1996 Hymer B class - a bit of help please .

[Hymerbrittany]

Morning. As yet another motorhome newbie, I have one or two issues re the good old learning curve. Firstly, leisure batteries. Is it possible that they can lose all ability to charge in one night. I went to bed on Thursday night and had power, woke up Friday morning and nothing. Drove for ten hours, no charge from either battery or anything showing from the solar panel. Battery warning light flashes, nothing showing in the dial of the solar power system. Have lost water pump, lights, electric step etc.... Everything appears to be off, ue fridge, so suggestions as to what is going on would be appreciated. The motorhome has been sitting with the previous owner for the last two or three years.

Secondly and it might be linked. The control panel attached. I know what one or two switches do, but not all. Could someone shed some light on this please. Thank you all.

 

[Manic]

Check the fuses near the batteries.

 

[gus-lopez]

On your photo the switch on the right " Hauptschalter" = Main switch 12volts should be on = Ein & not Aus= off

 

[Hymerbrittany]

Check the fuses near the batteries.

Will do, thank you.

 

[Hymerbrittany]

On your photo the switch on the right " Hauptschalter" = Main switch 12volts should be on = Ein & not Aus= off

Dohhhhh. Know French but sadly lacking in German. Obvious error perhaps. I'll switch over and see if it makes any difference. Is it simply the switch for the leisure battery on and would be in position off when connected to an outside source? Thank you for your quick response.

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[Vic. Parsons.]

Dohhhhh. Know French but sadly lacking in German. Obvious error perhaps. I'll switch over and see if it makes any difference. Is it simply the switch for the leisure battery on and would be in position off when connected to an outside source? Thank you for your quick response.

If this switch is in the off position, it would also be worth checking that the 12v power switch on the electrobloc (EBL99) is in the on position too.
If the van has been standing idle for a long time, the previous owner may have switched everything off.

 

[Manic]

If this switch is in the off position, it would also be worth checking that the 12v power switch on the electrobloc (EBL99) is in the on position too.
If the van has been standing idle for a long time, the previous owner may have switched everything off.

Also the switch on the EBL is known to be sticky and can need several moves to make it work.
I leave the 12volt switch on all the time regardless of being on hook up or not.

 

[Hymerbrittany]

Also the switch on the EBL is known to be sticky and can need several moves to make it work.
I leave the 12volt switch on all the time regardless of being on hook up or not.

Forgive my naivety but what is and more to the point where is the EBL switch you refer to and the former comment EBL99. So sorry for the lack of knowledge at this end but not only am I learning more every day, I want to learn more about how things tick... Thank you again.

 

[Hymerbrittany]

If this switch is in the off position, it would also be worth checking that the 12v power switch on the electrobloc (EBL99) is in the on position too.
If the van has been standing idle for a long time, the previous owner may have switched everything off.

See reply below asking about the EBL99???? Thanks.

 

[Manic]

Switch on EBL will probably be in the right side cupboard, mine under false draw bottom.
Switch is no12 in photo

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[Hymerbrittany]

Okay, found fuse board and master switch I guess. It is Ein position. Quickly checked fuses and they all appear to be OK. Am running engine now and seeing no change on the dials..

 

[Hymerbrittany]

The only change is the red battery warning light is now really dim, it was quite bright before. Does that mean anything?

 

[ChesterB]

Hi HymerBrittany.
We sold our much loved B-type last year and although it was a bit older than yours, the control panel looks the same.
Firstly - have you got a hand held testing device? Essential! £10-12 from Robert Dyas or similar and you will be able to identify most of your glitches, at least on the 12v front.
With it, you could simply connect it up to your liesure battery and then discover a) Is is charged up and/or holding it's charge b). is it recieving some or any charge from your chosen input system.
You could then work back towards your tranformer or charger and find out if there is a break (damage/fuse blown) somewhere in the supply.
On your control panel: Yes, the right hand switch is the simple on-off one, but this should not prevent the battery from being charged up by the system, only expended. The reserve switch we were warned never to use at it was connected back to the engine battery. Only after several years of use did I get bored one day and take the panel off the wall (simple screws etc) only to find that the was b-all connected to the other side of the switch! I suspect this would be utilised if you had opted for a 2nd liesure battery if bought new, but I'm not sure.
And lastly - from first hand experience - Yes! Leisure batteries can and do "die" overnight. We had to drive half way across Switzerland to get to a camping supplier before Friday closing to buy a new battery after ours went from perfectly serviceable on Wednesday to near dead on Thursday pm.
My rule-of-thumb is now to replace it after 4 years come what may. In fact I made up a harness for an "old" battery to connect to the new one, in parallel, fitting in quite neatly behind the drivers seat, which worked well and at little risk.
All the best, Cb.

 

[Vic. Parsons.]

Given the red warning light is now dim, I would say that your battery or batteries have drained even further and would need checking with a multimeter to see how bad the situation is. The power switch on the console will only switch power on if the voltage is above 11v, and all the habitation electrics will switch off automatically if the voltage drops below 10.5v. I'm guessing your batteries are way down and may even be beyond recovery.
You can check whether a charge is being applied when the engine is running by looking at the amp meter on the console on the right, this should show around 10amps in the green when charging, if it stays in the red with the engine running then that will show an alternator fault.

If you don't have a multimeter, then another check for 12v power outage would be the safety drain valve sited next to the Truma C boiler which looks like this:

If this valve is open, (red button (1) down ) then it's not getting enough power and the boiler will now be empty of water. (Make sure it's full again before use). Usually, the solenoid valve is held closed (up position) as long as the voltage is above 10.8v.

 

[Hymerbrittany]

Hi HymerBrittany.
We sold our much loved B-type last year and although it was a bit older than yours, the control panel looks the same.
Firstly - have you got a hand held testing device? Essential! £10-12 from Robert Dyas or similar and you will be able to identify most of your glitches, at least on the 12v front.
With it, you could simply connect it up to your liesure battery and then discover a) Is is charged up and/or holding it's charge b). is it recieving some or any charge from your chosen input system.
You could then work back towards your tranformer or charger and find out if there is a break (damage/fuse blown) somewhere in the supply.
On your control panel: Yes, the right hand switch is the simple on-off one, but this should not prevent the battery from being charged up by the system, only expended. The reserve switch we were warned never to use at it was connected back to the engine battery. Only after several years of use did I get bored one day and take the panel off the wall (simple screws etc) only to find that the was b-all connected to the other side of the switch! I suspect this would be utilised if you had opted for a 2nd liesure battery if bought new, but I'm not sure.
And lastly - from first hand experience - Yes! Leisure batteries can and do "die" overnight. We had to drive half way across Switzerland to get to a camping supplier before Friday closing to buy a new battery after ours went from perfectly serviceable on Wednesday to near dead on Thursday pm.
My rule-of-thumb is now to replace it after 4 years come what may. In fact I made up a harness for an "old" battery to connect to the new one, in parallel, fitting in quite neatly behind the drivers seat, which worked well and at little risk.
All the best, Cb.

Brilliant info thank you. Volt meters, physics etc are not new to me, just a tad rusty. I feel so inadequate to solve the problems I have. I have quite an engineering brain but there are so many switches, wires some not connected, some just taped off, all around the main fuse area and the area of the leisure batteries, it's daunting to be honest. Of course I want it to work but I also want to know more about why things don't work so that I can not only learn but understand what not to do next time. Thank you for your update.

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[Hymerbrittany]

Given the red warning light is now dim, I would say that your battery or batteries have drained even further and would need checking with a multimeter to see how bad the situation is. The power switch on the console will only switch power on if the voltage is above 11v, and all the habitation electrics will switch off automatically if the voltage drops below 10.5v. I'm guessing your batteries are way down and may even be beyond recovery.
You can check whether a charge is being applied when the engine is running by looking at the amp meter on the console on the right, this should show around 10amps in the green when charging, if it stays in the red with the engine running then that will show an alternator fault.

If you don't have a multimeter, then another check for 12v power outage would be the safety drain valve sited next to the Truma C boiler which looks like this:
View attachment 425478

If this valve is open, (red button (1) down ) then it's not getting enough power and the boiler will now be empty of water. (Make sure it's full again before use). Usually, the solenoid valve is held closed (up position) as long as the voltage is above 10.8v.

So much detail andniw talking about water heaters and stuff which I haven't even seen yet so yet more homework to be done. Thank you for some invaluable information.

 

[Vic. Parsons.]

When you come to change the batteries, make sure both the 12v power switches are in the off position and then after changing, switch on EBL and then the console switches.
You will need to find the safety valve after changing the batteries because this will need to be pulled up to close the valve once power is restored, otherwise it will just drain water out again.

 

[Hymerbrittany]

So getting back to the original question.. The control panel is as I understand the following...

From the left...

Water tank and waste gauges.
Simple test for battery strength on both leisure batteries.
Reseve and Ans... Probably nothing connected but leave on the reserve setting?
Stromkontrol gauge... Still not too certain what this shows.
The final switch is basically leisure battery power to everything inside - on and off switch.

Am I right with the above so far?

 

[Manic]

Stromkontrol gauge..

This shows the charge in red for drain or in green for Charging.
Also if you have solar and remove battery make sure you cover panel or disconnect at night, as you shouldn’t disconnect them when under load.

 

[Hymerbrittany]

This shows the charge in red for drain or in green for Charging.
Also if you have solar and remove battery make sure you cover panel or disconnect at night, as you shouldn’t disconnect them when under load.

Brilliant tip thanks. The dial in question is not moving at all but hope springs eternal .

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[autorouter]

The meter on the left has four functions, depending on which switch is pressed:

Test Frischwasser (Fresh water) shows level fraction on the blue scale (Tank)
Abwasser (waste water) shows level fraction on the blue scale.
Test Batterie 1 shows the voltage level on battery 1
Batterie 2 shows the voltage level on battery 2

I think battery 1 is Leisure battery and battery 2 is starter battery, but I might be wrong.

Strom = current (amps). Stromkontrolle is amps, into and out of leisure battery.

Entladen = discharge, Laden = charge

As gus-lopez says, Hauptschalter = main switch.

 

[autorouter]

The reserve switch we were warned never to use at it was connected back to the engine battery. Only after several years of use did I get bored one day and take the panel off the wall (simple screws etc) only to find that the was b-all connected to the other side of the switch! I suspect this would be utilised if you had opted for a 2nd liesure battery if bought new, but I'm not sure.

I'm guessing that 'Reserve' is meant to be 'spare', ie reserved for future use by the motorhome converter or the user.

 

[autorouter]

If the solar controller doesn't register on the Stromkontrolle amps meter, maybe it is wired direct to the battery, bypassing the meter completely.

The amps meter should register charging from the alternator when the engine is running. Also it should show discharge when the engine is stopped and there's something running from the battery.

 

[mitzimad]

very unlikley to just fail over night i would be looking for fuses near either the hab battery or the cab battery

 

[EuroTrotters]

Also the switch on the EBL is known to be sticky and can need several moves to make it work.
I leave the 12volt switch on all the time regardless of being on hook up or not.

well naughty step for you

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[autorouter]

There will be a large fuse (30 or even 50A) near the starter battery that is the main charging supply for the leisure battery from the alternator. There might be a second fuse, about 20A, near it which is the 12V supply to the fridge 12V element.

There is also a large fuse, 30 or 50A, near the leisure battery, that is the main supply from the leisure battery to the fuseboard. Both of the large fuses need to be good for the leisure battery to charge from the alternator.

 

[Hymerbrittany]

The meter on the left has four functions, depending on which switch is pressed:

Test Frischwasser (Fresh water) shows level fraction on the blue scale (Tank)
Abwasser (waste water) shows level fraction on the blue scale.
Test Batterie 1 shows the voltage level on battery 1
Batterie 2 shows the voltage level on battery 2

I think battery 1 is Leisure battery and battery 2 is starter battery, but I might be wrong.

Strom = current (amps). Stromkontrolle is amps, into and out of leisure battery.

Entladen = discharge, Laden = charge

As gus-lopez says, Hauptschalter = main switch.

Superb thanks for that.

 

[Hymerbrittany]

There will be a large fuse (30 or even 50A) near the starter battery that is the main charging supply for the leisure battery from the alternator. There might be a second fuse, about 20A, near it which is the 12V supply to the fridge 12V element.

There is also a large fuse, 30 or 50A, near the leisure battery, that is the main supply from the leisure battery to the fuseboard. Both of the large fuses need to be good for the leisure battery to charge from the alternator.

Not sure how you all know what you know but boy am I grateful. Lots of fuses to check then...need to understand what does what and being me, I need to know why something fails... Thanks again.

 

[Hymerbrittany]

well naughty step for you

Why?

 

[Hymerbrittany]

very unlikley to just fail over night i would be looking for fuses near either the hab battery or the cab battery

On the case. As I've said elsewhere, thanks for the heads up but I have to try and understand all of this but also being me, I have to understand why things fail. Thanks again.