Newbie Challenge Carthago C Line 2021

[CookieUK]

Engine Battery died completely yesterday after 36 hours not mains connected and not driven - Jumped it successfully . The next morning Domestic Batteries totally disconnected from Van .
No power to control panel - NADA - ZIP - the whole van is MORTE ! Went to bed - woke up. GONE. No physical activity overnight - reading light only consumption . Except now the engine battery had enough to start engine .
Running Blind with no access to Control Panel INFO ? Isolated ( storage mode) and reconnected domestic master switch - Nada impression ?
Help please - away from home in Spain.
Joined this forum for this reason New Newbie

 

[Richard n Ann]

Have you got a multimeter?

 

[bigtwin]

The ‘system’ has most likely disconnected/isolated the leisure battery (due to low voltage) to protect it from damage. I’d suggest that you get to somewhere with EHU to get things charged up and take it from there.

Ian

 

[meanders]

Answers to the following questions might help.
How long have you had the van?
Is this first trip out?
Did you charge from hookup or do a run after jumping the engine battery?

 

[autorouter]

Do you have access to a mains hookup? Do you get habitation power when the engine is running?

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

 

[Lenny HB]

If you have a Pioneer head unit and you were using it, if you didn't turn off the media switch on the control panel it will flatten the starter battery overnight. A standard feature of Carthago's.

Hab battery may not have been fully charged before your trip & how many hab batteries have you got?

 

[CookieUK]

Have you got a multimeter?

Just trying to buy one. Thanks . Can’t retract step - difficult to go I search of mains power.

 

[CookieUK]

The ‘system’ has most likely disconnected/isolated the leisure battery (due to low voltage) to protect it from damage. I’d suggest that you get to somewhere with EHU to get things charged up and take it from there.

Ian

Don’t seem to able to retract step ?

 

[CookieUK]

Answers to the following questions might help.
How long have you had the van?
Is this first trip out?
Did you charge from hookup or do a run after jumping the engine battery?

8 weeks
Yes 1st trip out - to deepest Europe
No charge or run since jumping engine battery .
Engine starts fine today

 

[CookieUK]

Do you have access to a mains hookup? Do you get habitation power when the engine is running?

No access to hook up .
No hab power when engine running.

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

 

[Lenny HB]

If the distrbution unit has turned off due to low volts you will probably have to reset it before it will power up. I'm not familiar with CBE systems, Clarky or Pausim may be able to help.

 

[CookieUK]

If you have a Pioneer head unit and you were using it, if you didn't turn off the media switch on the control panel it will flatten the starter battery overnight. A standard feature of Carthago's.

Hab battery may not have been fully charged before your trip & how many hab batteries have you got?

I do -have Pioneer and it’s never worked . Had to jury rig AUX connection to Get audio to TV. Apple car play doesn’t like to work - 4 out of 5 times .
This feels like an answer to Vehicle battery problem ( who knew) . Thanks . Every day is a school day - it seems . Pioneer runs off domestic power AND Ignition power ? Does it not? Could be the ENEMY - pile of 1970s UI crap imo.
Just not designed to integrate or badly installed by Dealer ? Or is it factory fit .
I had ton of extras installed pre departure -
Solar 2X 250 w - not working
Air Con - works but gets tired after 30 mins
2 Li-ion domestic batteries ? £1500 !
Sat TV - seems a waste in southern EU.
Ordered Inverter but Dealer said don’t do it?
Thanks everyone for your combined experiences.

Answers to the following questions might help.
How long have you had the van?
Is this first trip out?
Did you charge from hookup or do a run after jumping the engine battery?

 

[CookieUK]

Answers to the following questions might help.
How long have you had the van?
Is this first trip out?
Did you charge from hookup or do a run after jumping the engine battery?

I ran it on Tickover for an hour - but no trip out.

 

[CookieUK]

If you have a Pioneer head unit and you were using it, if you didn't turn off the media switch on the control panel it will flatten the starter battery overnight. A standard feature of Carthago's.

Hab battery may not have been fully charged before your trip & how many hab batteries have you got?

I had 2 new Li Ion installed pre departure .

 

[CookieUK]

I do -have Pioneer and it’s never worked . Had to jury rig AUX connection to Get audio to TV. Apple car play doesn’t like to work - 4 out of 5 times .
This feels like an answer to Vehicle battery problem ( who knew) . Thanks . Every day is a school day - it seems . Pioneer runs off domestic power AND Ignition power ? Does it not? Could be the ENEMY - pile of 1970s UI crap imo.
Just not designed to integrate or badly installed by Dealer ? Or is it factory fit .
I had ton of extras installed pre departure -
Solar 2X 250 w - not working
Air Con - works but gets tired after 30 mins
2 Li-ion domestic batteries ? £1500 !
Sat TV - seems a waste in southern EU.
Ordered Inverter but Dealer said don’t do it?
Thanks everyone for your combined experiences.

Van is new - 8 weeks ago. This is first trip - all 3500 miles

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

 

[Lenny HB]

I ran it on Tickover for an hour - but no trip out.

You really don't want to do that, as modern diesels never get up to temperature run on tickover from cold can cause all sorts of damage including the CAT & DPF, best to take it for a drive.

 

[Dutch 68]

I do -have Pioneer and it’s never worked . Had to jury rig AUX connection to Get audio to TV. Apple car play doesn’t like to work - 4 out of 5 times .
This feels like an answer to Vehicle battery problem ( who knew) . Thanks . Every day is a school day - it seems . Pioneer runs off domestic power AND Ignition power ? Does it not? Could be the ENEMY - pile of 1970s UI crap imo.
Just not designed to integrate or badly installed by Dealer ? Or is it factory fit .
I had ton of extras installed pre departure -
Solar 2X 250 w - not working
Air Con - works but gets tired after 30 mins
2 Li-ion domestic batteries ? £1500 !
Sat TV - seems a waste in southern EU.
Ordered Inverter but Dealer said don’t do it?
Thanks everyone for your combined experiences.

If you have 500 watts of solar and two lithium ( how big ) and you run into problems without a heavy load , something is not right, do you have a battery to battery charger? Who installed your new kit? Phone him and ask for authorisation to have it looked at in Spain by a recommended supplier and let your UK installer have the invoice?

 

[Lenny HB]

I do -have Pioneer and it’s never worked . Had to jury rig AUX connection to Get audio to TV. Apple car play doesn’t like to work - 4 out of 5 times .
This feels like an answer to Vehicle battery problem ( who knew) . Thanks . Every day is a school day - it seems . Pioneer runs off domestic power AND Ignition power ? Does it not? Could be the ENEMY - pile of 1970s UI crap imo.
Just not designed to integrate or badly installed by Dealer ? Or is it factory fit .
I had ton of extras installed pre departure -
Solar 2X 250 w - not working
Air Con - works but gets tired after 30 mins
2 Li-ion domestic batteries ? £1500 !
Sat TV - seems a waste in southern EU.
Ordered Inverter but Dealer said don’t do it?
Thanks everyone for your combined experiences.

The Pioneer is a factory install that's why I said the flat starter battery is a standard feature.

If it's hab or cab aircon? you should only run hab aircon when on EHU.

Sat - you can't get Astra 2 after about 3/4 down through France apart from a few odd places in Spain, that's why most of us stream these days.

Alphatronics TV's are a nightmare to set up, spent a couple of days helping my neighbor with his Carthago to get his going so it would play DVD's via the head unit, also some features are disabled on them due to German data protection laws.

With Lithium batteries you can run quite a decent size inverter without problems.

Solar not working or just not enough output to cope with your use at this time of year?

 

[rb62]

On ours there's a small switch on the back of the TV that you have to change depending on the source,
i.e. TV to head unit or head unit to TV.

 

[autorouter]

Many lithium batteries have a built-in Battery Management System (BMS) that cuts out if the voltage is too low or too high.

When the engine is running, there will be a method of charging the leisure battery automatically. Because it's a new MH, it most likely has a 'Battery-to-Battery' (B2B) charger, which is a battery charger powered by the alternator. That's why you were asked if the leisure battery power works when the engine is running. So, do the habitation electrics work when the engine is running?

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

 

[TCG]

I had ton of extras installed pre departure -
Solar 2X 250 w - not working
Air Con - works but gets tired after 30 mins
2 Li-ion domestic batteries ? £1500 !
Sat TV - seems a waste in southern EU.
Ordered Inverter but Dealer said don’t do it?
Thanks everyone for your combined experiences.

Are you trying to run a hab aircon unit off your batteries - if so no wonder your batteries are flat.

 

[bigtwin]

Are you trying to run a hab aircon unit off your batteries - if so no wonder your batteries are flat.

How to flatten a battery in one (quick and) easy lesson!

That certainly looks to be the root of the issue and then the lithium BMS has kicked in to isolate the battery on low voltage.

Ian

 

[Pausim]

If the distrbution unit has turned off due to low volts you will probably have to reset it before it will power up. I'm not familiar with CBE systems, Clarky or Pausim may be able to help.

It has not happened to me but I believe it cuts out at 10V and should automatically reset when back up to 12V. My CBE manual is with my motorhome in storage. My Carthago came with a bag full of manuals, including the CBE one, so probably worth checking through all your literature CookieUK .

 

[Pausim]

I do -have Pioneer and it’s never worked . Had to jury rig AUX connection to Get audio to TV. Apple car play doesn’t like to work - 4 out of 5 times .

There seems to be something odd about your Pioneer. I have a Pioneer unit and the Apple CarPlay has been 100% reliable, perhaps the USB (back of unit) to Lightning lead is defective or not properly plugged into the unit.

When not needed I always do a full shutdown on the Pioneer and turn the media circuit off as said by Lenny HB .

2 Li-ion domestic batteries ? £1500 !

What make of battery? I recently read about another Carthago owner who had trouble with a dealer fitted Li battery. Perhaps the same dealer?

 

[CookieUK]

There seems to be something odd about your Pioneer. I have a Pioneer unit and the Apple CarPlay has been 100% reliable, perhaps the USB (back of unit) to Lightning lead is defective or not properly plugged into the unit.

When not needed I always do a full shutdown on the Pioneer and turn the media circuit off as said by Lenny HB .

What make of battery? I recently read about another Carthago owner who had trouble with a dealer fitted Li battery. Perhaps the same dealer?

Chelston - Somerset . Replaced Lithium with 2 big lead acid - as a temp fix - which seems to have worked - thanks for input everyone.

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

 

[CookieUK]

Are you trying to run a hab aircon unit off your batteries - if so no wonder your batteries are flat.

No, only on hook up.

 

[CookieUK]

The Pioneer is a factory install that's why I said the flat starter battery is a standard feature.

If it's hab or cab aircon? you should only run hab aircon when on EHU.

Sat - you can't get Astra 2 after about 3/4 down through France apart from a few odd places in Spain, that's why most of us stream these days.

Alphatronics TV's are a nightmare to set up, spent a couple of days helping my neighbor with his Carthago to get his going so it would play DVD's via the head unit, also some features are disabled on them due to German data protection laws.

With Lithium batteries you can run quite a decent size inverter without problems.

Solar not working or just not enough output to cope with your use at this time of year?

Dealer declined to fit an Inverter - “It will toast your batteries”

Solar not working - never has - despite 2 new 250w panels . Solar Control unit inaccessible unless you are an acrobatic mouse? Thanks for your reply.

 

[Lenny HB]

Dealer declined to fit an Inverter - “It will toast your batteries”

Solar not working - never has - despite 2 new 250w panels . Solar Control unit inaccessible unless you are an acrobatic mouse? Thanks for your reply.

Inverter it's down to the size of the inverter and how many batteries you have so he could be correct.

Being a physic I can probably tell you what's wrong with you solar if it wasn't factory installed:-

The pre-fitted solar cables run from behind a top locker to the battery area - only they don't. The cables from the roof terminate under the double floor on the front passenger side (LHD or Drivers side if RHD) near the dash, this is where Carthago fit the controller in a factory install, another pair of cables runs from there to the battery area.
A common mistake made by installers is to connect the cables in the battery area to the controller then fit a pair of cables from the controller to the batteries. Looks like it's working because the lights on the controller are working from the battery voltage but they haven't actually connected the panels to anything.

 

[autorouter]

Solar not working - never has - despite 2 new 250w panels . Solar Control unit inaccessible unless you are an acrobatic mouse?

With 2 x 250W panels it must be an MPPT type controller, not a PWM type. What make/model is it? Does the solar controller have a Bluetooth app to see the state of it? Many of them do, and if it's inaccessible then that must be a good idea.

Solar is not complicated - two wires in from the panels, two wires out to the battery. It should be easy to say if the problem is the panels, or the battery wiring, or the controller. The panel voltage will be between 10V and 40V, the battery output should be between 10V and 15V.

Edit: Just seen Lenny HB's post, that is definitely worth investigating