Omni step and power options.... (1 Viewer)

[stevielomax135]

Dear All

Had my van for a year now, its a 2005 Swift Freestyle (Sundance 630L). Its great and we are loving it, however, in many ways I'm as much of a rookie now as I was a year ago!

I would really appreciate some sage advice on a couple of technical issues (possibly related but perhaps not).

Firstly, my van has been on my drive and on hook up for a few weeks now. Just yesterday I noticed that the Omni step (double step that folds out from under van) was moving extremely slowly - to the point that it wouldn't actually move any way at all. I had the power selector switch set to mid position - I switched it to leisure and had same result (leisure battery brand new and charged). However when I switched to the van battery, the step operated perfectly, despite this battery being low! Can anyone explain why this might be?

The second issue is this - I'm really unclear as to exactly what the power selector switch does! I assumed that whenever I was on hook up, the switch should remain in the middle position and this means that any 12v appliance is run from the 12v power supply (rather than any battery). I also assumed that the leisure battery would charge from the 12v power supply whilst the switch was in the middle position - is this the case? I'm worried that if I left this in the leisure position then my fridge wouldn't work on 240v setting....

I fitted a brand new leisure battery just this weekend as the old one was completely dead. We do have a solar panel and my assumption is that this continually trickle charges the leisure battery when in sunlight.

I know there are other threads out there regarding these points but I find myself becoming confused

Any advice as to how these systems really work and what I could be doing wrong would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks in advance

Steve

 

[Madcaravanner]

Not sure on the techie bits inside Your van

but check the battery voltage you should have 13v plus about an hour off charge
if you are unsure as to what the switch does simply disconnect both batteries and check on hook up if things work then connect one battery at a time disconnecting everything else and check that

Basically if the step works on one battery I would assume it to work on either and especially on the 240v step down transformer though not straight from solar (but you never know on a really hot day ??)

 

[stevielomax135]

Many thanks for the advice. I must hang my head in shame and admit that I'm an engineer, and even worse used to be an electrician so you would think that this would be bread and butter to me! However automotive wiring and especial caravans/motorhomes seems to defy any logic I can bring to bear.

I think I will have a go at dropping off the battery connections and testing. Interestingly I only get about 12.6v from the brand new leisure battery even though its sold as fully charged.

Best regards

Steve

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[hilldweller]

Interestingly I only get about 12.6v from the brand new leisure battery even though its sold as fully charged.
Steve

Which is spot on.

I immediately though of an oil can when I saw your OP. Seized up through lack of use.

 

[TheBig1]

on those vans, the selector switch selects which battery to use and charge

 

[Madcaravanner]

Which is spot on.

I immediately though of an oil can when I saw your OP. Seized up through lack of use.

I would disagree politely

I use a multitude of batteries of leisure and traction types for my scooter and none of my FULLY charged batteries are ever so low I obtained two 110Amphr wet batteries two days ago and they came to me at 13v yet have not been charged since January

I also did soak tests on them too and even on my inexpensive meter came straight back at me at 13v post test

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[MC 55 FUN]

I would disagree politely

I also did soak tests on them too and even on my inexpensive meter came straight back at me at 13v post test

I agree with @hilldweller

Your 13v is including the residual surface charge, after an hour or so rest off charge the battery is likely to show 12.6 - 12.7v in it's fully charged state, 6 cells each at 2.1v :

https://www.batterystuff.com/kb/articles/battery-articles/battery-basics.html

 

[hilldweller]

I would disagree politely

Polite is good

 

[DanielFord]

The step on the Sundance can get sticky, our frequently does what you describe. You will need to clean the joints, I use WD40 to get it moving.

With regards to the power switch, setting it in the middle means you aren't charging either battery, when on hookup. Switch it to leisure and leave it there, you will probably find that if you hook up, with the switch in that position the step will come out like it's turbo charged!

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[Lyrick]

With regards to the power switch, setting it in the middle means you aren't charging either battery, when on hookup. Switch it to leisure and leave it there, you will probably find that if you hook up, with the switch in that position the step will come out like it's turbo charged!

 

[xsparks]

Just looked at the wiring diagram and it would appear that the step is fed from the vehicle battery.

 

[stevielomax135]

Many thanks for to all for the advice. So I've clearly misunderstood how the selection switch works .

I've also resolved the step issue - as stated previously this worked fine with van selected but not at all in middle or leisure positions. I checked out the leisure battery and found a fuse with corroded terminals - replaced the fuse and bingo - step works great in any switch position!

Good advice about step maintenance however, I'll strip and grease this mechanism this weekend I think (gets me out of the gardening )

Thanks again

Steve

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[Reallyretired]

Just to echo a previous post. I have had this sort of switch arrangement in the past and the middle position will charge neither battery. Leave it switched to the house battery unless you want to give a bit of charge to the vehicle battery.
Your solar panel is probably directly connected to the leisure battery via a controller and, if so, the switch position will make no difference to the solar charging.

 

[tonyidle]

To be clear: the selector switch is only any use in determining which battery to use. So as recommended above set it to Leisure & leave it there. If, for any reason, your Leisure battery becomes discharged when you are camping away from EHU you can use the switch to take power from the Starter battery. That's obviously something you would not normally choose to do but sometimes, on a freezing night with a flat Leisure battery, it's nice to know you can fire up the heating and have a light or two.

 

[Khizzie]

on those vans, the selector switch selects which battery to use and charge

Correct ...

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