Electric drop down beds

[WESTY66]

Just a quick one, had my nose in another van t'other day and it had two electric drop down beds, would this be a problem without EHU? Possibly for touring (staying in two nights max before driving on) or say on a rally for 4 nights. It has 120 solar on 110 battery, would the battery wind the beds up and down each day without flattening the battery?

 

[DaveandJen]

Electric drop down beds seemed to be the future in motorhomes about three years ago but the forums started to become littered with complaints from new motorhome owners about their beds not lowering due to various problems (not only due to battery power) and people having to sleep on the floor and shortly after Swift and others started promoting their new manual wind down beds so it makes you wonder.

 

[Vanderek]

@WESTY66 we have a drop down in our Benimar no problems in four years with the bed ...it can be programmed to stop at set heights..some times it forgets where it is ..just turn off and on the bed switch and it's ok ...we have 110 amp battery with 120w solar and went three nights without EHU ...and it's a very comfortable bed.

 

[Crazylegs]

Our neighbours and friends hired a Roller team with a drop down bed to sample Motorhome life. Sure enough the first night the bed failed to lower and they had no option other than to sleep on the floor. The next morning they found a box of fuses in the glovebox, so it appeared this wasn’t the first problem. The sad thing is this failure seems to have put them off the idea of buying a moho.

 

[Basildog]

We had one in a Rimor thing we had ,it actually blocked the habitation door if it was down so really turned the van into a death trap if it was used !
The Rimor was actually the quietest van on the road we’ve ever had .

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[AXO66]

Two years , no problems with ours. Most times it goes straight to pre set height. At other times it has to be lowered by keeping finger on the button.

4 night max without EHU so no idea if battery would give 5 nights. One battery, no solar.

Could start engine and lower on engine current, or use manual handle as back up

 

[the1andonly]

Not needed it yet for my rapido bed ,but have a 5mm allen key in a battery drill for the manual wind down mechanism . If you use this method the plc will lose its way and you will need to home it manualy (power off). Had no problem with battery power yet. The bongo roof is also electric but much heavier and is reccomended to raise with engine running.

 

[tjay]

Have one in our Elddis, fuse blew and could not find it but lucky it happened just at the start of our hols so took my cordless drill, long extension and socket to put it up and down (quicker the actual motor)
Stopped en route at the dealers where fitter showed me where the reset fuse was (hidden behind small in overcab locker) bought a spare fuse ,just in case, but as the fault was traced to a faulty limit switch it has never happened again.

 

[138go]

We had one in our Pilote, it seemed like a good idea. Within a year the bed started getting stuck and there was nothing you could do. It was so much trouble we sold it. We now have a Laika and you just pull the bed down, it’s no trouble.

 

[StanandShirley]

Got a Chausson 640 on order with bed up in the roof let’s hope they have soughed out the problems, I know it has a wind down manual override just in case O Happy Days

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[two]

Not all beds will be made to the same standard. I'd be more concerned about the mechanism than the battery.
If you could be more specific about the model and age, replies might be more focused.

 

[Alcemi]

We’ve had our Burstner Ixeo Time Sovereign it590 for two and a half years, and the electric drop-down bed has been great! Very comfortable, and just press a button to lower it to your preferred height.
We took it to a rally with no EHU when we only had one leisure battery and no solar panel, and had no problems lowering/raising the bed. Since then we’ve added another battery and a solar panel, and have done longer trips without EHU - including a 10 day trip stopping at 3 locations - and the bed has always been fine. The motor sounds slightly quicker on EHU but that’s about it. There’s a manual handle in case of any problems, but it’s just sat in the drawer so far.
Having the drop-down bed means we have a large seating area in a 6m van, which was a priority for us.

 

[WESTY66]

Not all beds will be made to the same standard. I'd be more concerned about the mechanism than the battery.
If you could be more specific about the model and age, replies might be more focused.

Benimar 282
.

 

[KUSKUS]

we had a Burstner Ixeo had problems with the front electric bed and loads of other items , sent it back to the dealer and got a refund !
Manual beds for me in future.

 

[andy63]

Ive got one of the project 2000 electric beds in a chausson 620 and its been ok.. it has lost its settings a couple times but once its been raised to its upper limit stop its returned to normal..
Folk have mentioned the manual override... it may be fine in theory but id hate to have to try and locate and use it with the bed in the down position... you would struggle especially if you hadnt had a look and a familiarise with it beforehand..

I carry a small battery operated screwdriver with a flexible drive and the correct size hexagon drive to fit the manual winder on the motor.. just in case.
Andy

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[chopper602]

One of the reasons we went for the TEC we have now, is the drop down bed is entirely manual. Button press on the side of the bed and pull it down until it stops - easy. No idea why these need to be electric at all. Much more to go wrong and extra weight thats not *really* needed.

 

[andy63]

One of the reasons we went for the TEC we have now, is the drop down bed is entirely manual. Button press on the side of the bed and pull it down until it stops - easy. No idea why these need to be electric at all. Much more to go wrong and extra weight thats not *really* needed.

Sounds good and ive not seen a drop down bed in a manual version other than the type you get above cab in a lot of motorhomes... but they have to have some sort of counterbalance mechanism in the form of levers spring or gas strut... that all has to be supported and housed somewhere ..i cant visualise an island drop down bed like chausson have fitted without it been electric..
Andy.

 

[chopper602]

Sounds good and ive not seen a drop down bed in a manual version other than the type you get above cab in a lot of motorhomes... but they have to have some sort of counterbalance mechanism in the form of levers spring or gas strut... that all has to be supported and housed somewhere ..i cant visualise an island drop down bed like chausson have fitted without it been electric..
Andy.

There are some cantilevers at the sides, which it uses. No gas struts. I think it uses it's own weight to stay down and clicks into place when pushed up. Never had a problem with it (rarely used recently as one away at Uni and other refuses to come with us!)

 

[Sandancers]

We have an electric bed, which runs of the hab battery. No solar and only the one hab battery. We recon that we have three days use of the hab battery then we'd be worried. As you have solar, then no problems for you.

 

[Blue Knight]

Benimar 282
.

Be careful sir,

It only comes with an advertised payload of 280kg on a 3.5T chassis so if you have an awning, solar, telly, extra gas and then consider the potential for it to be manufactured heavier than stated then you could be close to a zero kg payload.

If you add a towbar then you'll definitely be on zero without putting a tin of beans in it.

You'll have to take out the beds just to travel within the law

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[WESTY66]

Be careful sir,

It only comes with an advertised payload of 280kg on a 3.5T chassis so if you have an awning, solar, telly, extra gas and then consider the potential for it to be manufactured heavier than stated then you could be close to a zero kg payload.

If you add a towbar then you'll definitely be on zero without putting a tin of beans in it.

You'll have to take out the beds just to travel within the law

I know about the Benimar’s weight, it’s been to Sv tech and uprated to 3850

 

[wingman]

No problem with my drop down bed (Benimar 483). After all, beds are only moved up/down once a day.
A lot of the problems with these beds are caused by operator error. Hang on to the button or key too long against the ‘stop’ and it will blow the fuse.
No need to sleep on the floor if there’s a prob’ just use the handle!

 

[WESTY66]

No problem with my drop down bed (Benimar 483). After all, beds are only moved up/down once a day.
A lot of the problems with these beds are caused by operator error. Hang on to the button or key too long against the ‘stop’ and it will blow the fuse.
No need to sleep on the floor if there’s a prob’ just use the handle!

Would I be right thinking that every Moho electric drop down bed has a mechanical means of putting up or down in the event of it going Pete tong??

 

[andy63]

Would I be right thinking that every Moho electric drop down bed has a mechanical means of putting up or down in the event of it going Pete tong??

Yes they all have a mechanical means in case of failure of the electrics...but see my earlier remarks..
My means of access to the manual winder is on the underside of the bed at the fronr end.. if the bed is in the down position its not an easy job to access it.. so id imagine for some it just wouldnt be possible to access it easily..
Andy

 

[Sandancers]

Yes they all have a mechanical means in case of failure of the electrics...but see my earlier remarks..
My means of access to the manual winder is on the underside of the bed at the fronr end.. if the bed is in the down position its not an easy job to access it.. so id imagine for some it just wouldnt be possible to access it easily..
Andy

If the bed is in the down position and you need to raise it with the winder, on ours it would be easiest to open the window above the winding hole, lean in the window and fit the handle then wind from there until it reaches the top of the window then you'd have to do it from inside.

NOT a job you would want to do tho.

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[andy63]

If the bed is in the down position and you need to raise it with the winder, on ours it would be easiest to open the window above the winding hole, lean in the window and fit the handle then wind from there until it reaches the top of the window then you'd have to do it from inside.

NOT a job you would want to do tho.

Your winder is on the side of the bed then..
Mine is under a removable lighting panel in the middle of the bed at front end so would have to be accessed initally by lying in the footwell somehow ..
Sliding the bed back to the normal position to raise it wouldnt leave any room between bed and the lowered table to access the winder.. so the initial part of the winding would have to be done with the bed in the fwd position until you got a bit height and some clearence..
Doesnt even bear thinking about
Andy.

 

[Tony50]

Got a Chausson 640 on order with bed up in the roof let’s hope they have soughed out the problems, I know it has a wind down manual override just in case O Happy Days

we have a Chausson 718 and cannot find where to put the manual winder , have asked dealers , have looked around removed panels nobody has found the place for the key so far

 

[two]

Fascinating. You have a key but have nowhere to put it...
Are you sure you have the right motorhome??

 

[Vanderek]

we have a Chausson 718 and cannot find where to put the manual winder , have asked dealers , have looked around removed panels nobody has found the place for the key so far

Have you run a hand along the end of bed ..ie between bed and outside wall ....you might find small hole in the bed frame ..for the small manual winder?

 

[andy63]

we have a Chausson 718 and cannot find where to put the manual winder , have asked dealers , have looked around removed panels nobody has found the place for the key so far

If you have a peak under the mattress .. find the location of the motor... thats where the winding handle will most probably go...
Andy.

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