electric problem

[WILLBOB]

is there anyone i can talk to about an electric problem with my auto-trail it is plugged into the mains at home but there is no display above the door iam a new motoahomea help please

 

[Bessy765]

Depending what model some displays can be turned off by the top left button. Check if the 240 volt sockets are live For a start. Do the 12 volt lights and water pump work, also the ignighter for the cooker. Check the trips in the mains box there are usually two they look like the trips or mbs’s in your house. The should also be a larger trip called an rcd or earth leakage trip. There should be a test buttonto check this is working. Sometimes they trip without the lever dropping down. Try turning it off and n again same with the smaller trips. Then come back and let us know how you have got on, there is no such thing as a daft question.

 

[Stealaway]

Check the 230v fuse board and make sure it's turned on. It looks like the one in your house.

 

[WILLBOB]

i have checked the incoming power to the van but the sargant box if i try to press the on button nothing happens

 

[WILLBOB]

there is a blank display on the sargent unit and a very faint letters and a bleep

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[Potty]

You will find that the 12v system goes off when the engine starts and needs turning back on when you park. The control panel on our Autotrail looks like this

the top left switches the 12v on, the one next to it selects the habitation battery and the other one, the vehicle battery. Pressing either of these will show the state of the battery by lighting up the oblong lights on the right.
The bottom left turns in the pump, it’s red above as we have no water in the tank

Mains does not need to be connected for the 12v system to work.
Do you know where your habitation battery is?

Does your Sargeant have a red rocker switch? This needs to be down and lit.

 

[Potty]

This is the Sargeant fuse box in our van, the on switch for the mains is top right

 

[WILLBOB]

i have power from the house on but if i press any buttons nothing happens there is a faint display and a beep i am on the mains

 

[autorouter]

If the display is faint, it's possible that the leisure battery is very flat. If it gets too flat, some mains chargers will not kick in to charge it up again. Does the panel show the battery level? Ideally, if you have a multimeter, read the voltage of the leisure battery terminals. There are ways round this, if that's what's happened.

 

[WILLBOB]

this is working but still no display on the control panel above

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[RetiredPope]

Used to have an Autotrail and they have an RCD on the incoming mains. You're supposed to switch the PSU unit off, connect the mains cable, turn the PSU on and check the RCD trips by pressing the test button. I never bothered with any of that and just plugged straight in. Check the RCD hasn't tripped.
On the Apache 700, these were located under the lounge seat behind the drivers seat, yours maybe in a different location. If I remember correctly, the 240V lights would work without the display by the door being turned on. Check if they work.

 

[Itsmcb]

It looks like the charger switch is lit up so probably the charger is on. However fuse 8 is the supply from the charger to the leisure battery, check that fuse hasn't blown as it will prevent the battery getting any charge and so the leisure battery will go flat and stop supplying power to your panel above

 

[WILLBOB]

fuse 8 ok the display keeps beeping and it is saying battery very faint but still not switching on

 

[fat haggis]

Change all the fuses they get old and can play up or just stop. I have sorted meany a problem by replacing all the fuses in the 12 volt system. Cheap and chips to do and you may get a little surprised

 

[Potty]

fuse 8 ok the display keeps beeping and it is saying battery very faint but still not switching on

The beeping is telling you there is problem. If the problem is a low battery, try leaving it for a couple of hours for the mains to charge it. Have you checked the connections to the leisure battery? They may have come adrift.

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[Woodgates]

i have power from the house on but if i press any buttons nothing happens there is a faint display and a beep i am on the mains
View attachment 516861

We had this display on a previous Autotrail Tracker. It failed once, and found that there is a reset button behind the display facia. Carefully taking off the square frame reveals the button. It may be worth a try.

 

[autorouter]

If the battery is too flat for the mains charger to kick in, then you could try starting the engine and maybe driving it for a few miles. There will be a relay that automatically connects the starter and leisure batteries together when the engine is running, so that the alternator can charge them both as you drive along. After a few miles, maybe 5 minutes or so, there will be enough charge in the leisure battery for the mains charger to start up when you plug in the mains.

On your travels, you could pick up a multimeter. Any cheap multimeter will be OK for this fault-finding. You can pick one up from a DIY shed for a tenner or so.

 

[Cush]

When I had a beeping panel and no legible display I carefully removed the surround (think it unclipped). Undid the screws. Removed the cable from the back. Counted to 10. Plugged back in and hey presto. All working. batteries weren’t empty but they was a problem that tripped the ehu out. This process was recommended By another fun step somewhere I think.
i have the same system in a 2003 autotrail. Hope this helps

 

[Woodgates]

When I had a beeping panel and no legible display I carefully removed the surround (think it unclipped). Undid the screws. Removed the cable from the back. Counted to 10. Plugged back in and hey presto. All working. batteries weren’t empty but they was a problem that tripped the ehu out. This process was recommended By another fun step somewhere I think.
i have the same system in a 2003 autotrail. Hope this helps

Yes, sorry, my previous post was wrong, I was confusing two vans! We used this remove plug method to reset on the Autotrail

 

[WILLBOB]

well thank you cush it worked