lights pulsing

[Slingsby]

We have aa Autocruise Stargazer and when on Ehu the 12v system " pulses" . The lights pulse and the battery meter also pulses. Not an intermittent connection or anything and the leisure battery is new. Is the charger faulty or has anyone had similar problems?

 

[TinaLes]

Very Strange. If you can put a meter across the Charger Output and check its outgoing voltage, it would also pulsate if there was a problem inside the charger. Could be a leaking smoothing capacitor inside the charger, but meter will show you.
LES

 

[autorouter]

How fast is it pulsing? Many times a second, every second, every few seconds? Regular or random?

 

[rwg]

Hi,

I see the same sort of thing (a flicker in the LED lighting) on our Benivan when on EHU. I suspect that the power supply that provides 12V power on EHU is a bit cheap and nasty and doesn't really keep to supplying a constant voltage very well. It doesn't change the light brightness much - probably just a few percent - but it's noticeable.

cheers,

Robin

 

[TinaLes]

The EHU supply on an UK site should be 240V AC at the bollard. The supply is then sent to the vans Power Supply Unit, where it should have an RCD, then MCB's to fuse & protect all mains rated circuits on board, including the battery charger. The mains enters the battery charger, where it is converted to the appropriate charge voltage to supply the required level of charge, ie. Bulk charge is approx 14.4VDC, then drops off to absorption phase, then finishes on a float charge of 13.1to13.3Vdc.
The battery charger has to convert the incoming mains 240VAC, to 12/14 VDC, to do this it uses an internal 240 to 12V Transformer, the output is then converted to DC via a bridge rectifier, and smoothed with capacitor's for a smooth output.
The charger output VDC should be pretty stable to the eye at least, on the meter, as should be the the leisure battery 12VDC output to all 12 volt circuits.
If all is well on 12VDC without being on hook up, then either the EHU suppl or the Battery Charger will be the problem. I would check the incoming EHU voltage and the charger output voltage to see which of the two is the problem. Or wait until you are able to plug in at another EHU point on a different campsite or home.
LES

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[autorouter]

Does the lighting circuit have any kind of dimmer circuitry? This may have an effect even if it's turned up to full.