuses and slopes no help :)(y) But thanks

Joy, Bev says you must join RAC or similar you probably know more than me about how MHs work

And I am with Terry and Martin never push a MH you might damage it but they also weigh far too much to push :LOL:

John you are so right

Mitch we have gel batteries so many thanks for the advice, but I am too inept to cope with topping things up

Al-Di well spotted I am impressed

Dawn I think our holidays are stressful, most people get to relax :)

Back to the Stella, you can all stand down".........................

Till tomorrow at least
 
Sep 16, 2010
2,994
2,849
Bungay Suffolk
Funster No
13,734
MH
Autotrail TrackerEKS
Exp
Since 2010
Great news David58..
Agree with Widman, ADAC very good in Europe, peace of mind for about £85..

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

Terry

LIFE MEMBER
Dec 27, 2007
11,904
8,969
Lincolnshire
Funster No
1,075
MH
A class
Exp
Can't remember ;)
Thanks Martin. It was Terry actually who said it at a meet ... He'll probably deny it if it's wrong .. but he did, honestly. :)
Not denying it but you area little confused ---Never BUMP start a modern van (esp transit) my neighbor bump started his tranny after stalling it so simply dropped it in gear and whammy knocked his injectors out of time and blew some part of his van's brain -end result a bill for over £1200 quid -following week his pump failed causing the same things to go wrong but this time only a slightly higher bill -plus 2k ;):D-Jump starting is OK
terry
 

Join us or log in to post a reply.

To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun

Join MotorhomeFun

Join us, it quick and easy!

Log in

Already a member? Log in here.

Latest journal entries

Funsters who are viewing this thread

Back
Top