Complete battery replacements and now no internal lights

B

bruno66

Joined
Aug 3, 2010
Posts
107
Likes collected
57
Location
Inverness
Funster No
13,006
MH
Hymer B694SL
Hi all.

I'm wondering if anyone has experience of anything similar to my issue just now and can offer some guidance for me please?

I've had a complete replacement of what I think are the original factory fitted batteries, starter and 2xAGM leisure, all refitted exactly as they were even though it was quite an awkward job. My problem is that I now have no 12v lighting inside. I've checked fuses on and beside the Schaudt elektroblok 101 and they all seem ok. 12v on the DT203 and when I try to switch the lights on the normal convenience light at the door illuminates but no other ones in the living area do from the separate lighting selection panel. Hope someone can assist!
🤷‍♂️
 
I'm really puzzled by this as there's directional led spotlights that are working
1000033284.webp

But all the fixed ones like these arent
1000033286.webp


Could it be that one of the led lights has blown and therefore knocking out the rest of them, almost like on a Christmas tree lights? Is that even a thing?
 
Have you got a multimeter to check the voltage at the lights or whether the fuses look good but have failed? If not, I’d be tempted to replace the fuses anyway. There should be a significant fuse close to the battery too
 
No, they are not wired like old Christmas tree lights! One failing does not take out all of the others.

Does the water pump work? Are any of the 12V sockets in the habitation area live? Does the heating control panel have power? Does the step work?

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Cush said:
Have you got a multimeter to check the voltage at the lights or whether the fuses look good but have failed? If not, I’d be tempted to replace the fuses anyway. There should be a significant fuse close to the battery too
Click to expand...
I do have a multimeter but am ignorant with how to operate it. Could a Google search help with that I suppose... There is a fuse on the elektroblok which looked ok, I'll try changing it anyway and see what happens, would you expect there to be another? And if the fuse is blown would that not also stop this light above the control panel operated by the top light switch on the right?
1000033295.webp
 
StillGoing said:
No, they are not wired like old Christmas tree lights! One failing does not take out all of the others.

Does the water pump work? Are any of the 12V sockets in the habitation area live? Does the heating control panel have power? Does the step work?
Click to expand...
Sorry but I wondered after reading a little bit but not knowing, that if they were connected in parallel they wouldn't go out, but in series they would? Now again I'm embarrassed to say I don't exactly understand electrics but at least if that was the case I could narrow the thing down
 
Jev88 said:
Did you check fuses with a meter?
Click to expand...
No but like I said in a previous reply if the fuse is faulty surely that would knock out the convenience light at the top of the control panel?
 
The light by the door and the 4 around the rooflight are from unswitched outputs on the EBL, so if the panel is turned off they will still work.

Check the 2 amp fuse next to the 50 sample fuse by the hab battery. It is the voltage sense circuit and the EBL won't turn on if it's blown.
Always check fuses with a meter a visual check is not good enough.

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bruno66 said:
No but like I said in a previous reply if the fuse is faulty surely that would knock out the convenience light at the top of the control panel?
Click to expand...
The fuse for that is a separate one for the lights under my electric sleep bed, but blowing one out, the whole 4 went pop, but none of the others in the rest of the LED's in the camper... As noted, check the fuse and make sure it's the correct one. Mine had three next to each other in the EBL 99.
 
bruno66 said:
I do have a multimeter but am ignorant with how to operate it. Could a Google search help with that I suppose... There is a fuse on the elektroblok which looked ok, I'll try changing it anyway and see what happens, would you expect there to be another? And if the fuse is blown would that not also stop this light above the control panel operated by the top light switch on the right?View attachment 1112556
Click to expand...
The step, the fridge, and the light above the door are on a separate fuse and independent from the other 12 v fuses. I would definitely test them with your multimeter by switching it to continuity. A visual check is possible as well. Phil
Phil.
 
Lenny HB said:
The light by the door and the 4 around the rooflight are from unswitched outputs on the EBL, so if the panel is turned off they will still work.

Check the 2 amp fuse next to the 50 sample fuse by the hab battery. It is the voltage sense circuit and the EBL won't turn on if it's blown.
Always check fuses with a meter a visual check is not good enough.
Click to expand...
The light by the door only comes on with 12v switched on at the panel and it's the only one coming on now. The 4 around the rooflight aren't coming on and never have until selected from any of the three lights selectors in the habitation area or at the 2 beds.

I'll check that 2 amp fuse next to the 50, but the EBL does appear to be on because all other 12v operations seem to be ok.

I'll get on to the meter checking in the morning.

Thanks again
 
wireman said:
The fuse for that is a separate one for the lights under my electric sleep bed, but blowing one out, the whole 4 went pop, but none of the others in the rest of the LED's in the camper... As noted, check the fuse and make sure it's the correct one. Mine had three next to each other in the EBL 99.
Click to expand...
I pulled the 15 amp fuse that the Schaudt booklet said was for the lighting on the elektroblok and it turned the light at the door off so I assumed it would be the correct one but I'll maybe just have to test them all I think!
 
Gaston aires said:
The step, the fridge, and the light above the door are on a separate fuse and independent from the other 12 v fuses. I would definitely test them with your multimeter by switching it to continuity. A visual check is possible as well. Phil
Phil.
Click to expand...
Thanks for that Phil and everyone for their input. It's very much appreciated. Multimeter crash course tomorrow!

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Multimeter should be red and black. Red is set to volts and a couple of other things whilst black is COM. for cables. turn the main system to what looks like a little horse shoe sometimes with a set of a couple of things all link together. That should give you 0.L on the readout. That is what you need. To test just put cables either end and you should get a readout of something like 000.0 Is that what you are getting?

Sorry its a bit dodgy but its hard to explain.
 
wireman said:
Multimeter should be red and black. Red is set to volts and a couple of other things whilst black is COM. for cables. turn the main system to what looks like a little horse shoe sometimes with a set of a couple of things all link together. That should give you 0.L on the readout. That is what you need. To test just put cables either end and you should get a readout of something like 000.0 Is that what you are getting?

Sorry its a bit dodgy but its hard to explain.
Click to expand...
No that's perfect, thank you
 
Just checked all the fuses on the EBL and the four other fuses in and around the batteries. Can't find a fault on any of them. All reading next to nothing and the audible alarm sounded. Does anyone have any other suggestions please? Are their other fuses somewhere hidden on a 2012 Hymer that could affect the lights that anyone knows of?

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bruno66 said:
Just checked all the fuses on the EBL and the four other fuses in and around the batteries. Can't find a fault on any of them. All reading next to nothing and the audible alarm sounded. Does anyone have any other suggestions please? Are their other fuses somewhere hidden on a 2012 Hymer that could affect the lights that anyone knows of?
Click to expand...
What is your EBL number> mine is an EBL 99, for instance... also put the meter into DC voltage check and turn the lights on and check for 12v on every one that is not working. You are looking for a duff one or if all are duff...
 
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Have you got voltage to the “failed” leds? New batteries might be outside their voltage tolerance. Maybe just grasping at straws 🤔
 
Now that you've got the multimeter working, maybe some voltage checks to start with. There is a 2-way connector on the EBL101 front panel, labeled 'BL7 LAS'. The two pins are leisure battery positive and negative. Pin1 (the top one) is negative, the other is positive.

You will need to insert a fuse in the 'Zusatz Ladegerat' (= auxiliary charger) slot if there isn't a fuse in there already. Preferably a 20A, but any fuse will do for just testing the voltage. Set the meter to DC volts, on the 20V range. The DC symbol is two lines, one solid, one dotted (not the AC symbol, which is a single wavy twiddle). You should get the same as the leisure battery voltage, about 12.5V, or up to about 14.5V if it's being charged by something.

The voltage should be present at BL7, regardless of any switches. It shows that the leisure battery supply is reaching the EBL internals.

The other thing to ask is, when you were doing work on the batteries, did you switch off the main switch of the EBL, the big black one marked 'Batterie Trennschalter' (= battery disconnection switch). This switch is notoriously unreliable, and it's best never to use it to switch off the EBL. So if you didn't switch it, just leave it alone and don't touch it.

Also, does the '12V' switch on the display panel work OK, powering some of the hab devices on and off? Do you hear a clunk from the EBL when the display panel 12V switch is turned on and off?

Another thing, as Lenny HB says, There's a big 50A fuse and a small 2A fuse located very near the leisure battery, check that both of these fuses are OK.

And on the negative leisure battery terminal there should be two wires: a thick wire for the main amps, and a thin wire for the voltage sensor negative. It's easy to miss the thin wire when you are fitting new batteries.
 
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There's a user manual for the EBL 101 here:
There's a wiring diagram near the end of it.

The lighting is from one of the general power circuits, labelled Circuit 1 and Circuit 2 in the diagram, and labelled 'Kreis 1' and 'Kreis 2' on the front panel, so check those fuses. They go from the 15-way connector (pin 2 pos, pin 8 neg, and pin3 pos, pin10 neg). Look at the colour of those wires, and see if you can trace them to a spade terminal distribution block. Check that you are getting the leisure battery voltage at the EBL end of those wires, then see if the voltage is still OK at the other end, at the terminal block.

The distribution block may be located in a cupboard somewhere, such as near the water heater or in the toilet cassette compartment. Ther will be those wires from the EBL, which connect to other wires for the lights and 12V sockets etc.
 
Thank you all again so much for the detailed help and suggestions. I'm just popping on quickly at the moment as I'm wide awake unfortunately, but hope to get out to the van today in between grandchild and dog sitting. A quick reply to autorouter, the manual said to switch the EBL off with that switch so yes, I'm sad to say now, I did... Is this recoverable?

I'll get back on later at some point and reply properly to everyone but thanks again for all your efforts to help me, very much appreciated!
 
wireman said:
What is your EBL number> mine is an EBL 99, for instance... also put the meter into DC voltage check and turn the lights on and check for 12v on every one that is not working. You are looking for a duff one or if all are duff...
Click to expand...
Looks like all are failed/duff LEDs, no voltage from any of them apart from the aforementioned one that's working above the door.
 
autorouter said:
Now that you've got the multimeter working, maybe some voltage checks to start with. There is a 2-way connector on the EBL101 front panel, labeled 'BL7 LAS'. The two pins are leisure battery positive and negative. Pin1 (the top one) is negative, the other is positive.

You will need to insert a fuse in the 'Zusatz Ladegerat' (= auxiliary charger) slot if there isn't a fuse in there already. Preferably a 20A, but any fuse will do for just testing the voltage. Set the meter to DC volts, on the 20V range. The DC symbol is two lines, one solid, one dotted (not the AC symbol, which is a single wavy twiddle). You should get the same as the leisure battery voltage, about 12.5V, or up to about 14.5V if it's being charged by something.

The voltage should be present at BL7, regardless of any switches. It shows that the leisure battery supply is reaching the EBL internals.

The other thing to ask is, when you were doing work on the batteries, did you switch off the main switch of the EBL, the big black one marked 'Batterie Trennschalter' (= battery disconnection switch). This switch is notoriously unreliable, and it's best never to use it to switch off the EBL. So if you didn't switch it, just leave it alone and don't touch it.

Also, does the '12V' switch on the display panel work OK, powering some of the hab devices on and off? Do you hear a clunk from the EBL when the display panel 12V switch is turned on and off?

Another thing, as Lenny HB says, There's a big 50A fuse and a small 2A fuse located very near the leisure battery, check that both of these fuses are OK.

And on the negative leisure battery terminal there should be two wires: a thick wire for the main amps, and a thin wire for the voltage sensor negative. It's easy to miss the thin wire when you are fitting new batteries.
Click to expand...
Just checked the BL7, reading 13.68, same as is displayed on the control panel.

The 12v panel appears to be working well, everything else operating from it seems to be working too, water pump, hob igniter, TV and sat... Definite clunk from the EBL when the 12v panel switched on and off.

50 + 2 amp fuses both checked and ok with multimeter

Wires at battery terminal all ok too

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