Electric fault and setting off tomorrow!! (1 Viewer)

[RetiredPope]

Hi all,

Hoping someone can shed some light on our issues. Chausson Flash with CBE PC180-TR control panel. Last week went to start loading van and panel completely dead. Had just plugged into the mains, unplugged and still dead. Checked battery voltage at 13.4v. Checked all fuses I could find, including security relays and all OK. Took control panel and fuse board to Apuljack electronics and 3 days later they found no fault. Returned home and re-fitted both, panel working fine! Plugged into mains and all dead. Unplugged and all still dead. Took it to Southwest motorhomes and the panels working. They checked everything and found no issues. They also plugged the van in using both their own cable and our site cable, both without issue. Concluded it must be something wrong with cable used for charging at home. Drove it home last night and switched panel on, all ok, turned fridge on and came on with gas. Today, finished loading van and found fridge off, panel dead.

Scratching our heads now, plugged in using our site lead and still dead. In desperation I've bought a small (100AH) battery and replaced the battery, but all still dead.

My current thought is that the battery is being charged when we drive, but not holding charge. Assuming new battery needs to be charged before use, but not sure how to check if the battery is holding charge. Any advice welcome, how do I check old battery is holding charge? Any other ideas?

Am definitely catching ferry tomorrow for 5 weeks in Portugal, not sure how well it will go. Upside is we do have fridge and electric hob when on mains.

 

[suavecarve]

Its not something incredibly silly like the panel turns itself off (after a while) and you have to manually turn it back on by pressing a button is it ?

 

[RetiredPope]

No, press the control panel button and no response.

Just checked old battery voltage 1/2hr after swap and am getting 13.4v!! It's a fluke meter, so should be right, but makes no sense to me.

 

[Lenny HB]

The new battery you bought should be in a good state of charge, an approx guide to a battery state of charge is measuring the battery voltage off load after it's rested for 30 min with no load.

Sounds more like an intermitant control panel fault CBE panels have a reputation for failing some Funsters carry spare panels as they don't trust them.
It could be a dodgy connection between the panel and distribution unit it's worth checking the connections at both ends of the cable.

 

[Lenny HB]

No, press the control panel button and no response.

Just checked old battery voltage 1/2hr after swap and am getting 13.4v!! It's a fluke meter, so should be right, but makes no sense to me.

That's high put a new battery in your meter and try again, multimeters read high when the battery is low.

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[headlight]

I had this with a Fluke and a Vici DMM at Xmas time. Both good quality meters, both with low battery warning.
Neither meter was showing low battery but I was getting unexpectedly high voltage readings with both.
Lenny HB advised fitting new batteries.
Once I'd fitted new batteries both meters read true.

 

[Lenny HB]

I had this with a Fluke and a Vici DMM at Xmas time. Both good quality meters, both with low battery warning.
Neither meter was showing low battery but I was getting unexpectedly high voltage readings with both.
Lenny HB advised fitting new batteries.
Once I'd fitted new batteries both meters read true.

All multimeters do it, it's a safety feature could be dangerous if they read low.

 

[autorouter]

Just to clarify, is there any solar? That could raise the battery voltage to 13.4V. But it shouldn't be more than about 12.9V if nothing is charging it.

 

[RetiredPope]

The new battery you bought should be in a good state of charge, an approx guide to a battery state of charge is measuring the battery voltage off load after it's rested for 30 min with no load.

Sounds more like an intermitant control panel fault CBE panels have a reputation for failing some Funsters carry spare panels as they don't trust them.
It could be a dodgy connection between the panel and distribution unit it's worth checking the connections at both ends of the cable.

Changed battery in meter, now getting 13.1v on old battery. New battery after 30 mins disconnected is reading 12.7v. So happy new battery is good, but panel still dead.

Looked at getting a new panel, but the TR variant is on an 8 week delivery. Also costs £600, so I may look at what the cost is to switch from CBE to something more reliable.

Just thinking out loud, but is there something which would turn the panel off when you drive? It seems that taking it for a drive resets something. Will give it a drive in the morning to see if it resets.

 

[Lenny HB]

Steve Steve and Denise knows a man who repairs them.

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[RetiredPope]

Just to clarify, is there any solar? That could raise the battery voltage to 13.4V. But it shouldn't be more than about 12.9V if nothing is charging it.

No, this is the old battery, disconnected and sat on the drive.

 

[GeoffnDee]

Are you able to switch the battery charger off (at the Motorhome habitation 230v charger trip switch ? ) when on EHU to check that the charger is not causing the control panel to switch off if the charging voltage is to high , the control panel minimum operating voltage appears to be 10v and maybe it also shuts down if the charger voltage is higher than it should be.

 

[Terry R]

Just to clarify .After returning home from the MH dealer you did not use your EHU cable ?
If thats the case then I would suspect the Control panel is either faulty or the Gnd / supply contacts are poor .It may be worth unpluging the connectors a cleaning them. I had an old CBE control panel connected to the CBE DS300 control unit which over the 20 yr service was reliable with occasional contact cleaning.

 

[Steve and Denise]

These CBE display panels are absolute shite and both CBE and (Carthago) refuse to accept any liability for their part in this, I have tried with both companies to get some solution to this, but you may as well talk to monkeys.
I for one will never buy another Carthago due to the none existant customer service from Carthago! Shame really as they build a good van,
But also will never buy a van with a CBE control panel.
My old 2012 Rapido had a CBE panel and we never had any issues at all.

 

[RetiredPope]

Morning update, checked last thing last night and panel working!. Still working this morning. New battery at 12.7V, old battery sat disconnected overnight reads 12.9V. Beginning to think the issue is old habitation battery not holding charge. Will see how it goes whilst away.

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[RetiredPope]

Just to clarify .After returning home from the MH dealer you did not use your EHU cable ?
If thats the case then I would suspect the Control panel is either faulty or the Gnd / supply contacts are poor .It may be worth unpluging the connectors a cleaning them. I had an old CBE control panel connected to the CBE DS300 control unit which over the 20 yr service was reliable with occasional contact cleaning.

No, decided that as that appeared to cause the fault before we wouldn't plug in until we had no other option. If we get an issue whilst away, will try cleaning contacts.

 

[GeoffnDee]

If you do have to connect EHU while away check that your mains charger is not overcharging the batteries.

 

[Lenny HB]

Morning update, checked last thing last night and panel working!. Still working this morning. New battery at 12.7V, old battery sat disconnected overnight reads 12.9V. Beginning to think the issue is old habitation battery not holding charge. Will see how it goes whilst away.

Old hab battery sounds OK 12.7 and above is fully charged. They always read high after being on charge then drop a bit.