First trip not gone so well , no power (1 Viewer)

[Wack]

Well that was short lived

Everything going swimmingly then , no power

Well , there is power and lightsfor about 60 seconds then the board lights go out , I can hear a click like a relay switching off ,flick the switch and it's back on for another 60 seconds

I'm connected to mains power as the socket inside the van is working on 230v

The red flashing light on the boiler switch means battery voltage too low but I assumed when connected to mains that wouldn't matter

Anybody know anything about the

Calira EVS 38/20-DS/IU

I've had a look at the battery charger under the floor , no fuses blown and it sounds like it's got power

 

[Vanman]

Sounds like something is tripping and resetting ... you are not trying to draw more power than mains connection allows? I'd turn everything off and then put them on one at a time, smallest draw eg roof light first.

 

[M-J]

As Vanman says, turn everything off and turn back on one at a time to hopefully find the faulty item.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Landy Andy]

Difficult to say without testing but possibly battery charger not giving an output, so leisure battery is flat?

 

[Wack]

There's nothing on at all , we're sat here like it's 1955

The main power stays on when the power clicks off as the 230v socket still works

The only thing I've changed before coming away is all the interior bulbs to led

 

[Wack]

Difficult to say without testing but possibly battery charger not giving an output, so leisure battery is flat?

The leisure battery is flat as the boiler won't light , does the leisure battery still need to be charged even when you're on mains power

I've got my Ctec with me , could I use that to charge the leisure battery

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[M-J]

There's nothing on at all , we're sat here like it's 1955

The main power stays on when the power clicks off as the 230v socket still works

The only thing I've changed before coming away is all the interior bulbs to led

Take those out and see if everything else works again.

 

[Eggs]

The leisure battery is flat as the boiler won't light , does the leisure battery still need to be charged even when you're on mains power

I've got my Ctec with me , could I use that to charge the leisure battery

 

[pampam]

So are sockets working but not lights ?

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[pampam]

Sorry m-j i was thinking same as you lol

 

[Pausim]

Sorry to hear your first trip has gone badly.

I had a mains charger in one of my motorhomes that hummed and lit up when on mains hook up but unfortunately it didn’t output any volts or amps to the battery. The battery quickly went down and everything cut out. I would not be at all surprised if your mains charger is faulty. When I had a similar problem I eventually gave up on the charger and the battery.

 

[phil1946]

I'm on the Isle of Wight so VERY unlikely to be able to come and help you but if you post where you are some kind person may offer.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Wack]

Castleton

I'm leaning towards the mains charger being faulty , I'm.just surprised that it needs a charged leisure battery to power the lights when connected to mains power

I've got power at the 230v socket

Turned the fridge off and it's still the same , taken all the led bulbs out , still the same

 

[Itsmcb]

The mains power supplies the charger and the charger supplies the battery and the battery supplies the lights and other 12v items. So if your charger is not working the battery will go flat and the 12v items won't work.

 

[Gerby]

Had a friend with similar issue on a different make van, it was a faulty charger unit the 12 volt system on his van was fed through the charger unit whenever the van was plugged into the mains so even if the battery was holding charge it gained through the solar he had it wouldn't use it if he left the mains plugged in, the 230 volt stuff however was fine.

It may be worth trying unplugging the EHU (if you haven't tried already) and see if the 12 volt system works then though be aware of what charge is in your battery as you do not want to drop it below 50% for any length of time.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Wack]

Its something to do with this

It's making a noise like it's doing something but still clicks off after 60 seconds when on mains or not

 

[Itsmcb]

You could use the ctek to charge your battery overnight if you turn all the 12v stuff off as its output probably won't supply enough to power anything except maybe the led lights.

 

[old-mo]

I don`t know anything about electrics..... but..... could it be wrongly wired mains cable..

Just guessing ...

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Landy Andy]

The leisure battery is flat as the boiler won't light , does the leisure battery still need to be charged even when you're on mains power

I've got my Ctec with me , could I use that to charge the leisure battery

Basically everything in you van runs off the hab battery, unless it’s 240v mains. So if the charger isn’t working, then nothing will work once the battery goes flat.

Connect your Ctec charger to the hab battery and the 240v supply. It will tell you what state your battery is in. I think you could then turn on you control panel and see what that says, but before turning it on turn off anything that will absorb the power, such as lights, pump, boiler so the charger isn’t trying to do too much.

 

[Campervan_man]

Nice easy check for you to try.
Run a temporary cable { eg, black jump start cable } from your Negative Leisure battery lug to a good earthing point on the chassis.
If everything now works on 12V you have a bad, broken or corroded earth point.
I had this scenario on a brand New motorhome.
ie, everything worked on 240V but not on 12V.

 

[Wack]

Had enough for tonight , something is tripping a relay inside the charger because after a while it clicks back on for a few seconds before tripping out again , something overheating I guess

It's not going to get fixed here so we'll just use their shower and toilets then get it looked at before the next trip out

At least we're not halfway to France

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Wack]

I don`t know anything about electrics..... but..... could it be wrongly wired mains cable..

Just guessing ...

I've got two , one I already had and one that came with the van , does it with both cables

 

[Landy Andy]

Is the clicking not just the relay closing as the power runs out. I would connect the Ctec over night. It’s a intelligent charger so won’t damage anything.

 

[Vanman]

Could be a silly question but have you swapped a lead acid battery for a Lithium? The battery in the picture looks strange to me and may need a different charger ... ?

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Campervan_man]

Some battery chargers won't 'kick in' if the voltage is too low.
Check the voltage of the leisure battery with a multi-meter.
The leisure battery may need replacing.
Tanya Batteries gave Me some good info on recharging low batteries:-
Verbatim:- Please try the following to re-charge your battery:

1. Connect flat battery to any other battery with jump leads.

2. Leave for 10 mins and then connect charger to flat battery at same time.

3. Turn on charger and charge like this for 1 hour.

4. Then take off jump leads and charge battery normally with charger for minimum of 12 hours.

This will then bring the battery up to 12.7v (100% Capacity)

 

[Wack]

Thanks for all the advice , left the ctec on overnight and it's gone from a 4 to fully charged

The relay inside the MH charger isn't clicking off now so it's looking like it's not charging the battery and as said, when it gets too low it cuts the power

I don't have a meter with me so I'll just leave the ctec on overnight until I can get it looked at

 

[Wack]

Could be a silly question but have you swapped a lead acid battery for a Lithium? The battery in the picture looks strange to me and may need a different charger ... ?

It's the battery that came with the van

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Wack]

Just had a thought , we were watching the TV which is plugged into a 12v socket

There's also a mains socket so I'll change that over , I wonder if the TV is drawing more power than the battery charger can replace until it eventually drops too low then the charger won't charge it

 

[Itsmcb]

A little light reading

 

[Itsmcb]

It's a 20amp charger so should be able to power most things in your van whilst still keeping the battery charged up

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}