12 v socket problem

RichardandKaren

RichardandKaren

Free Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2017
Posts
149
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163
Location
Leamington Spa
Funster No
50,836
MH
Rapido 786F
Just got home from great trip away over Easter. All went well other than last couple of days when we were off EHU in New Forest. First night all seemed Ok and leisure battery seemed to be holding up Ok showing between 12.6v and dropping to 12.2 by end of evening. Second night, went to plug TV in to 12V socket next to TV and no power ( after having my portable solar panel plugged in during the day). Checked other 12 V socket in one of the cupboards - also dead. Lights worked Ok as did water pump/toilet flush. However, battery monitor showing leisure battery at 11.9V. Vehicle battery showing fine at 12.8V. There is another 12V socket near cooker hood and this one would power up the TV but I was worried that maybe that was taking power from vehicle battery so I didn't use it to watch TV.

Checked all fuses and they are all Ok.

Drove home and after 2.5 hours journey the leisure battery is now showing 12.8V after resting for a couple of hours.

Bought m/h just under 2 years ago and don't know how old leisure battery is and haven't used it that much since having m/h ( as have been mostly on EHU). It's a Halfords battery and accept it might be old and knackered so probably need a new one.

M/H is on hook up at home now but those 2 12V sockets still won't power anything up. All else works Ok.

Any help/advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Richard
 
May be a fuse for the sockets but it sounds like your battery is giving up.
To drop from 12.6v (which is a little low) to 11.9 in 24hrs is too much unless you had some high current item(s) running.
If both sockets have been wired from the same supply with the same fuse it may have overloaded the fuse if both have been used at the same time.
Each should be on a 10a fuse, not a 20a fuse to cover both.
 
RichardandKaren said:
M/H is on hook up at home now but those 2 12V sockets still won't power anything up. All else works Ok.

Richard
Click to expand...

Time to find a blown fuse.

Those 12V sockets, assuming the cigar or similar ones, are disasters waiting to happen, so easy to short them out with the plug or a stray bit of metal.
 
The ciggy lighter type have a fuse inside them too.
 
Checked all the fuses on the main hab board and they are Ok ( including the fuse which the rapido manual says is for hab 12v sockets). I sort of assumed it was an electrical energy saving facility which automatically stopped the 12v sockets working ( whilst leaving lights and pump working) when battery power was low - but that cannot be the case as battery is now on EHU and showing fully charged. The 2 sockets in question are the hella types and only one of them was being used last night just for running 12v TV.. The 12 v one next to cooker which is still working is standard ciggy lighter type. Seems a mystery. I agree it's probably a blown fuse but where I wonder? it's not on main hab fuse board. Could it be on vehicle fuse board ( Ducato)?

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Nonose does make a valid point though.
Have you tried something else in the Hella sockets, if not it could be a fuse INSIDE the Hella plug has popped.
They are usually rated at 10a, 15a or 20a though
TV may only be 2a or 3a.
 
Hi Pappajohn, I have checked something else in the 2 hella sockets and it doesn't work either. Now I'm on EHU at home I've checked that TV powers up OK on 240v. However, I have also just noticed that the status TV aerial booster thingy will not power on either. To summarise, everything seems to work Ok except the 2 hella 12v sockets and the status TV signal booster box.

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Time for a multimeter.
Visual check of fuses isn't always enough (they can blow at the end out of sight) and a proper continuity check is needed.
The other option is to swap fuses around to see if a swapped one powers up the sockets and kills another circuit. (swap like for like fuses, don't mix up... 10a for 10a... 15a for 15a etc)
 
pappajohn said:
Time for a multimeter.
Visual check of fuses isn't always enough (they can blow at the end out of sight) and a proper continuity check is needed.
The other option is to swap fuses around to see if a swapped one powers up the sockets and kills another circuit. (swap like for like fuses, don't mix up... 10a for 10a... 15a for 15a etc)
Click to expand...

Agreed, and if the fuses check out ok maybe look at the terminals at the socket and rcd, are they tight ?
 
Status signal amplifier only works on 12v (10v to 28v) so chances are its a shared fuse. IE : The sockets are wired to the status supply somewhere.... Or visa versa
 
Half the time the problem is extra things are added and instead of wires going back to the battery or fusebox and a fuse installed a 12v supply close by is used with no regard as to what it does or what fuse rating it has. That's when problems can arise.
 
In addition to searching out a fuse, may I also suggest having your battery tested. As you said you did not know its history or quality and it did take a bit of a hammering.

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So - have changed all fuses over for ones I know are working and still no joy ( including the fuse which is for "TV aerial pre-wiring"). I think that the shared fuse that Pappajohn mentions regarding the Status signal booster maybe the answer. The sockets that are not working are on that side of the van ( the one 12v socket that is working is on the other side) and the status is nearest to the battery. If that is the case then it must be hidden behind some of the woodwork in the hanging cupboard ( which is where the status is and the 12v status power lead disappears through a little hole in the woodwork in the cupboard so I'm guessing there is a socket just behind that woodwork somewhere ( the Rapido manual does refer to a 12 v socket in the cupboard ready for signal booster) and a fuse also somewhere nearby. Looks like some furniture dis-assembly is required! Why couldn't they have put these things where you can get to them easily!
 
An update for anyone who may be interested. Try as I may, I couldn't find out why my 12v sockets on one side of the van didn't work and those on the other did. I took a few cupboards to bits looking for a hidden fuse, changed all fuses I could find, took the cover off my CBE unit and checked that fuse etc etc, but couldn't resolve the issue. So, found a motorhome auto electrician who came to my house yesterday. He took even more cupboards apart and even he was a bit flummoxed initially, and said it's a fairly typical example of previous owners cobbling together all sorts of dodgy wiring solutions ( said he sees it all the time - often ending up with some pretty iffy installations) ! He then found a deeply hidden 10amp fuse which the 2 sockets and the TV signal amplifier had been wired through straight in to the leisure battery feed in to the CBE unit. This fuse had blown ( said he wasn't surprised as it was too low a rating for the task) and he had no idea why anyone had done that and said it was definitely not a piece of Rapido wiring (he is experienced in Rapido's). He sorted all the wiring and got everything working - got it back to working as the factory intended - checked everything works as it should - put all the cupboards etc back - cleaned up after himself - spent nearly 1.5 hours on the job and...……..charged me the grand total of £50! Absolutely top fellow and reaffirmed my belief that there are still genuinely good/honest people/tradesmen around who do a good job and don't rip you off.
 

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